Lynnfield native and St. John’s Prep senior Pat D’Amico made a splash at the A Shot for Life Home Run Derby last weekend, smashing 19 homers in the first round and building some serious momentum. D’Amico rode a hot bat all the way to the championship round of the inaugural event at Austin Prep, eventually finishing in second place to Bishop Feehan’s Zach Stephenson.
D’Amico, who is committed to Seton Hall (where he’ll join fellow Lynnfield native Jonathan Luders on the Pirates baseball team), was one of 13 hitters to raise at least $1,000 toward brain cancer research in order to participate in the event.
A Shot for Life raises funds for cancer research and has run multiple basketball-related charity events throughout the years. The organization hopes to expand the brand through other sports, including baseball. This year was the inaugural home run derby, and the event collectively raised over $30,000.
The baseball roster for the event included D’Amico, Stephenson, DJ Pacheco (St. John’s Prep), Josh Baez (Dexter Southfield), Pat Roche (BC High), Brant Savage (St. John’s Shrewsbury), Erik Foster (Xaverian), Jake Elbeery (Austin Prep), Matt Maloney (Central Catholic), Evan Blanco (Austin Prep), Connor Dolan (Archbishop Williams), Ryan Meyer (Shrewsbury), Ryan Grace (Concord-Carlisle), Sean Moynihan (Masconomet), Sean McGivern (Lawrence Academy) and Sam McNulty (Milton Academy).
The home run derby consisted of four rounds, starting with 16 of the top baseball players in Massachusetts. Eight players advanced to the second round from there, then four advanced to the third round before the final two moved on to the championship round.
D’Amico, who had lifelong coach and fellow Lynnfield native Tony Martinho pitching to him, outright won rounds two and three after hitting 19 home runs in the first round and finishing fifth. He then moved on to the championship round, where Stephenson smashed three home runs to take home the victory.
