Just qualifying the the national T-Mobile Little League Home Run Derby was an impressive achievement for Max Michaels.
The 12-year-old La Grange Park resident was one of only eight Little League Baseball players nationwide to reach the finals in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. And he made it past the first round to the semifinals before being eliminated by the eventual runner-up finisher.
The home run competition was held Thursday and shown Friday on ESPN.
The opening round of competition allowed all eight batters 2 minutes each to hit as many home runs as they could manage. The top four in that round advanced to the head-to-head competition in the semifinals, which pitted Michaels, who had 14 homers in the first round, against the top opening-round performer, Cameron Malone of Huntersville, North Carolina, who had hit 15 home runs.
The other semifinal pitted Gavin Brandon of Costa, Mesa, California, against DJ Mieses of Lake Mary, Florida, who went on to defeat Malone to win the championship.
Michaels repeated his opening-round showing of 14 home runs in the semifinals, but it wasn’t enough to get past Malone, who again had 15. Malone had 14 in the championship round, falling to Mieses who had 16, before stopping with 20 seconds remaining.
“The whole thing was so much better than I expected, and the number of people there watching was amazing,” Michaels said. “I wasn’t really nervous, I went in wanting to have fun, and I did.
Nic Michaels, Max’s father, who was at the Home Run Derby with his son, said the whole experience was incredible.
“It’s at this magical, mystical place, and it’s great seeing players from different counties, who are playing in the World Series,” he said.
While Nic Michaels was very proud of his son for making it to the Home Run Derby and advancing to the second round, it was something else that dwarfed those feelings for him.
“They have a Challenger League with special needs players and coaches,” he said. Max made friends with a guy named Bob, who probably was in his 30s and was a coach, after having been a player in the past. Bob asked Max to be his buddy for the Challenger game. As a father, watching Max be a part of that game made me even more proud of him.”
Max’s journey to the T-Mobile Little League Home Run Derby began in La Grange Park when he hit 55 home runs in three rounds of competition, which advanced him to the Regionals in Atlanta, Georgia. He then placed in the top four there to earn a spot in the national competition.
Chuck Fieldman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.