BYRON CENTER, Mich. — Thousands of people from across the country flock to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to participate in the Little League World Series and Home Run Derby. West Michigan will be represented at the events this year by a young girl from Byron Center.
“She put in a lot of work in the offseason, got a lot stronger and now she’s a force,” Jeremy Moore said.
In Motion: Byron Center local competes in Little League Home Run Derby
Emma Moore, 12, has played softball most of her life. And now, in her final year of Little League, the Byron Center native is heading to the T-Mobile Little League Home Run Derby.
“Emma has had a lot of good experiences with softball. She has the greatest teammates. The most encouraging coaches. And to see it pay off and how much she has grown by participating in the Home Run Derby has been really exciting,” said Amy Moore, Emma’s mother.
At the end of July, Emma and her family traveled to Kansas City for the Great Lakes Regional Derby tournament in hopes of making it to the finals.
Last summer, Emma made it to the regional round of the competition but failed. After a full year of hard work, she wanted to try again and hit 70 home runs in the qualifier at the Byron Center to qualify for regionals.
“It was hard because it was really cold and there was water in the softball, which made them heavier and didn’t fly as far,” Emma said.
“We had to drain the water because they were standing in puddles in the batters box,” Jeremy said.
From there, she traveled to Kansas for the East Regional, where she competed against 10 other girls from across the country, with her West Michigan teammates cheering her on.
“They hosted a watch party for me and I saw some videos where they were talking badly about the other contestants,” Emma said.
And she won it all at Kaufman Stadium this weekend, punching her ticket to the Derby finals at this week’s Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
“There’s so much history in it. I watch it every year. These kids are phenomenal, it blows me away every year,” Jeremy said.
The Home Run Derby will take place on Friday, August 23rd at 7 p.m. and can be watched live on ESPN2.
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