The Mapleton Little League 2020 summer season concluded Aug. 15 with two events.
Early in the afternoon, the league held their annual home run derby. The league’s 12 long ball hitters competed against each other to see who could hit the most home runs.
This year’s contest was a battle to the end between Tyler Hart, a member of the Doyen Farms team, and Ben Straetz of the GPS team. Four rounds of hitting were needed to ultimately crown Ben Straetz as the Mapleton Little League Home Run Champion for 2020.
The 2020 Mapleton Little League Championship Team is the team sponsored by Buck Construction. Pictured here are the team members and their coaches. Starting with the back row from left to right are: Coach Mike Brazier, Coach Matt Porter, Aaron Chase, Madison Brazier, Brandon Porter, Denver Miller, Josiah Hundley Mondello, Josh Harvell, Trent Mastro, and Coach Travis Mastro. In the front row are: Hudson Porter, Jackson Greaves, Aubrey Miller, Jackson Brooks, and Maggie Brazier. (Courtesy of Terry Sandusky)
Mapleton Little League’s Most Valuable Player Award winners are, from left: Buck Construction’s Brandon Porter, GPS’s Eli Jandreau, Doyen Farms’ Blake King and Buck Farms’ Carter Vigue. Missing from Photo is Mapleton Lions’ Hunter Cunningham. (Courtesy of Terry Sandusky)
The rock stars for Mapleton Little League are the home run hitters. From left are: Blake King, the regular season home run king, having hit five home runs this season; Ben Straetz, who holds his home run balls as well as his trophy for being the 2020 home run derby champion; Tyler Hart who hit a home run during the regular season; and Eli Mosher, who hit the first home run of the season. (Courtesy of Terry Sandusky)
The annual championship game was played between GPS and Buck Construction. The GPS Team finished in first place at the end of regular season play with Buck Construction taking second place. Buck Construction was the only team to win against the GPS team during the regular season. The two teams won their post season playoff games to make the championship game.
Both teams came to win, and at the end of the six innings Buck Construction came away as the winner and claimed the championship trophy. This was Buck Construction’s third consecutive annual championship win.
Following the championship game, a number of recognitions and awards were given to the league players. One of the special moments was the presentation of all the home run balls hit during the season. This presentation is a tradition in Mapleton Little League, in which the collection of every home run ball hit all season is presented to the players who hit them.
Eli Mosher of the Buck Construction Team hit the first home run by any player.. Also Tyler Hart of Team Doyen Farms was a home run hitter. Ben Straetz of Team GPS, the post season home run derby champion, was presented with his two home run balls. Doyen Farms player Blake King was the regular season home run king, having hit five home runs this season.
The final season standings were announced at the awards presentation. The regular season standings were: 1, GPS, 7-1; 2, Buck Construction, 6-2; 3, Buck Farms, 3-4; 4, Mapleton Lions, 2-6; and 5, Doyen Farms, 1-6.
Each year Individual team awards are presented to team members who either showed the most improvement as a player or worked hard to help the team succeed. The most improved recognition went to: Buck Construction’s Denver Miller, GPS’s Bodey McPherson, Buck Farms’ Mason Henderson, Doyen Farms’ Oliver Woollard and Mapleton Lions’ Griffin Berry.
The Coach’s Awards for team support and performance went to: Buck Construction’s Aaron Chase, GPS’s Cameron Dennett, Buck Farms’ Charles Doyen, Doyen Farms’ Lucas Wood and Mapleton Lions’ Brady Barnes.
The last special awards were the Most Valuable Player Awards. These awards are voted on by all coaches in the league, as well as the umpires. Most Valuable Player Award winners were: Buck Construction’s Brandon Porter, GPS’s Eli Jandreau, Doyen Farms’ Blake King, Buck Farms’ Carter Vigue and Mapleton Lions’ Hunter Cunningham.
The Mapleton Little League initiated an element of community service with the league’s teams. This community service project is known as the annual cereal bowl competition, as it is a competition between the teams to see how many boxes of cereal can be collected for the Mapleton Community Food Pantry. This third year of the competition will help feed people in our community who are in need.
The 2020 teams collected just shy of 600 boxes of cereal. The team who collected the most cereal, 192 boxes, was Doyen Farms, making them the Cereal Bowl Champions of 2020. The team’s name will be inscribed on a plaque that is on display at the Town Office, but at the awards presentation they received additional prizes for their efforts of a bag of kettle corn from County Kettle Corn and a certificate good for a slush drink from Mapleton One Stop.
As the ceremony closed, Jake Graham, Mapleton Recreation Program Director, thanked all the volunteer coaches, the players’ parents, team sponsors and other Mapleton Little League sponsors whose support made the 2020 baseball season a success.
Mapleton Little League proved to be the single largest event in the tri-town area and everyone is looking forward to next year when a full season can be played.
Terry Sandusky is the Star-Herald correspondent for Mapleton, Chapman and Castle Hill and can be reached at 764-4916 or at starherald.Tsandusky@gmail.com.
