Hitting contest is Young’s time to shine

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June 22, 2012

Hitting contest is Young’s time to shine

The Cooperstown Crier Fri Jun 22, 2012, 02:25 PM EDT

BY GREG KLEIN

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

As far as sports jewelry goes, it isn’t quite one for the thumb. Maybe two for the wrists? Former major league outfielder/infielder Dmitri Young earned a second straight Tiffany & Co. wristwatch, the prize for successfully defending his title in the fourth annual Baseball Hall of Fame Classic Hitting Contest at Doubleday Field on Saturday.

Young hit six home runs and finished with 4,900 points in the competition, which awards points ranging from 100-600 based on pre-designated distances from home plate. Over-the-fence homers are worth 600 points apiece.

Young hit a walkoff homer in the three-swing final round against Dante Bichette, snapping a 4,300-4,300 deadlock with a shot to left-center field that landed in someone’s backyard on his second attempt.

Young, who played 13 seasons in the bigs, took a 4,000-3,900 lead into the final round. Bichette batted first in the last round and amassed a feeble 400 points.

Young and Bichette emerged from a field of four that included Darrell Evans and Jesse Barfield. Each took eight swings in the opening round, which ended with the two finalists in a 2,000-all tie. Barfield scored 1,000 points in the first round, 200 more than Evans.

Bichette followed with home runs in three of his six second-round swings en route to 1,900 points for a total of 3,900. Young hit two homers both to left-center and added a warning-track triple worth 300 points and a pair of singles worth 100 apiece.

His final at-bat of the second round resulted in a flyball to center field that was originally scored as a double for 200 points. An official soon ruled the ball landed for a 300-point triple, giving him a 100-point edge on Bichette.

“Dante really gave me a good competition,” said Young, who tripled in his first at-bat of the final round to tie Bichette. “He was a great hitter in his day, and he can still hit them now. I was not sure I was going to pull it off.” Young said he had to beat Reggie Sanders in the final round of the 2011 Hitting Contest because he needed a watch. Now that he has two victories and two watches, Young said he’ll put both of them to good use.

“One for the weekdays and one for the weekends,” he said. “And if they’ll have me, I’ll keep coming back for more.”

Bichette went on to give up a two-run walkoff single to Desi Relaford in a relief-pitching appearance in the bottom of the seventh as his Wizards lost, 5-4, to the Knucksies in the Hall of Fame Classic.