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Beever, Mackedenski win SWBL awards

By Robin Wark

“I was super honoured when I found out, but honestly pretty surprised, too,” he said. “There are other guys in this league who are also deserving. Even on our own team, Beevs is such a fantastic pitcher and so to get recognized like this alongside guys like that is pretty awesome.”

The Lethbridge (Alta.) Polytechnic student impressed this summer with a 3-0 record in the regular season and league-best 0.29 earned-run average. Mackedenski fanned 34 batters and walked only two over 24 innings.

Mackedenski twice struck out nine batters during regular season games. He allowed only one earned run all season. What allowed him to be successful?

“I mean, everyone loves getting strikeouts, but you can't rely on that every inning,” Mackedenski said. “I think a big part of my success was just trusting the guys behind me. When I couldn't get the strikeout, I knew my defense could get us out of innings. Having that kind of trust in my team let me just step up and throw with confidence.”

Other Awards

The Reston Rockets’ Jamie Williamson batted .579 to win the SWBL batting championship. Brock Fisher of the Wawanesa Brewers received the Mark Minor Award. The prestigious honour is “awarded to a player or team official that shows dedication to the team and community, and is named to honour the memory of former Lyleton Leaf Mark Minor.”

For 22 years, Fisher has been valuable and versatile for the Brewers. This year he spearheaded the purchase of a team bus that not only benefited the Wawanesa baseball team but also minor ball squads and will be used by the Jets, the community's senior hockey team, in the winter.

A pair of Rivers Comets were taken aback when they were honoured with South West Baseball League awards. For the third straight season, Scott Beever was named the senior loop’s Most Valuable Player.

In what the league called “one of the closest votes in recent years,” Beever was selected as the MVP by a single vote over the Oak River Dodgers’ Ty Paddock and John Patmore of the Reston Rockets. Comets teammate Hayden Mackedenski made a big impact in his first full SWBL campaign. He was named the league’s Rookie of the Year and Top Pitcher while winning the Earned Run Average title.

“Scott and Hayden are a ton of fun to watch,” Comets player Owen Wareham said. “As a catcher, those guys make my job pretty easy. We are very lucky to have those guys on our team.”

Scott Beever

Despite winning the MVP award for the third straight season, Beever said, “For me winning the MVP was a bit of a surprise. There were a lot of deserving players nominated this year. "For yet another summer, Beever was dominant on the mound. He paced the SWBL with 51 strikeouts during the regular season.

He had three wins and a save. In 35 1/3 innings, Beever posted a 2.38 earned-run average. He struck out 11 in a 14-0 July 2 win over the Oak River Dodgers and 10 in a June 3 8-0 shutout of the Brandon Young Guns. Beever had two other outings where he struck out nine. At the plate, during the regular season, Beever drove in eight runs and batted .243.

On July 2 against the Dodgers, he hit a home run and drove in five runs. Although the MVP award is based on regular-season performance, Beever continued his strong play in the SWBL postseason. He had a 2-1 record with 35 strikeouts and a 1.91 earned-run average in 22 innings during the playoffs. Beever also batted .429 in the postseason and drove in six runs.

Hayden Mackedenski

When Mackedenski learned of the awards he won, his reaction was similar to Beever’s.