Softball star Amanda Lorenz adds another MVP Award in HRDX victory

Amanda Lorenz, a four-time All-American while crushing softballs at the University of Florida, recently took home the MVP Award as the best player for Athletes Unlimited. At Durham Bulls Athletic Park for the final HRDX event of 2024 on Saturday night, Lorenz added another MVP Award to her case as she helped her Toros Bravos defeat the Bull Sharks, 89-85.

With a broad smile attached to her face every time she stepped up to the plate, Lorenz put up 28 points in the final after an impressive 21 in the semifinal.

"I just love softball so much. I love hitting so much," Lorenz said after the victory. "You can see that passion in me, but truly, I'm just so thankful and having the best time. Like, what a life I'm living. This has been a dream of a summer. I'm just so thankful."

Lorenz followed the plan she outlined before stepping onto the field before the game:

"You can expect some pink flair," Lorenz said, referring to her reflective pink shoes, "You can expect a big smile, and you can expect some home runs. I'm going to be aiming for the target zone the whole time."

As the Toros Bravos jogged off the field for the win, Lorenz joined her teammate Manny Ramirez in raising their hands above their heads, mimicking Ramirez's iconic pose he displayed throughout his career.

"It's so cool, celebrating with Manny Ramirez," Lorenz said. "Are you kidding me? I used to watch him when I was a kid. It's just wild and just so cool. The fans going nuts, screaming for me out when I get in the outfield. Just freaking awesome -- the coolest atmosphere."

Ramirez's towering home runs and endless fount of enthusiasm for the sport kept the crowd on their feet all night, as the MLB great finished with 25 home runs across two rounds. It was Ramirez's second straight victory after his team walked away with the 'W' in Nashville last week.

"Hey, remember, all I do is win, win, win," Ramirez joked.

Ramirez, who lost in his first tournament in Albuquerque, reflected on his time with HRDX.

"Man, I better start winning, because then they're not gonna invite me back," Ramirez remembered thinking. "It was awesome. I didn't know what to expect, but after I did the first one, I said, 'Man, I want to do this all the time.'"

While Ramirez was one of the faces on the billboard enticing fans to the park, rising sophomore Chris McHugh may have stolen the show. A recent transfer to local NC State from VCU, McHugh put up 29 points in the first round before following that up with 30 in the second.

"I've never really done a home run derby before, so I didn't know what to expect," McHugh said. "But I could tell after my practice rounds that something good was gonna happen. And then once I found a rhythm, it was just I couldn't get away from it."

Each one of those points was necessary for the Toros Bravos as they needed to withstand an all-out homer assault from Ian Desmond. The former Nats star put up a best-in-HRDX history 37 points in a single round between his at-bat and after tagging in for Ashton Lansdell at the end of her plate appearance.

"I said I wanted to set the high water mark for individual points," Desmond said. "We got it done. We came here. We saw, we conquered. We didn't get the W team win, but individually, I did what I wanted to do."

Plus, no lead was safe as long as UNC Wilmington's star slugger Tanner Thach was around. Coming off a school-record 27 home run campaign, Thach went supernova in the first semifinal, hitting a buzzer-beating two-point target homer to send his Bulls into the finals.

Despite trailing by 36 when he first stepped into the box, Thach then pulled the deficit to just four when the clock ran out on the night.

"After that first round, I had, like, 29 points and [Manny] said, 'You didn't win anything yet,'" McHugh said. "And I was like, 'You're right.' We kept going. Amanda had a great round. Manny had a great round. And then we got lucky. Tanner was scaring me a little bit at the end."

With that, it was the end of the 2024 HRDX tour, which covered four cities and blasted hundreds of home runs over the last month.

"This is what the game is about, families going out and enjoying the game in any capacity," Desmond said, his own family in tow with him. Desmond spends a lot of time thinking about family and community, remaining committed to the Children's Tumor Foundation and the Newtown Connection, an organization which focuses on improving the lives of "diverse and at-risk youth population" of Newtown, Florida.

"I don't care if it's a nine-inning game, a six-inning game, to Home Run Derby X. I want to see dads and moms with their kids out, smiling, having a great night on the town."

"I tell you what, it just keeps getting bigger and better," Jonny Gomes said. It really does. I'm not being a homer for being a part of it, but it really is. You're starting to see the excitement on defense. It's almost like tennis. We'll get the hitters, then you will get defense. Boom, boom, going back and forth. Seeing the crowd get more educated about what's going on is really cool."

Here's a quick breakdown from the first two semifinals:

Semifinal 1

Bull City Rays 67
Bull Sharks 68

Four-time College World Series champion Tiare Jennings displayed a potent power stroke in this one, scoring 25 points that seemed to be enough for the Bull City Rays to advance. Unfortunately, Thach went off with a buzzer-beating homer barrage to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Jonny Gomes, a three-year veteran of HRDX, put up 14 points while swinging a special crayon-themed bat.

Semifinal 2

Toros Bravos 80
Bulls 73

It may have come in a losing effort, but Duke third baseman Ben Miller became the first hitter in HRDX history to break the 30 point mark for the Bulls in this one. Originally from Durham, the stands were full of people coming out to support the mustachioed slugger.

"I've got a ton of people, my parents, my sisters here. My fourth grade teacher, Mr. Mohn, who I haven't seen since [who knows], was here. I got to meet his son, which is incredible," Miller said. "The special thing about coming back to Durham is I've had a lot of cool opportunities like that, to play in front of family and friends that have meant so much to me that haven't had that opportunity in the past."