The first ever Whitehorse Little League Home Run Derby was a bashing success. 

The league wrapped up their season with the fun event, which saw the youngsters put on a pretty good show for their parents and fans at the Kwanlin Dün baseball diamond Sunday. 

Taiga Buurman won the 15+ category with four monster moonshots, barely holding off Braden Baldwin, who hit three. 

“I wasn’t too sure four was going to be enough,” recalled Buurman. “I thought Brayden might catch up to me there. It was looking really close, but it feels really good.” 

Buurman, 17, was swinging for the trees, as he hit the first two pitches out of the park. 

“It kind of took off some of the pressure off my shoulders.” 

The young slugger had some sage advice for other young hitters. 

“Don’t try too hard. When you think ‘hit a home run’, you won’t hit a home run. You just swing – nice level swing – then you’ll get some over.” 

Buurman said it was a great season. 

“We went to Haines (Alaska) a couple of weeks ago. I got to pitch for the first time, so that was fun.” 

Buurman said he threw only fastballs, but “it worked out well”.

“I’m hoping to do a little more pitching next year.”  

Look out, Shohei Ohtani! Here comes Taiga Buurman. 

Buurman said he’d be training throughout the winter for next season. 

He also had high praise for the couple organizing the league, Sara and Clark Skelton. 

“Anyone out there who wants to join, please do. It’s a great organization. Sara and Clark are really, really good. They know what they’re doing. Clark is probably my best coach I’ve had, ever, so please do sign up. It’s a great league.” 

The Skeltons were thrilled with the way the home run derby turned out. 

“I was very pleased,” said Sara. “We had a great turnout.” 

Sara figured about 60 kids came out to swing for the fences. 

“I wasn’t sure how long it would take per kid and I was a little bit worried because we had so many kids registered. I thought we’d be here until 10 o’clock tonight, but the parents were amazing at getting the kids ready, and it actually went really quickly.” 

Sara said she thought the kids did great.

“I think it’s a ton of pressure. In a normal game, there’s pressure. People are watching. But here we have a hundred people watching.” 

Sara said they had some dark horses in the derby that did really well. 

“It was anybody’s game today. None of us could pick a winner.” 

The younger kids only had to hit past lines drawn on the field. Not so with the oldest group, who had to hit the rubber balls over the fence. 

“It’s pretty impressive that the older kids are hitting home runs on this field,” said Sara. “That was really fun to watch.” 

Sara said it was a really nice finale. 

“Haines was amazing, we had a huge group of kids go. So I think it was a nice closure to the season.” 

Clark said he thought the day was “awesome. 

“I think they were surprised that it’s not as easy as you think. You really have to time it out and I felt like at the end they started getting it.”

In fact, multiple sluggers hit their last pitch for a home run. 

Clark was a little surprised by the results. 

“Some of the more consistent hitters during the season didn’t do as well and some of the hitters that were first season or second season kind of got on a roll there. They were hitting some good balls.” 

Clark also enjoyed a tiebreaker at the end between Mason Gignac and Xavier Stehelin.  

Gignac out-powered Stehelin to take the 12-14 year old title. 

Clark was particularly impressed with Buurman’s 15+ win. 

“Nothing ever surprises me with him. He’s got such a good swing, good athlete. More than all that, he’s just a good kid. So I’m really happy for him.”

Clark said he thought the season went by really fast. Their trip to Haines, Alaska was a highlight for him. The league had a great outing in Haines, sweeping all eight games. 

“Finishing 8-0 like that was really, really amazing. These kids just came to play this season. It’s all about the kids and having fun.” 

Clark added they’ll need a lot more coaches and volunteers next year. 

“I guarantee we’re gonna have a lot more kids next year.” 

Sara said the season was “amazing. 

“We had such a good time. Great kids, great parents. With the support from Kwanlin Dün and Ta’an (Kwach’an Council), we were able to have two fields, which allowed us to expand and that was super, super valuable. So we’re very appreciative.” 

Sara pointed out that Kwanlin Dün takes care of the fields. 

“The fields do require a lot of maintenance and we don’t have a lot of money.” 

Sara added, “I’m just so impressed with the Yukon kids. They’re such good kids. They are so helpful.”

“At the end they came up to me and to Coach Clark and they said ‘thank you’ and that goes a long way. 

“I think the kids are hard workers. The older kids help out the younger kids and we’ve built a bit of a community. So I’m just incredibly impressed with all the youth in the Yukon.” 

Here are the top home run hitters in each age group: 

8-11 (Homer was a hit over the first line drawn in the outfield.) 

Hunter France – First place

Taite Cripps, Mack Johnson and Cooper Duncan tied for second.

12-14 (Second Line) 

Mason Gignac – First place in tiebreaker contest 

Xavier Stehelin – Second 

Hudson White – Third 

15+

Taiga Buurman – First place with 4 home runs

Brayden Baldwin – Second place with 3 home runs

Cameron Elsey, Harlan Keefer and Zander White tied for third with one home run each.