Sports Correspondent
Butch Cannon
TARBORO —
The 2012 Tarboro Baseball Easter Classic Home Run Derby will be held Tuesday at historical Municipal Stadium, starting at 6:00 pm. The Home Run Derby is a prelude to the Tarboro Baseball Easter Classic that starts on Wednesday with the first game beginning at 11:00 a.m. The Easter Classic is sponsored by the Tarboro High School Athletic Booster Club and the Town of Tarboro.
Participants in the home run derby will be two players from each of the teams entered in this year's Classic, which includes the following: Saint Maria Goretti from Hagerstown, Maryland; Lawrence Academy from Merry Hill, North Carolina; Jefferson Forest High School from Forest, Virginia; Winslow Township High School from Atco, New Jersey; Padua Franciscan High School from Parma, Ohio; Bunn High School from Bunn, North Carolina; Southwest Edgecombe High School from Pinetops, North Carolina; and the host team, Tarboro High School from Tarboro. The home run derby is free and open to the public.
The derby format allows each team to have two players entered in the competition, each accompanied by their own choice of pitcher. Each participant is allowed ten outs per his at bat. An out is recorded on any ball that is not hit out of the park. After the first round, the top four qualifiers (and ties) will advance to the second round of competition. From these four (or more), the top two would then advance to the championship round, where the player with the most home runs within the allotted ten outs will be declared the derby winner. The winner and runner-up will receive trophies donated by Don Clark, agent for Farm Bureau Insurance Company in Tarboro.
During the event, the Tarboro High School Athletic Booster Club will be having a pig pickin' with all the trimmings, which is available to anyone for a cost of $6.00, with the proceeds going to the Tarboro High School baseball program. So mark you calendars and please make plans to help kick off the 2012 Tarboro Baseball Easter Classic by attending the Home Run Derby while enjoying another eastern North Carolina classic, home cooked barbecue, pig pickin' style.
