Bolton Brewers clean up at North Dufferin awards ceremony

March 15, 2018 · 0 Comments

By Jake Courtepatte
with information from NDBL
The reigning North Dufferin Baseball League champions added some more hardware to their trophy case at the AA league’s annual awards ceremony.
Held in Lisle Sunday, three different Brewers were honoured for their accomplishments on the field last season in the senior division.
Mike Wallace was the big winner of the event, taking home three of the most prestigious titles, including Best Batter, Best On-base Percentage, and the division’s Most Valuable Player.
The power hitter’s .527 batting average was far and away the top in the league, while his 39 hits tied that of only his teammate, Brett Chater.
Trent Barwick was named the league’s top pitcher, after accumulating a perfect 7-0 record in 2017 while striking out 34 batters.
The Brewers are returning champs in the NDBL for the first time since they left the league in 2013, having won the four previous years before joining the AAA Greater Toronto Baseball League.
They took just five games to defeat the regular season champion New Lowell Knights in last year’s Strother Cup final.
The Dodgers, Bolton’s other North Dufferin representative, also made the ballot as Michael Gemmiti was named the Most Sportsmanlike Player for the third year in a row.
Fresh off an 8-20-0 season in 2017, the Dodgers will be looking to return to the postseason for the third time in four years.
League business was taken care of at the annual general meeting following the awards ceremony, where it was announced the senior division would be dropping to 14 teams after a leave of absence was granted to the Newmarket Cornhuskers.
The season will also be shortened from a 30-game schedule to 26 games. Official schedules will be released in early April, though the season is set to begin in the first week of May.
Others honoured included Trevor Foster, who plays for the Mansfield Cubs, who picked up three titles in the junior division including best batter with a .500 average, most runs scored with 19, and he was named the most sportsmanlike player.
Sam DeCock from Midland Twins and Brandon Peart from New Lowell Knights tied with Foster for the most runs. Peart also won the best on-base percentage award with an average of .586.
Nathan Lennox of the Lisle Astros won two awards, taking top spot with the most home runs and he was named the most valuable player, sharing the award with Jordan Metz of the Mansfield Cubs.
New Lowell’s Kashtin Winchester won the best pitcher title.
Cale McLean of the Midland Indians hit 14 home runs in 2017 to take top spot in that category. McLean’s performance is the best since the award was first established in 2000.
Drew Huerter of the Orangeville Giants was voted the best catcher.
New Lowell’s Peter Kinghan was named the coach of the year.
Outgoing past president Chris Esson was recognized with a plaque for his three-years of service on the executive by president Tyler Linger.
Rob Perkins was elected vice-president. Jesse McIntyre will be the president with Tyler Linger moving to past-president. Scott Anderson and Dan Gowan were elected to secretary and treasurer respectively. Gowan will be serving his 34th year in the position with Anderson in his 12th. Peter Kinghan was acclaimed as the statistician.

The North Dufferin Baseball League hosted a ceremony Sunday to present 2017 season awards. Pictured after receiving their awards are (back) Trevor Foster, Peter Kinghan, Trent Barwick, Cale McLean, (front) Kashtin Winchester, Drew Huerter, Mike Wallace and Chris Esson.
Photo by David Anderson

Trent Barwick was one of three Bolton Brewers to pick up an award at Sunday’s North Dufferin Baseball League awards ceremony, earning the nod as Best Pitcher.
Photo by Jake Courtepatte