Home Run Derby was a beautiful evening

Saturday, June 25, was a beautiful evening in more than one way at Union Hill during the Home Town Bats’ Sixth annual Home Run Derby. Sun and warm temperatures in the 80s, plus a good cause, brought a large crowd together to help the Tiede family of Le Center.

This year’s derby is benefiting Adeline Tiede, age 3, daughter of Jeremy Tiede and Jessi Lambrecht, and two older sisters Mayta (12) and Lucy (6). She was diagnosed with Tricuspid Atresia, also known as Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome (HRHS) where one of the chambers on the right side of the heart has not developed. Adeline has already had three heart surgeries.

Jessi said that they’ve learned a lot in dealing with the disease and Adeline’s treatments. Jeremy said it’s become part of their life. “You learn what you can handle,” said Jessi. They both agreed the benefit has been overwhelming, but in a positive way. “I can’t believe how generous everyone is,” said Jessi. They described themselves as being more quiet, but they have been grateful for the showing of people. “What a good community we have,” said Jessi. “There’s been a lot of friends and family here,” said Jeremy. “People we haven’t seen in awhile,” said Jessi.

There were several auctions overseen by Ted Nytes of Hometown Bats, who organizes the annual fundraiser. Prizes for the auctions included tickets to Twins games, rounds of golf at area golf courses, plus some games and an auction that raised a total of $6,000 with the prize benefiting Adeline as the family would be able to take a kitten home. The winning bid was split evenly between Curt Lambrecht and Brian Wagner.

There were 11 batters who had the opportunity to hit as many home runs as possible in two minutes to advance to the next round of the derby. Winning the derby was Tom Corcoran. For the evening there were a total of 39 homers, which was impressive as there were 20 mph winds coming in from left center.