Eufaula Parks and Recreation Director Keef Pettis described Raequon Kelley as a “cool customer.”
He certainly was on Tuesday night.
Kelley represented the Eufaula Parks and Recreation Department at the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Home Run Derby at Troy University’s Riddle-Pace Field. After hitting just one home run in the contest’s first round, Kelley bounced back to hit four in the second round and help the East squad win the team title.
“You could tell Raequon was a little nervous in that first round,” Pettis said. “He was swinging at pitches that weren’t home run pitches, but he settled down before the start of the second round and really got into a groove.”
Each hitter was allowed 10 outs in the first round and five in the second round.
Kelley was one of eight 11 to 12-year-olds that participated in the derby. They were paired with a slugger from one of the eight tournament teams. There was a temporary 225-foot fence for the youth participants.
“Raequon experienced something at 12 years old that will mean something to him for the rest of his life,” Pettis said. “This was something special.”
A total of 128 home runs were hit during the contest.
Western Kentucky’s Chad Cregar hit 10 home runs in the first round and 11 in the second round to win the collegiate division of the event.
Troy senior Michael Precise tied Cregar in the first round with 10 home runs of his own, but failed to hit a home run in the second round to finish in third behind Cregar and Louisiana-Monroe’s Matt Laird. Laird hit nine home runs in the first round and two in the second round for a total of 11 home runs.
In the Dixie Youth division Troy native Austin Ingram took the title with 21 home runs. Ingram hit eight in the first round and an impressive 13 homers in the second round.
Chris Simmon from Enterprise finished in second with eight combined home runs and Dothan Southern’s Trey Truitt knocked a combined seven out for third place.
“It was a lot of fun to watch,” Pettis said. “It was a great event and we had a great crowd there. Other than the Troy kid, I think Eufaula probably had the biggest crowd there and they were loud. It was great.”
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