Kids pitch, run and hit homers during Compton clinic – San Bernardino Sun

The kids can play.

A gaggle of young ball players from across the country fired fastballs, sprinted in the outfield, leapt to rob homers and swung for the fences on Thursday, July 14, during a clinic at the MLB Youth Academy in Compton.

The youth baseball clinic was one of the early kickoff events for MLB All-Star Week, which will culminate with the Midsummer Classic on Tuesday, Jully 19 — at Dodger Stadium for the first time since 1980.

The clinic included youth baseball players hitting off tees, testing their accuracy from the mound and testing their speed.

And testing their power — by trying to go yard.

But the Pitch, Hit & Run, and Jr. Home Run Derby were only a prelude.

Two youth tournaments — one for baseball and another for softball — will get underway on Friday, July 15.

Baseball players from 10 youth academies — hailing from nine states and Puerto Rico — will compete in the Commissioners Cup while 10 softball academies from around the country will vie to come out on top in the Jennie Finch Classic presented by ARM & HAMMER.

Finch is one of the greatest softball players of all-time, having been an ace pitcher for the Arizona University Wildcats, the professtional Chicago Bandits and the United States national team — with which she won a gold medal during the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Compton’s MLB Youth Academy will field teams in both baseball and softball, and will boast the home advantage.

The Compton crew, like the hometown Dodgers, also gets to consider themselves baseball royalty, at least as far as MLB youth academies go: Major League Baseball set up its first youth academy in that Los Angeles County city.

While it may have been an opening act, the Thursday afternoon event also had plenty to do. Besides the skills competition and the home run derby, it also boasted food trucks, music and the opening ceremonies for the youth tournaments.

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