ALAH Jr. High Baseball Holds Awards Night

The Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond jr. high baseball team held their awards night on Wednesday, October 8 at the high school. These three players were selected for the team’s special awards. From left to right: Drake Hopkins, Knight Award, Jaleb Burnett, MVP, and Carter Fleming, Most Improved.

By SALLY McCARTHY

The Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond jr. high baseball team held their awards night on Wednesday, October 8 in the high school cafeteria.

Head Coach David McGrath opened the evening by thanking the parents, helpers-concessions, game changer, Assistant Coach Kirby for taking care of the little things and finally his wife for allowing him time to coach both jr. high and high school baseball.

Coach McGrath then gave a season summary mentioning the program have been Jr. High Okaw Conference champions four out of the last five years, they had close losses this season, the players worked hard to get better every day by competing with each other and the other teams.

He mentioned that this team, while not his most successful was the most enjoyable of his seven years at the jr. high level because they got along, hustled, and worked hard.

Assistant Coach Spencer Kirby spoke next and thanked Coach McGrath and the team for allowing him time to do things he needed to do and stated that he enjoys jr. high and watching the players come up all they way through high school.

The coaches recognized the players by grade starting with the sixth graders who were Dallin Bayless, Abe Binion, Kyzer Carter, and Reed Kingery. The seventh grade was next and those players were Adlee Berry, Nate Blaudow, Carter Fleming, Bryson Griffith, Drake Hopkins, Bowyer McGrath, Daxton Stutzman, and Lane Tiffin. Eighth graders who were called up were Silas Binion, Jace Burnett, Jacoby Burnett, Jaleb Burnett, Abel Lat, and Griffin Ponder.

Coach McGrath then presented three special awards. First was Most Improved and coach mentioned “this player showed the most improvement from last year to this by contributing to the team in big ways and was one who worked outside of and in practice” and that was Carter Fleming.

Next up was the Knight Award which coach uses the acronym-A-academics, L-leadership, A-attitude, and H-hustle. The player chosen for this award was a “good teammate, helped out, was a fantastic base runner and a joy to have.” And that player was Drake Hopkins. The last award was the Most Valuable Player and the recipient was an “all around player-top hitter and one of the best pitchers I have had in jr. high, he was able to dominate games and I am looking forward to watching him grow and mature in high school.” Jaleb Burnett was named the MVP.

Coach concluded by wishing the eighth graders the best and looking forward to seeing them in high school. He told the sixth and seventh graders he was looking forward to having them back in 2026. He also told all the players that no matter what skill level you have to keep working and big things can happen; the possibilities are endless. He also encouraged them to play as many sports as they can and to try track in the spring as they would be better for it.