McFarland: Baseball Alberta hands out 2023 awards
Photo: Baseball Alberta
*This article was originally published on Alberta Dugout Stories on November 30, 2023. You can read it here.
December 1, 2023
By Joe McFarland
Alberta Dugout Stories
It was a celebration for every Alberta community from Acme to Youngstown and everyone all around.
Athletes, coaches, managers, umpires, volunteers and more were recognized during the 2023 Baseball Alberta Awards in Edmonton on Nov. 24.
The event, which coincided with Baseball Alberta’s Annual General Meeting and Baseball Alberta Summit, highlighted some of the major accomplishments and efforts over the past year.
From individual program growth to hosting major national championships, executive director Danielle Moffat says 2023 will be a year to remember for the organization.
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Listen the Alberta Dugout Stories podcast about the 2023 Baseball Alberta Awards here.
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“We wouldn’t be where we are today without all of our amazing volunteers,” she said. “The ones who are here now, the ones who came before us, and the ones we are mentoring for the future.”
With long-time umpire Jeff Chipley serving as emcee, it was a night to remember for many in attendance.
BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE
The awards ceremony started with presentations for umpires, coaches, off-field managers and volunteers.
One of the highlights was the presentation of the Baseball Alberta Life Member Award, which went to Ron Van Keulen.
Having been involved in baseball at a number of levels in Cochrane and Calgary, he served with the Alberta Amateur Baseball Council as well as president of Baseball Alberta between 2017 and 2020.
“I’m a firm believer that if you don’t like something, speak up and jump onto boards,” Van Keulen said. “If you want to be changing something, don’t sit in the wings and type about or say things unless you’re willing to do something about it.”
He says he was surprised by the recognition, as he felt like he was simply trying to stay the course, especially heading into the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s a lot easier to hand them out than it is to accept them, that’s for sure,” he laughed. “You don’t think internally as to, ‘Oh, I did a decent job at something,’ and getting recognized for that.”
Among the other winners were Sheri Teierle, who claimed the Baseball Canada Volunteer of the Year for her work in building up the Sherwood Park Minor Baseball Association to over 1,000 athletes, and Brandon Strocki, winner of the President’s Award for his work in boosting the registration and awareness of the umpire program across the province.
SUCCESS ON AND OFF THE FIELD
Each year, Baseball Alberta hands out a number of major scholarships and bursaries to help athletes with their post-secondary aspirations.
This year was no different, with several great academic and athletic performances highlighted.
Then it was onto the individual awards and, as it turned out, it was a big year for Jason Chatwood and the St. Joseph Baseball Academy as two of their players were named Baseball Alberta Players of the Year.
Corbin Lochhead walked away with the 18U ‘AAA’ Player of the Year Award after a stellar campaign in the Baseball Alberta Elite League (BAEL) with the Neutral Hills Wranglers.
He says fully committing to baseball and consistency paid dividends.
“I’ve learned that when emotions affect who you are on the field, it sets you back in a way,” Lochhead said.
“When you throw all the emotions out the window and give 100 percent effort and respect to everyone out there, I think it’s the best thing you can do.”
For the first time, a Baseball Alberta Elite League 18U ‘AAA’ Player of the Year was also named, and that honour went to Red Deer CarStar Braves shortstop Matthew Murray.
He led the league in batting average and finished in the top-five in runs batted in, earning him a spot on Baseball Alberta’s roster for the Canada Cup as well as a commitment to Colby Community College.
“It’s been a grind, but it’s awesome,” Murray said of the acknowledgement. “(The key was) just staying disciplined with everything outside of the game like getting practice in and that kind of stuff.”
GIRLS GOT GAME
It was a year to remember, as well, for the girls and women’s programming with Baseball Alberta.
The 14U team claimed the gold medal at nationals in Kamloops while the 16U and Women’s Open teams won bronze at their respective championships.
So picking winners of individual awards became difficult with all of the team success.
In the ceremony, Abby Szilagyi of Okotoks was named the 14U Girls Player of the Year, while Edmonton’s Claire Hingley picked up the 16U award and Calgary’s Tyra Stanich was named the Women’s Open winner.
“All of the younger girls have so much potential,” Stanich said of her bronze-medal winning team, which many considered to be a young roster. “We have lots of room to grow and that’s exciting – plus there’s a lot of skill coming up as well.”
ROADMAP FOR THE FUTURE
To put the wraps on the event, the final awards of the evening were for the Associations of the Year.
The Small Association of the Year was won by Winfield Minor Ball, while Lloydminster Minor Baseball was awarded the Medium Association of the Year and the Fort McMurray Minor Baseball Association earned the Large Association of the Year crown.
Moffat admits it’s been a challenge to attract and retain volunteers to work with the associations following the COVID-19 pandemic, but their efforts paid off with growth in many facets of the game, including the Challenger and Rally Cap programs.
She adds many associations saw increasing numbers of registrants, while provincial and national tournaments were smashing successes.
“It doesn’t matter how big or how small, we just want to include kids in playing this sport,” she said.
“The things they have been able to overcome and to be able to provide baseball on the whole to the entire province, we’re really happy and super-proud of them.”
Looking ahead, Moffat says 2024 will be a year to build off previous successes by fine-tuning some of their processes and staying in lock-step with Baseball Canada’s new strategic plan.
“We really want to be intentional with decisions that we make,” she said. “We are set up to do a governance review to make sure we are providing a safe and welcoming environment for all of our athletes, coaches and volunteers.”
Here is the full list of winners from the Nov. 24 awards ceremony:
Junior Umpire of the Year – Levi Wagner – Lacombe
Murray Service Umpire of the Year – Matt Beaudry – Sherwood Park
Umpire Hall of Fame – Stephane Dupont – Calgary
Ted Rudd Minor Coach of the Year – Blake Babki – Lethbridge
Baseball Canada Grassroots Coach of the Year – Josh Bryshuk – Mannville
Baseball Alberta Life Member Award – Ron Van Keulen – Calgary
Wally A. Footz Builders Award – Dennell Anderson – Elk Point
Baseball Canada Volunteer of the Year – Sheri Teierle – Sherwood Park
Off-Field Manager of the Year – ‘A’ – Trevor Vance – Slave Lake
Off-Field Manager of the Year – ‘AA’ – Amy Lithgow – Airdrie
Off-Field Manager of the Year – ‘AAA’ – Myra Mayuk – Fort McMurray
President’s Award – Brandon Strocki – St. Paul
Ron Hayter Bursary – Brady Moore (Leduc), Justin Davidchuk (Edmonton) and Stefan Podilsky (Edmonton)
Millie Warwick/Betty Carveth Dunn Bursary – Piper Wiklund – Edmonton
Carl Linden Bursary – Brienne Lirette – Sherwood Park
Bob White Memorial Scholarship – Holden Craig – Fort Saskatchewan
Doris Taylor Scholarship – Ava Weeks – St. Albert
Gordie Wilson Memorial Award – Wyatt Webber – Athabasca
11U ‘A’ Player of the Year – Jaycob Graham – Red Deer Braves
11U ‘AA’ Player of the Year – Landon Sweeney – Sherwood Park Athletics Gold
13U ‘A’ Player of the Year – Jared Mercier – Thorsby Bandits
13U ‘AA’ Player of the Year – Ryley Steele – Consort Cubs
13U ‘AAA’ Player of the Year – Ethan Renaud – Okotoks Dawgs
15U ‘A’ Player of the Year – Aiden Brulotte – High Prairie Sauce
15U ‘AA’ Player of the Year – Zach MacDonald – Stettler Storm
15U ‘AAA’ Player of the Year – Cole Dickinson – Calgary Bisons Black
18U ‘A’ Player of the Year – Tanner Werenka – Provost Pilots
18U ‘AA’ Player of the Year – Brett Coulombe – Black Gold 47’s Gold
18U ‘AAA’ Player of the Year – Corbin Lochhead – Neutral Hills Wranglers
18U Elite League Player of the Year – Matthew Murray – Red Deer CarStar Braves
14U Girls Player of the Year – Abby Szilagyi – Okotoks
16U Girls Player of the Year – Claire Hingley – Edmonton
Women’s Open Player of the Year – Tyra Stanich – Calgary
Association of the Year (Small) – Winfield Minor Ball
Association of the Year (Medium) – Lloydminster Minor Baseball
Association of the Year (Large) – Fort McMurray Minor Baseball