Junior Umpire of the Year – Marcus Kouri • Senior Umpire of the Year – Wendell Kehler

• Junior - Umpire of the Year – Marcus Kouri

• Senior - Umpire of the Year – Wendell Kehler

• Coach of the Year – Mosquito/Pee Wee – Derek Murdoch

• Coach of the Year - BANTAM/MIDGET – Ray Klein/Ken Wall

• Most Valuable Player – MOSQUITO – Connor Choo Foo

• Most Valuable Player – PEEWEE – Ethan Murdoch

• Most Valuable Player - BANTAM – Nathan McGinnis.

• Most Valuable Player – MIDGET – Nathan Braun

• Sharon Hogg Most Outstanding Player Award – Ethan Murdoch

• Sharon Hogg Community Service Award – Nancy Hale

Junior Umpire of the Year Award – Being an umpire is not an easy task. You must manage two teams of players with unique personalities and opinions; opposing teams of coaches who bring their own understanding or misunderstandings of the rules baseball, as well as appease several arm chair critics who believe that they have the luxury of instant recollection. This is even a more arduous task when you are new to umpiring baseball. Through our season I was particularly impressed with the maturity, professionalism and consistency of Marcus Kouri. As a new umpire Marcus had excellent command of the rules, employed a professional yet friendly rapport with players and coaches yet had the confidence and strength to make difficult calls when they were required in a game. In my view Marcus has a bright future in officiating baseball; he is already an umpire with maturity beyond his years. It is for these stated reasons that I would like to nominate Marus Kouri for the Junior Umpire of the year.

Senior Umpire of the Year

This years’ recipient is one of four umpires in Swift Current that has obtained his Level 3 umpire status with Baseball Canada.

* Our senior umpire knows his rules inside and out; I understand that the only thing he knows better his Redhead equipment parts manual.

This umpire has done a variety of levels - house league, AA and AAA league, provincials; had the pleasure of doing two Western Canadian championships when SCMB hosted; this year, did the semis and final game for the Sask Alta league playoffs.

Our award winner loves the game of baseball, ‎loves helping young ballplayers enjoy the game as much as he does, and will do anything he can to help out in any way he can. He was a member of the scmb board of directors for a number of years.

Wendell was a competitor when he played, when he watched his kids play sports, and certainly as an umpire. He loves doing the big games and the good ball.

Please join me in congratulating our senior umpire of the year Wendell Kehler

Mosquito and Pee Wee Coach of the Year

Our first coaching nominee has enjoyed success coaching in our Pee Wee division. This year in addition to competing in the Regina AAA league, he led his team to a 2nd place finish at the Provincial Pee Wee AAA Championships this year.

It was the first time that a Swift Current Pee Wee team competed at AAA Provincials and they held our own against the best teams in the province…knocking off 2 Regina and 2 Saskatoon teams en route to a berth in the final.

Although his team ultimately lost the final game, they earned a berth at the Western Canadian U-13 Championships this August in Saskatoon. During the Western AAA baseball championship they proved to be right there with the best, they would lose a by one run in the last round robin game that would eliminate they from moving on to the finals.

This coach, like the other members of his coaching staff, is extremely passionate about the game, his players, and SCMB. He is an excellent role model in how to do things the “right” way on and off the field both in baseball and on the football gridiron.

Please welcome Derek Murdoch as SCMB Pee Wee Coach of the year.

Throughout history there have been many famous partnerships: Ernie and Bert, Simon and Garfunkel, Starsky and Hutch and Batman and Robin.

Although our next recipients are not fighters of crime, Both have been volunteers in SCMB for a number of years. They have nurtured a passion for baseball in many of their own children and the children of many others during their tenure as volunteers.

Ken Wall and Ray Klein have been sharing their love for baseball for many years. They have worked as a tag team for the last 4 years. They bring with them years of experience and success.

Ken has been coaching our AA teams for the last 7 years from Mosquito to Bantam having 3 provincials championship. Ken was also active on the Board for many years. In his tenure Ray has acted as a coach, a board member and an umpire, and has brought so much knowledge of the game to the kids at a very key time in their development.

Ken and Ray have not only been strong instructors but more importantly taught these players life skills and how to be better people over this time period. This year Ken and Ray went through the Provincial play down and won every game to win the provincial title for Swift Current. They would represent Swift Current and Saskatchewan at the Western Canadian championship in St Albert, where they would go 2 wins and 2 losses and tied for second place in the tournament, putting them in a tie for second place but losing out in the tie breaking calculation. Please congratulate Ken Wall and Ray Klein as coaches of the year (Bantam & Midget division).

Ethan Murdoch was a leader for the AAA Pee Wee Indians both on and off the field. After the AAA provincials weekend, Ethan was batting .482 and leads the team with 10 HR and 44 RBI. On the mound, Ethan leads the team with 55 strikeouts in 12 pitching appearances, including 10 K's in a no-hitter against Melville in the Melville tournament. Ethan is one of the top defensive catchers in the province and recently made the Baseball Sask Pee Wee Selects that will travel to the Pee Wee AAA Nationals tournament in London, Ontario at the end of August. In a players vote for team MVP, Ethan was the overwhelming choice by his peers.

The MVP for the Swift current Bantam Indians for the 2016 season is Nathan McGinnis. Nathan had a terrific year. Defensively, he was a stalwart in the outfield as well as behind the plate. He shouldered the bulk of the load catching and handled each pitcher very well. His complete understanding of the game of baseball and cat-like athleticism made him invaluable as a catcher.

Offensively, Nathan was a leader as well. Playing mostly “AAA” teams and often facing the opposing team’s ace he posted a 0.350 season long batting average with 41 hits and 31 runs scored. During the junior tribe’s undefeated provincial run, he caught 4 of the 5 games played during the weekend, and had a 0.600 batting average, tallying 9 hits on the weekend!

At Western’s, he again caught 3 of the 4 games played, as well as posted a 0.286 batting average against some really tough pitching. Great job Nathan!!

I would like to read the nomination made for the midget player of the year by coach Brenna Pederson: I have had the privilege of coaching Nathan for three years where I have observed many of his excellent qualities. Nathan is a hard working player which has allowed him to become one of the most skilled athletes on our team. He currently leads our team in batting average and RBI’s.

Nathan has also developed himself into one of the best catchers in the Sask. Premier Midget Baseball League. Previous to starting midget baseball, Nathan caught very minimally if at all. This speaks to the work ethic Nathan brought to the field every day. He embraced the catcher’s position and worked hard to improve his skill.

Nathan is a good sport with excellent leadership abilities. He is always complimenting his teammates and encouraging them when they are having a tough day at the ball park. Nathan is a vocal leader with a great sense of humour which lightens the mood in the dugout in tense moments.

Nathan has had a huge impact on our success this season. He has carried the work load behind the plate by catching over three quarters of our games. Being a catcher is a physically demanding job and Nathan never complained about it. I strongly believe our team would not be as successful without Nathan catching. His leadership skills and work ethic make him the perfect player to put behind the plate to lead our team.

It is for the above stated reasons that Nathan Braun has been nominated for the outstanding midget player of the year.

This award is given to a person who has exemplified what it means to be a servant to the community and specifically to Swift Current Minor Baseball.

Winners of this award demonstrate dedication, leadership and consistent promotion of minor baseball in SC either through being involved as an Executive member, a coach, an umpire, a sponsor or as a citizen.

Their work in one way or another has helped shape SC Minor Baseball into the best youth sports organization in Sask. We have one final award before we conclude the evening.

This years’ recipient is Nancy Hale. Nancy has had the treasurer’s position on SCMB for the past 3 years. This position is easily the most complex and thank less position on our executive.

If there is a cheque to write, an invoice to pay, books to balance is falls on the treasurer. If there is a grant application to interpret or to prepare it is the treasurer. If there is a cheque to catch (because it has bounced) or a cheque to chase it was Nancy.

When Nancy came into the position of treasurer, there was no mentorship. There were no notes. Nancy persevered on her own, dug in quietly and figured out what was done and what needed to be done without complaint.

Even when we moved to electronic online registration, Nancy quietly and confidently stepped forward and figured it out.

Nancy was astute, efficient, and incredibly organized. She kept two presidents on track and on budget. With her sons now graduating from SCMB she is retiring from our board. It is for these reasons and for many unlisted reasons why Nancy Hale is our Sharon Hogg Community Service Winner. Thank you Nancy for all of your leadership and support.

Sharon Hogg Most Outstanding Player Award

The Sharon Hogg Most Valuable Player Award will be awarded to the most outstanding player in SC Minor Baseball.

The Sharon Hogg MVP Award winner is selected from a list of nominees comprised of the team MVP’s from the travel teams in our system. The nominees are put forward to the Executive by the coaching staffs of each travel team.

The executive of SCMBA will adopt standardized criteria from which all team nominees are to be chosen by and rules governing the nomination of the individual player.

Each nominee is evaluated on each of the following:

1) Their overall skill level and ability.

2) Sportsmanship, not only on the field but off the field as well

3) Leadership

4) And the impact that player had on the success that his team enjoyed this past season

This player lead his team this season as both a pitcher and a catcher. At the western Canadian AAA championships this player was on fire – he was the top hitter with an .818 batting average. At the recent national under 13 championships his player led his team to a fourth place finish and was named the outstanding catcher of the national u13 championships.