12-year-old boy hit grand slam at baseball tournament days before fatal plane crash

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (WNCT) — A 12-year-old Georgia boy was captured on video hitting a grand slam during a baseball game just days before he and his family died in a plane crash while returning home from a tournament in upstate New York.

Footage provided by a relative shows young James Ryan Van Epps’s triumphant moment on the field in Cooperstown on June 26, before tragedy struck.

James Ryan, his parents, younger brother, and grandfather were killed when their small plane went down while en route to Atlanta on June 30. The boy’s family members were identified as Roger Beggs, 76; Laura Van Epps, 42; Ryan Van Epps, 42; and Harrison Van Epps, 10, according to the Associated Press .

Tributes were pouring in for the family who “were all loved everywhere they went,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

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