Softball teammates win Royals season tickets for two fans in home-run-hitting contest

That must be one heck of a softball team.

Two members of the same competitive slow-pitch softball team cleared the fences Thursday at Kauffman Stadium in the “Hit For Your Seats” event hosted by the Royals.

Tommy Bennett and Brandon Weems served as proxies for season-ticket holders, whose 2019 seats are now free. The two hit their home runs roughly two hours apart.

“He’s our three-hole hitter and I get to hit behind him,” Bennett said of Weems. “He’s got a lot of pop.”

Ditto for Bennett, who lives in North Kansas City and won four tickets for Rob McFarlane, whose family has had four Royals season tickets since Kauffman Stadium opened.

“That’s a win-win. We renewed a few weeks ago and continue to support the team as we have for years and the fact that they give you something back in a contest is awesome,” McFarlane said of the Royals.

Bennett, McFarlane and their friends played home-run derby for the right to take the swings at Kauffman in the inaugural event, which drew more than 600 participants.

Here is how it worked: Season-ticket holders who signed up by last week got five swings against a pitching machine set at about 65 mph. They had the option of choosing a proxy, but that person couldn’t have played in the major or minor leagues, and he/she had to be at least seven years removed from college ball.

The grounds crew shagged balls and fed the pitching machine, and Royals vice president of publicity Toby Cook estimated each person was at the plate for no more than 45 seconds. A long line snaked around The K, with each person hoping for a few seconds of glory.

Bennett’s home run landed in the visitor’s bullpen on his fourth swing. He asked for the chance to take his last shot, too. Could he hit back-to-back shots?

“I tried to hit it off the Hall of Fame and ended up snapping the bat,” Bennett said. “I should have ended on a high note.”

While Bennett played at Maple Woods Community College in 2003 and later was the team’s hitting coach, Weems had far less baseball experience.

Weems, 34, said he hadn’t played the sports since he was 16 years old, and only went to the batting cages earlier this week after being chosen to hit for a friend’s father-in-law, Matt Buzzard.

The two talked about the competition while tailgating at Sunday’s Chiefs game.

“He said what would you want (if you hit a homer)? I said, ‘Let’s just see if it can happen first and we can talk after,’“ Weems said with a laugh.

It did as Weems, who lives in Grain Valley, hit a home run into the Royals bullpen on his third swing.

“I think they would have let me hit (the next two),” Weems said, “but they played the home run song and everything and I was pumped up, so I walked off. It was awesome.”

Weems and Bennett played on a traveling softball team named Starkey. The league limit was six home runs per game. Starkey often reached that mark.

“We hit quite a bit of home runs,” Weems said. “That’s why I told Matt, if this was slow-pitch softball, I’d bet my bank account I could hit it out. But I haven’t hit a baseball in 18 years, so we’ll see.”

Weems need not worry. It all worked out and made for a memorable day for him and his softball teammate.

“As long as I can remember, I’ve always dreamed about hitting one out at Kauffman,” Bennett said. “I’ve been a Royals fan since the days of George Brett, so it’s nice to take some hacks at Kauffman.”

This story was originally published November 1, 2018 at 4:17 PM.