“That ball is going, going, it is gone!”

Baseball Hall of Fame announcer Mel Allen would have repeated his signature home run call 12 times for Palmerton’s Cole Serfass, who won first place in the 12U Blue Crab Skills Home Run Derby Competition held recently at Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, Maryland.

Representing the Lehigh Valley Rising Stars travel baseball team, Serfass set a new Ripken record by accumulating 68 points during the event. Five points were awarded for each ball hit over the fence. Three points were given if s batted ball struck the outfield wall or reached the warning track on the fly with one point scored if a fly ball landed past a designated marker in the outfield.

Rising Stars head coach Dan Villaniti pitched to Serfass, who had just one-and-a-half minutes of swings to score as many points as he possibly could.

“I think I took 15 swings and hit 12 over the wall,”” said Serfass, who in 35 actual games this season has slugged 27 dingers for the his team.

In both the qualifying and championship rounds, he defeated representatives from 25 other travel teams that included squadsfrom Canada and the Philippines.

“I was a nervous wreck each time he swung the bat,” said his mother, Jennifer. “I didn’t have expectations. I just wanted Cole to have fun.”

“I was nervous, too”, said Serfass, who watched several players compete before he got his chance. “I was swinging for my team, not just for me.”

Serfass has played baseball since he was four years old and at age seven, he finished in third place at a home run derby that was held at Citizen’s Bank Park, the home field of the Philadelphia Phillies.

For his victory at Ripken, Serfass was presented an assortment of prizes including an acrylic home plate signed by Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. and his former major league brother Billy Ripken, who were both on hand to witness Cole’s winning performance.

The Rising Stars won the 12U division of the tournament, finishing with a perfect 8-0 record.