Roberts excels in Pitch, Hit & Run competition

Ben Roberts, a Hoover native and Deer Valley Elementary student, won the local MLB Pitch, Hit & Run competition earlier this spring.

Six weeks later, he placed first again, this time in the North Alabama section of competition. His score was high enough to qualify him for the Southeast Regional, held at Turner Field, home of the Atlanta Braves.

Roberts once again scored the highest in the Southeast Regional competition, featuring kids from Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, and qualified for consideration for the national competition, which was held in San Diego earlier this month. His score in Atlanta placed him in the top 90 of all boys in the 7- and 8-year-old division nationwide.

- Andy Roberts contributed to this report