DERBY CHAMP 2016
For 2 years Matt Kowall has entered the Burby Homerun Derby and he came up bewildered and empty. 😟 This year he realized that a little preparation will help the ball go a long way. He brought his brother out all the way from Hollands Landing to pitch to him. It made the world of difference in a Derby that included the biggest Sluggers from both the Kings and Premier Conferences.
Gary Massey the 8th seed squared off against the 2015 champ Jack Cherry. It was supposed to be an easy 1st round win for Jack. The wind was not allowing much over the fence today but Gary smashed a late dinger into the right field tree to knock off a stunned Cherry.
Kings Sluggers kept making statements as Mark Kennedy who leads his conference with 9 home runs! was able to knock off the Premier leading slugger Rocky Parejo.
Here is their post Derby interview. http://youtu.be/fYkYoIZOs4A
Harman Brar looked to be the early favorite after crushing poor Mike Sparkes in the first round. http://youtu.be/A9F2i3lUvtE
Matty Kowall and Jeff Walter squared off and the wind batted down all of their hits. So they went to a distance challenge where Kowall just edged the Wiley Vet from Agincourt.
The 2nd round saw Harman "Killa" Brar run out of gas. He could not muster 1 Homerun and Gary Massey slipped into the final with 1 decisive blast.
The 2nd round is where Matty Kowall really got into a groove. He clocked 3 over the fence and Kennedy could not mount that kind of an attack.
So the 7th and 8th seeds were off to the unlikely final. Gary Massey has nary a dinger so far in the Homerun Happy Kings. Matt Kowall was always a slugger but always took a back seat to some bigger names. The pop no longer resided in Masseys bat. He struggled to get anything going in the final. Matty also struggled until his very last out. In dramatic fashion he waited till the last moment to show the Burby world he is The 2016 Homerun Derby Champ!! Dreams do come true for a little kid from Hollands Landing.
Adrian Golombek
