Swan and Jackson win HR contest

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28: John Jackson wasn’t the favourite going into the home run contest on Wednesday night, but he left little doubt as to who displayed the most power was after the last ball cleared the fence.

Jackson, who plays for Citi, also won the Summer Softball League’s Skills competition earlier in the evening.

His feat of winning both events was equalled by Tiffany Swan, who claimed women’s double.

Jackson said: “It was pretty surprising (that I won) because some of the guys are pretty outstanding. To win one was pretty cool, but to win both was a bit of a big shock.

“I didn’t think too much about winning; I just went out there to have fun.”

Jackson said he thought he might have a chance to win the Skills competition because he’s been playing for a few years.

He said the key to winning the home run competition was “was taking every ball as it came. You can’t really think about the next ball or the ball previous, you just got to try and get your timing right every time.

“It sounds like a cliché, but you got to get the process right and everything else falls into place.”

Jackson advanced out of the first round by hitting six homers and then made it to the finals with Kenrick Richardson.

Swan may have been the favourite for the Skills competition, but after Sarah Robinson had seven long balls in the first round, not many people gave her a chance to win the contest.

Robinson never got into a groove in the finals and Swan came away with both trophies.