Thanks, DAED! I'm still not entirely happy with the way I wrote it up, but it's water under the bridge now. Hopefully people enjoyed an exciting and surprising end to the 2nd Bay League season regardless of how I recapped it!
September 17, 2015
Bay League Standings
Code:
Team W L Pct GB Stk L10
Silver Beach 39 31 .557 - W2 5-5
Marsein 38 32 .543 1.0 L4 4-6
Allison 35 35 .500 4.0 W1 5-5
Deepvale 35 35 .500 4.0 W4 6-4
Lorris 35 35 .500 4.0 L1 7-3
Elliott Springs 34 36 .486 5.0 L4 3-7
Tifton 32 38 .457 7.0 L2 4-6
Gentry Hills 32 38 .457 7.0 W4 6-4
League News
As chronicled earlier, the Silver Beach Whales took advantage of a Marsein collapse to sneak into first place with the 2015 championship. Congratulations to the Whales and their fans on taking the second Bay League title in history.
Josh Sowder unfortunately didn't stay above .400, even though he went 2-4 in his final game to end at .398 and broke
Ace Gervin's average record of last season (.371). The Whales also got tremendous contributions from second baseman
Carlin Chadwick (.300/.407/.480, 7 HR) and of course
Hawkeye Odle, who gets more mention below. Will the Whales be able to carry this over into next season? Stay tuned for the 2016 season to find out!
Gervin can take some consolation in losing that record from the fact that he was named
Top Batter of the league for the second time, making him the only player to ever earn that title. Gervin hit .388/.456/.658 with 16 homers, 50 RBI and 56 runs scored in 2015. Deepvale's
Roy Lockwood teamed up with Gervin to make an impressive 1-2 punch in the lineup. Lockwood set new records for home runs (23) and RBI (62). Marsein's
Mario DeGray also merits some notice for his outstanding season, as he too set a pair of new league records, in walks (57) and runs scored (57).
Players and coaches, who make up the voting body for the end-of-season awards, were also impressed by
Derrick "Hawkeye" Odle's season, and his final gem of a game to clinch the title for the Whales couldn't have hurt. Named
Top Pitcher, Odle went 17-9 with a 3.14 ERA and struck out 223 batters in 244 innings of work, leading his Whales all season long. The
Top Rookie award went to Allison's
Walter Sebring, who hit .298/.398/.434 with 6 homers, 29 RBI and 28 runs scored in 198 AB. Sebring won't turn 19 until late next winter, and looks to have a very bright future in the Bay League.
The
Top Leather awards were also handed out. Despite an injury that cut short his terrific season, Elliott Springs'
Matt Willis won the award at pitcher.
Tarise Ellis (GEN, 1B),
Mario Goodwin (DPV, LF) and
Dionsio Brey (ALL, RF) are all repeat winners, and the other awards went to
Michael Copeland (TIF, C),
Drew Long (MAR, 2B),
T.J. Ridnour (MAR, 3B),
Maurice White (DPV, SS) and
Jacob Leslie (SIL, CF).
Final League Leaders
Code:
Batting Average Stolen Bases
J. Sowder (SIL) .398 M. Smiley (TIF) 16
H. Gervin (DPV) .388 T. Smith (LOR) 14
M. DeGray (MAR) .372 C. Rock (LOR) 13
R. Isenhour (MAR) 13
OPS ERA
H. Gervin (DPV) 1.113 M. Willis (TIF) 2.39
M. DeGray (MAR) 1.101 J. Chambers (LOR) 2.98
J. Sowder (SIL) 1.021 E. Hope (ESP) 3.04
Home Runs Wins
R. Lockwood (DPV) 23 B. Earl (GEN) 17
J. Brown (ESP) 19 D. Odle (SIL) 17
T. Ellis (GEN) 17 Q. Stallworth (MAR) 16
RBI Strikeouts
R. Lockwood (DPV) 62 K. Richardson (ALL) 226
R. Isenhour (MAR) 50 B. Earl (GEN) 224
H. Gervin (DPV) 50 D. Odle (SIL) 223
Runs Scored
M. DeGray (MAR) 57
H. Gervin (DPV) 56
H. Johnson (TIF) 47