The Fort Macleod Royals Wind-Up With Awards

Assistant Coach Ben Paskal supplied the site for the Fort Macleod Royals American Legion Baseball wind-up barbeque and awards at the Daisy May Campground near Fort Macleod on Friday, August 27. Head Coach Brad Dersch began the proceeding by thanking all the parents who helped out over the course of the season including Manager Peter Lavorato. As he stated, without the many hours people were willing to contribute, the team would not be able to function.

Each of the eight individual awards began with an explanation as to the nature of the award and how the recipient fulfilled the role. They went as follows;

Best Pitcher – Braiden Bloor.  “As a 19 year old from Lethbridge, Braiden took some flak for not staying in the city and playing there but he was determined to play American Legion ball and it took a lot of guts to follow up on his choice. It was not just his stats that garnered him the award of Best Pitcher with a 9 win, 3 loss record but also how he played the game.”

Most Improved  - Jake Hansen. “We knew from the pre-season tournament in Kalispel what we had, and Jake became one of the dominating pitchers in the league. He has a great future since he is still only 15.”

Best Defensive Player – Shaun McKenzie. “Without a doubt, not just on our team but also what is said throughout the league, Shaun is the best defensive catcher in the league.

Rookie of the Year – Maverick Price. “Maverick is a gamer, both defensively and offensively, he always plays with lots of heart and puts everything he has into the game.”

Sportsmanship – Justin Zoratti. “Justin was always in the game but never out of touch with his emotions. His positive attitude is always appreciated and valued.”

Best Hitter – Logan Cisar. “When it comes to offense, we were great as a team averaging 10 hits a game, everyone taking good at bats but Logan stood out. He had a .455 average and on base percentage of .661. He led the team in walks had 14 doubles and a home run.”

Most Valuable Player – Taylor Wolstenholme “We as coaches looked hard at 4 or 5 guys on the team but Taylor excelled as one of our best defensive players, was always effective at the plate, could really run the bases and he’s still so young, that’s scary.”

Dan Paskal Award  - Joey Gibboney. This award based on dedication and hard work was especially meaningful to Assistant Coach Ben Paskal, it being in memory of his late brother Ben who played for the Royals and loved the game. “ Joey was a positive model on and off the field to his team and is most deserving.”

Coach Dersch finished the awards by stating how on occasion he still lies in bed at night thinking of what coulda, shoulda, woulda been but realizes that he has to move on. He looks back at a team that won 1 game two years ago, 12 games last year and 20 games this year finishing first in the league. He went on to say the players can take a lot of pride in those facts and that even though they will be losing three valuable veterans, they have a great future. Coach Paskal added that even though it did not end the way they had hoped, that’s baseball and he was honoured to be apart of this again.

Scoop Daily

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