Bay Roberts was swept by defending champion Lafontaine Club of Placentia in a best-of-final that concluded Tuesday night at Lions Park, but Doyle got the MVP nod with his two-way showing over the regular season, posting a 9-2 record, 2.30 earned-run average and 111 strikeouts as a pitcher, and fashioning a .450 average at the plate.
Other year-end award-winners announced Wednesday included Patrick O’Leary of Conception Bay Central (comeback player of the year), Jacob Gill of C.B.S. (rookie of the year), Steven Dobbin of Waterford Valley’s Game on Gear (Gold Glove/defensive player of the year) and Matt Power of Roebothan McKay Marshall Republic (sportsmanship and ability).
Chris Thorne of RMM led all batters with a .528 average; O’Leary topped the league with 21 RBIs and tied Troy Leonard of Lafontaine with five home runs; Eric Healey of C.B.C. was first in strikeouts with 114 ;and Johnny Doyle of Lafontaine had the lowest ERA, a miniscule 0.89 over 47 innings.
Leonard (catcher), Doyle (pitcher), O’Leary (infield), Dobbin (infield) and Thorne (utility), were joined on the league all-star team by infielders Peter Kavanagh of Bay Roberts and Mike Gregory of C.B.S., along with outfielders Sheldon Keefe of Lafontaine, Jordan Pomeroy of the Chayee Bourras NL Selects and Andrew Kelly of Game on Gear.
O’Reilly was named MVP of the playoffs that saw Lafontaine go 7-0 in winning its fourth straight title. He pitched the win in Tuesday’s clincher, a game that saw Lafontaine down Bay Roberts 15-6, with Leonard driving in four runs for the winners.
Rylee Costello of Bay Roberts (.474 average) was top batter in the playoffs.
Members of the championship team include Joey Evely, Brent Hatfield, Trevor Hefferan, Keefe, Michael Leonard-Power, Leonard, Paul Maher, Brittany McCarthy, Colby Murphy, Johnny O'Reilly, Matthew O'Reilly, Nick Pittman, Russell Woodman and coach Steven Pittman.
