Mom was a Somerset High star. So it's no surprise this 8-year-old won MLB Pitch, Hit & Run

Greg Sullivan
·2 min read

Somerset can take some pride in this year’s Major League Baseball’s Pitch, Hit & Run contest results. The national champion in one of the softball divisions is the daughter of one of Somerset High School’s all-time softball greats.

Taylor Holmes, of Allendale, New Jersey, took first place in the softball age 9-10 division at the Pitch, Hit & Run nationals during the World Series at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Holmes’ mother is Johanna (Boisselle) Holmes, one of the best players in Somerset High School/Somerset Berkley Regional softball history.

Holmes is already a veteran of upper echelon of the MLB’s Pitch, Hit & Run competition. A year ago, as an 8-year-old, she placed third in that division at the nationals at Truist Park in Atlanta.

Taylor Holmes, of Allendale, N.J., took first place in the softball age 9-10 division at the Pitch, Hit & Run nationals during the World Series at Minute Maid Park in Houston.
Taylor Holmes, of Allendale, N.J., took first place in the softball age 9-10 division at the Pitch, Hit & Run nationals during the World Series at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

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Last year, she represented the New York Mets and competed in the regional at CitiField Park in New York City. This year, she wore the hat of the World Series participant Philadelphia Phillies.

Pitch, Hit & Run is for girls (softball) and boys (baseball) ages 7-14, with national finalists (four in each division) earning an all-expenses-paid weekend trip to the World Series.

A fourth grade student weighing 70 pounds, Homes at the nationals ran 90 feet in 4.6 seconds, hit four out of five balls (off a tee) in the air 150 feet, and, from 35 feet away, hit the pitching target four out of five times, with two bull’s eyes.

Part of her preparation for Pitch, Hit & Run was practice hitting with a training bat made by her mother’s uncle, Lou Ledoux, owner of Axis Bats in Fall River.

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According to information from the Holmes family, Taylor is the youngest winner of the girls’ 9-10 division. She is eligible to defend her 9-10 crown next year.

A dominant pitcher in the mid-1990s, then Johanna Boisselle followed her stellar career at Somerset by playing on scholarship at NCAA Division 1 schools University of Rhode Island and University of Hartford. Johanna is a member of her high school’s hall of fame.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: MLB's Pitch, Hit & Run contest winner daughter of Somerset High star