On Friday Baseball Victoria held its annual soirée to fête those who rose above all others during the recently completed Victorian Summer Baseball League season.
Victors were crowned from 12 different clubs, with Division 2 champion Moorabbin outpacing everyone with four awards.
Five-time Division 1 winners Essendon brought home three—including a coveted Life Membership for all-everything Julie Jones—as did Springvale and VSBL-newbie Pakenham.
Fitzroy, who like Moorabbin is set to move to Division 1 next season, nabbed two awards; ditto for Mulgrave from Division 3.
Melbourne, Doncaster, Research, Blackburn, Preston and Sandringham rounded out the clubs with winners.
The night’s highlight was undoubtedly Jones and her heart-warming acceptance speech.
But the two stars were the American pitchers who had perfect seasons: they won their division’s pitching award, were named Most Valuable Player and won championships.
Moorabbin’s Franco Vanderka and Pakenham’s James Mills shone brightest on Awards Night.
But the two stars were the American pitchers who had perfect seasons: they won their division’s pitching award, were named Most Valuable Player and won championships.
Moorabbin’s Franco Vanderka and Pakenham’s James Mills shone brightest on Awards Night.
The other MVPs went to Jake Tuck of Blackburn and a Division 1 Women’s tie had Doncaster’s Belinda Cannington and Springvale’s Victoria Brown share the tremendous honor.
Springvale also had the women’s pitching winner, Simone Wearne, and their very own Mandi Avent took home the coveted accolade as Volunteer of the Year.
Speaking of Lions, Fitzroy was also well-represented with Taylor Eichhorst winning the Division 2 home run championship and—in the toughest race across all competitions—John Peterson was honored as the Baseball Victoria Coach of the Year.
The other home run kings were Tom Dicker from Essendon and trio in Division 3: Travis Hough (Pakenham), Nicholas Thompson (Mulgrave) and Ashley Grove (Research).
Staying at the plate, Dean Marnell from Preston captured the Division 1 batting title. Moorabbin’s Cain Bumpstead led all Division 2 in hitting while Caleb Poole from Mulgrave paced Division 3. Essendon’s Bronwyn Gell took home the Division 1 Women’s highest average.
The Division 1 pitching award went to Sam Street from Sandringham.
The Melbourne Aces also announced their award winners. Offensive Player of the Year went to Tanner Vavra and Defensive POY was won by Logan Moon. Matt Larkins was their Pitcher of the Year and Nick Rossell took home rookie honors.
For his outstanding contributions in every facet of the game, Darryl George was named the Melbourne Aces Most Valuable Player.
The Umpire of the Year went to Taka Matsuda.
And the 2015/16 Club Champions were the Melbourne Baseball Club in Division 1 and—fittingly how the season and night played out—the Moorabbin Baseball Club in Division 2.