Hit a home run in Moorestown Township

The popular Phillies Home Run Derby will be making its annual visit to Moorestown on May 18 (rain date May 23). The derby is open to all boys and girls, ages 7 to 12 and is being held at Jeff Young Memorial Park at the corner of Lenola and New Albany roads.

Official entry forms will be available at www.moorestownrec.com and at the Moorestown Department of Parks and Recreation.

The derby uses an automatic pitching machine to throw 10 good pitches to each contestant. Points are scored for all fair balls hit, distance hits and home runs. Any ball hit fair is worth one point, distance hits are worth two points and home runs count for five points.

The distance hits and home runs are well within the range of most hitters.

For example, in the B and C divisions (ages 9 to 12), the distance hit is 125 feet and the home run is 150 feet.

This is considerably shorter than normal Little League fencing.

The speed of the pitch, as well as the scoring distances, change with each division. The derby is looking to make everyone a hitter.

The Moorestown Department of Parks and Recreation, organizers of the derby in Moorestown, will award a number of prizes.

First-, second- and third-place winners in each category will receive a Phillies engraved plaque. These lucky winners will also be invited to a regional finals to be held later in the summer.

The other prizes — Phillies tickets and other baseball related items — will be awarded by a random drawing.

This way, every boy and girl entering the contest is a potential winner, regardless of score.

Girls participating in the Moorestown Youth Softball Program will be provided a separate girls contest to be held on the same date at the same location. However, a softball will be used instead of a baseball.

The nominal fee for entry is $5 per entrant.