McElroy

CENTER TWP — At age 3, Liam McElroy was playing T-Ball. By age 4, he was playing coach-pitch baseball.

By age 8, he was hitting home runs.

“That's when we really started to notice his power,” his father, Bill McElroy, said.

This year, at age 12, Liam entered the Junior Home Run Derby sponsored by Major League Baseball. He won the local competition held in Trafford, belting seven home runs.

Liam is a pitcher/first baseman for the Butler Junior BlueSox, who play their home games in Meridian. He also plays for the Center Township A's.

Standing 5-foot-7 and weighing 135 pounds, home runs have left Liam's bat frequently the past couple of years.

“Between the two teams, he hit 27 home runs last season and has about 25 so far this year,” McElroy said. “He plays basketball, too, but baseball is definitely his favorite sport.”

By winning in Trafford, Liam advanced to the regional Home Run Derby in New Jersey, where he was one of 100 kids competing. The winner earned the right to go to the MLB All-Star Game in Washington, D.C., next week for the national home run derby.

“New Jersey was one of 12 regional sites across the country and all of the winners moved on,” McElroy said.

Liam reached the final four hitters of the New Jersey regional, but finished fourth.

“There was a tiebreaker round, where he was eliminated,” McElroy said. “Another kid hit six homers in the tiebreaker and Liam hit four.

“In the previous derby, a kid could have anyone pitch to him, so I pitched to Liam. At the regional, all of the pitches came out of a pitching machine.”

Liam said that threw him off a little bit at first.

“I got used to it after a while and started hitting a few (homers),” he said. “Not seeing an arm come forward to pitch the ball was a little different.”

Liam's batting average is .630 this season.

“My dad got me started when I was young,” he said of baseball. “I could feel myself getting better each year.”

The Junior BlueSox were 18-3 this season. Liam, will enter seventh grade in the fall.

While he would have enjoyed a trip to the All-Star Game, “I'm pretty satisfied with what I did,” he said.

And he's not giving up.

The Junior Home Run Derby program is available to kids up to age 14.

“I'll be trying it again,” he said. “It was fun.”

He plans on playing high school and college baseball down the road as well.

“I'll be playing baseball for as long as I can,” Liam said.