These Are Your MVPs

Maurice Wilhelm pitching in the Bundesliga baseball championship series 2017 PC: Thomas Schoenenborn

As we look ahead to 2018, folks across Europe are being recognized for their accomplishments in the 2017 season. While some organizations have ceremonies yet to come, many have already handed out their top awards.

Austria

Baseball

Championship MVP:

Ryan Rupp - Attnang-Puchheim Athletics

Eastern Division

Best Batter: Andrew Schenk - Stock City Cubs

Best Pitcher: Christian Tomsich - Vienna Wanderers

MVP: Eric Grabe - Traiskirchen Grasshoppers

Gold Gloves: Pitcher: Chance Hicks - Vienna Metrostars Catcher: Chet Lauer - Vienna Wanderers 1st Base: John David Little II - Traiskirchen Grasshoppers 2nd Base: Moritz Scheicher - Wr. Neustadt Diving Ducks 3rd Base: Hubert Weiser - Vienna Metrostars Shortstop: Eric Grabe - Traiskirchen Grasshoppers Left Field: Andrew Oberthaler - Vienna Wanderers Center Field: Tobias Schermer - Vienna Metrostars Right Field: Maximilian Wenger-Oehn - Vienna Wanderers

Coach of the Year: Hiroyuki Sakanashi Vienna Wanderers

Western Division

Best Batter: Anthony Lopez - Dornbirn Indians

Best Pitcher: Ryan Rupp - Attnang-Puchheim Athletics

MVP: Steven Johnson - Attnang-Puchheim Athletics Pitcher Michael Calkins - Dornbirn Indians Catcher Andre Gruber - Attnang-Puchheim Athletics 1st Base Michael Salzmann - Dornbin Indians 2nd Base Jose Ruiz - Hintergrund Hard Bulls 3rd Base Martin Gruber -Attnang-Puchheim Athletics Shortstop Erwin Vals Frias - Hintergrund Hard Bulls Center field Joachim Frick - Dornbirn Indians Right field Richard Kranabetter - Hintergrund Hard Bulls

Coach of the Year: David Burns Attnang-Puchheim Athletics

Softball

Best Batter - Lindsey Thomas - Vienna Wanderers

Best Pitcher - Julia Morrow - Sharx

MVP - Martina Lackner - Witches Linz

Golden Gloves:

Pitcher - Amber Shisler - Witches Linz Catcher - Ina Kaindl - Wr. Neustadt Crazy Chichlets 1st Base - Chiara Voglsam - Witches Linz 2nd Base - Verena Ponweiser - Wr. Neustadt Crazy Chichlets 3rd Base - Lauren DuToit - Vienna Wanderers Shortstop - Mara Benckendorff - Wr. Neustadt Crazy Chichlets Left field - Emi Mittmannsgruber - Pee Wees St. Pölten Center field - Lisa Rachbauer - Witches Linz Right field - Louise McGarry - Wr. Neustadt Crazy Chichlets

Czech Republic

Baseball

Top Pitcher - Brammer Dylan Michael – Skokani Olomouc

Top Batter - Hejma Matej – Eagles Praha

Softball

Men

Best Batter - Patrik Kopečný from Žraloci Ledenice

Best Pitcher - Michael Holobradek of the Hippos

Playoff MVP - Michael Holobradek of the Hippos

Women

Best Batter - Lucie Halakucova - Žraloci Ledenice

Best Pitcher - Veronika Peckova - Žraloci Ledenice

Playoff MVP - Lucie Halakucova - Žraloci Ledenice

Finland

Awards Ceremony takes place on January 13, 2018

France

Baseball

Best Batter: Jacques Boucheron - Montpellier Barracudas

Best ERA :Owen Ozanich - Rouen Huskies

Best W/L Record: Jean Carlos Granados - Rouen Huskies

MVP Jonathan Jaspe - Rouen Huskies

Softball

Men

Best hitter: Henri Francois - Montpellier Barracudas

Best pitcher: Sebastien Gervasutti - Cavigal Nice

MVP: Juan Carlos Macia - Montpellier Barracudas

Women

Best hitter: Pauline Prade - Toulon Comaches

Best pitcher: Sarah Benchali - Toulon Comaches

Final MVP: Céline Lassaigne - Toulon Comaches

Germany

Baseball

Awards were handed out in both the North and South division of the Bundesliga I.

North Division

MVP: Maurice Wilhelm (pictured above), of the Bonn Capitals, played 1st and pitched 30 innings over 10 games where he gave up just two earned runs earning him a .30 ERA. He also struck out 31 batters. On offense he had 22 hits, 3 homers and 14 runs as well as 29 RBIs. And that was just the first half of the season.

During interleague play, new this year as a play down format in the Bundesliga, Wilhelm pitched another 39.1 innings and offensively racked up 11 more runs off 28 hits over 90 plate appearances. He had 6 more dingers, knocking in his teammates 25 more times as well.

Best Pitcher: Lefty Dustin Ward - Hamburg Stealers

Best Batter: The Dohren Wild Farmers, who were new to the Bundesliga I this year, had the best batter in the North. Caleb Fenimore, a 26-year old American from Rushville, Indianam hit .424 in 24 games with 8 homers and 5 doubles.

South Division

MVP: Gary Owens - Heidenheim Heideköpfe

Best Pitcher: 26-year old LHP Ryan Bollinger, who was born in California and played for the Munich-Haar Disciples in 2017, had 18 Ks in a single game! That helped him reach a new Bundesliga record of 178 strikeouts in the regular season; 14 over the record set just four years ago. Bollinger had a 10-1 record and a .76 ERA. Over 106 innings he allowed just 12 walks. Ryan pitched 4 shutouts and 6 complete games. The opposition batting average against him sat at a measly .145 over 13 starts.

Best Batter: As if being both player and coach weren’t enough Max Boldt became the Best Batter, not just for the Mainz Athletics, but the whole Southern division. He posted a .471 batting average with 11 homeruns – 6 of which were scored as twin sets over 3 games - 41 RBIs and 25 walks. Six times in the regular season he had at least 3 hits/game.

Hungary

Baseball

MVP - Dániel Erdélyi - Budapest Reds

Softball

MVP - Éva Papacsek - Hungarian Astros

Player/Coach Lisa Maulden of the Budapest Reds was named MVP of Softball EuroLeague for 2017

Italy

Awards ceremony on January 27, 2018

The Netherlands

Baseball

The batting award is divided between accomplishments and for the second year running Aruban catcher Gianison Boekhoudt, from Curaçao Neptunus, won the title of Homerun King with 8 dingers on the year. Rick Kuipers, of Pickles UVV, took home the Stolen Bases award with 14.

Best Pitcher – L&D Amsterdam pitcher Rob Cordemans receives his 10th Best Pitcher title since 1999 tying a 46 year old record. With an ERA of 1.58 on the season he remained unbeaten throughout the 2017 season racking up a 10-0 record in the regular season. Cordemans held the opposition to a .180 average, giving up just 13 runs over 74 innings while striking out 68.

Best Hitter - Belgium-born Benjamin Dille, who played for Rotterdam’s Curaçao Neptunus, finished the season with a .448 average, the best in Honkbal in the last 18 years.

MVP - Danny Rombley - L&D Amsterdam

Coach of the Year – Ronald Jaarsma - Curaçao Neptunus

Softball

MVP – For the 2nd year in a row FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem catcher Dinet Oosting was named Golden League MVP. She received three personal awards throughout the event, including Best Hitter, with an untouchable average of .536, and Most Stolen Bases (21). She led the league in nearly every offensive category this season with most runs scored (40), most base hits (45), most RBIs (37) and most walks (19). The one offensive title she failed to run away with was the Homerun Queen Award. That honor was bestowed upon Karin Tuk, catcher for Sparks Haarlem.

Best Pitcher - DSS player Dagmar Bloeming takes this trophy, also for the second year running. She posted a 1.30 ERA on the season with 138 strikeouts over 108 innings.

Coach of the Year: Stanley Doney - FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem

Spain

Baseball

Best Hitter: Michel Rodríguez - Astros Valencia

Best Pitcher (ERA): Anthony Vizcaya - CBS Sant Boi

MVP: Michel Rodríguez - Astros Valencia

Both baseball and softball named their top batters MVP of the league for 2017. Rodgriguez had not only the top batting average, .440, but the tops for his team in slugging percentage (.901), on-base percentage (.541) most hits (40), most home runs (11) and the most RBIs (48) for the season. For good measure, he also topped the list in total bases with 82 all while maintaining a .905 fielding percentage at 3rd.

Softball

On softball’s side it was a clean sweep for the San Sebastián bench who took tops not only in the championship series but in all three individual awards categories for 2017.

Best Hitter: Elena Ayuso - Atlético San Sebastián

Best Pitcher: Ane Barandiarán - Atlético San Sebastián

MVP: Elena Ayuso - Atlético San Sebastián

With an average of .609, MVP and top batter Elena Ayuso maintained a .953 slugging percentage and .623 on-base percentage, while scoring 20 runs off 39 hits and batting in 24. She also lead her bench in both doubles (9) and triples (5) and took a total of 61 bases throughout the season. A designated pitcher for the season with a 1.21 ERA, Ayuso started 6 games and won 5 and lost 1 while striking out 13 looking in her 29 innings of work.

Pitcher Ane Barandiarán finished the season with a 0.66 ERA a win/loss percentage of 1.000 and an opposing batting average of .158. She had 9 wins on the season and 1 save over 64 innings of work. She averaged 1 K/inning finishing the year with 64 strikeouts over her 13 appearances. She not only started 9 games but she finished 4 of them. When it wasn’t her day with the ball, she still came in and helped out the pen pitching 4 games in relief.

Switzerland

Baseball

MVP: Taylor Eichhorst – Sissach Frogs

Best Batter: Rob Sedin – Zürich Challengers

Best Pitcher: Lukas Croton – Therwil Flyers

Softball

MVP: Adeline Glauser – Therwil Flyers

Best Batter: Corina Casparis – Luzern Eagles

Best Pitcher: Corina Grass – Zürich Barracudas

Softball Euroleague

Women

Best Batter - Michaela Pavli Pavlackova - Apollo Bratislava, Slovakia

Best Pitcher - Miriamka Gombíková - Trnava Panthers, Slovakia

MVP – Lisa Maulden – Budapest Reds, Hungary

Maulden was not only named the MVP of Softball Euroleague but was awarded the Best Hitter Award at Finkstonball in June. The Reds player/coach is currently playing in Auckland, New Zealand for the Western Magpies over the winter and was hired as Softball Recruitment Manager for Baseball Jobs Overseas following the 2017 season.

#Italy #Finland #Netherlands #Hungary #Austria #Spain #catalan #Switzerland #Germany #France #CzechRepublic #SoftballEurope #lovesoftball #softball #baseball #ソフトボール #野球