Players and coaches from the provincial champion Brandon Marlins 13U AAA team were recognized at the 2018 Baseball Manitoba Awards Banquet this past Saturday in Winnipeg.

Dave Martine was selected the High Performance Coach of the Year.

"It's an honour obviously," said Martine. "You have the kids and you have the coaches working with you all year. To get to this point, winning means a lot obviously and my own kids, my family, the players, the whole thing - getting the team award is bigger than my award for sure but it is an honour to be named Coach of the Year for sure."

The Marlins, who rallied from an early 5-0 deficit to beat Oildome 9-7 in the Provincial AAA final at West St. Paul and finished in fourth place at the Westerns in Brandon, were named the High Performance Team of the Year in the Minor Category.

"I always say lots of teams get medals but there is only one team that gets named Team of the Year in Manitoba and that's a huge accomplishment," said Martine. "The kids are proud and so are we."

Manitoba's 14U girls team, which included Darbi Poole of McAuley and Michayla Peacock & Emily Foster of Somerset, were named the Grassroots Team of the Year. Team Manitoba brought home silver medals from the Canadian Western 14U Championship in Spruce Grove this past summer.

 

Dave Martine & Baseball Manitoba's Nicole Madsen

2018 Baseball Manitoba Award Recipients
Challenger Player of the Year: Alysaa White (Winnipeg)
Youth Umpire of the Year: Ethan Holland (Winnipeg)
Larry Nicholls - Umpire Award of Merit: Murray Lawrence (Steinbach)
13U (Pee Wee) Player of the Year: Hugh Montgomery (Bonivital)
15U (Bantam) Player of the Year: Juni Song (Winnipeg South)
18U (Midget) Player of the Year: Shayne Campbell (Bonivital)
21U (Junior) Player of the Year: Nik Kauenofen (Carillon)
Female Player of the Year: Brittney Langlais (Garson)
Senior AA Player of the Year: Chris Moffatt (Morden)
Volunteers of the Year: Roger & Gail Langlais (Garson)
Grassroots Coach of the Year: Dean Sproule (Niverville)
High Performance Coach of the Year: Dave Martine (Brandon)
Grassroots Team of the Year: 14U Girls Team Manitoba
High Performance Team of the Year Minor: 13U AAA Brandon Marlins
High Performance Team of the Year Major: Morden Mohawks
Honour Society Inductees: Gerald Palidwor (Dugald), Gerald Ouellette (Winnipeg) & Ron Shewchuk (Minnedosa)
Baseball Manitoba Region of the Year: Carillon

 

Baseball Manitoba president Tony Siemens reflected on the association's 50th anniversary season

 

photos courtesy Patti Hacault