Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Kyle Pettit was named the Huskies baseball team’s most valuable player during the team’s awards dessert held on May 29.
Other award winners included Sean Anderson for most improved; Tyler Horner and Brad Valloni, rookie of the year; Skyler Bascom, best hustler; Pettit, pitcher of the year and the big stick award; and Greg Sipe and Chaz Davis, golden glove award. The Winford Hackworth sportsmanship, given for sportsmanship to a 15-year-old player, went to Andrew Winslow.
All-league winners were Pettit, Davis and Adam Hummer on second team and Bascom with an honorable mention.
First-year letters went to seniors Sean Anderson and Ray Lingenfelter, juniors Tyler Horner and Brinden Sanders and sophomore Brad Valloni. Second-year letters went to seniors Skyler Bascom, Chaz Davis, Adam Hummer, Adam Matuszak and Robby Wallace and junior Greg Sipe.
Pettit, a senior, received his third letter in the sport.
Players receiving the 100 Club award for never missing any team activity, including practices and games, were Josh Slay, Sipe, Valloni, Davis and Wallace.
Coach Dan Tow recapped the team’s season, which got off to an inauspicious start with several players missing in almost every game of the first half of the season.
“We took a few lumps early,” Tow said. “At least two of the first three, I thought we would have won and maybe the third.
“For the first eight or 10 games, I think we played one game with our whole team there.”
The last half of the season “is really when we played our best baseball,” Tow said. At the end, when the Huskies had some games they had to win, they stuck to it and got it done.
The biggest highlight of the season was the Huskies’ final game against Central to win a state playoff spot, Tow said. That was one of the best games he has ever seen in his 17 years as a coach, and it was also the shortest, finishing in one hour and eight minutes.
Pettit faced only 23 batters on the game, Tow said, with the reminder that there are only 21 outs in a seven-inning game. Pettit pitched only 69 times in the game, just under 10 pitches per inning.
“We had to win,” Tow said. “We knew we had to win, and it was our only shutout of the year.”
Central played well too, Tow said, but the Huskies won it and earned a trip to Seaside.
“North Marion was a fun one,” Tow said. “Even though they’re not in our league any more, it’s always fun to beat them. Our kids played hard. They didn’t give up the whole game.”