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Show Eric Johnson Wins First In Kansas City By DAVE WIG HAM Bountiful's Eric Johnson returned home from his trip to Kansas City with the first place trophy for winning the Divisional Championship for the Missouri area in the Thorn McAn Pitch, Hit and Run competition. ERIC HAD won the right to compete in the competition in Kansas by winning all the local events, then the District meet held in Denver, Colo. The competition held in Kansas City was one of eleven such competitions held, throughout the nation on that day. The top two point-getters in each classification was then invited to the national finals in New York on July 19. UNFORTUNATELY Eric's score was not one of the top. two, however he did place sixth in the 12-year-old category! That means that " Eric was sixth in the nation for his age group. Reports show that over 100,000 kids signed up for that age group at the start, so finishing sixth out of all them is a great feat in itself. ERIC, AND his parents, had a great time in Kansas City as guests of the Kansas Royal baseball team. Fric had the chance to pitch, hit and run on the Royal stadium turf. He also got to sit in the dugout with the Royals while thev took battinc Dractirp prior to their game with the Brewers. Eric indicated he enjoyed talking to George Brett, the All-Star third baseman for the Royals. SHORTSTOP Fred Patek then made the trip all worthwhile by giving Fric one of his bats. Fric had already received a complete Royal uniform. Tnis uniform includes the blue shoes, the official Royal hat and the pale blue uniform of the Royals. NERVES might have played a factor in the hitting competition as most of the 24,000 spectators for the game witnessed the youngsters take their cuts. Fric performed well with all the folks' watching, maybe it was a sign of things to come in the future. fu-ture. Congratulations are very much in order for Bountiful's Eric Johnson. At least now the folks in Kansas City know that there's some good ball players in Bountiful. |