JUCO notebook: Trophies handed out at JUCO

By Staff
Sunday, June 5, 2011

Trophies handed out at JUCO

The awards ceremony after the championship game isn’t just for the winning team.

Among the awards are trophies for the first-, second- and third-place teams, participation patches, the Bus Bergman Coach of the Tournament plaque and the Homa Thomas Sportsmanship award, as well as the all-tournament team and the Preston Walker Most Valuable Player.

Getting the awards organized is no walk in the park.

“Like any major event, we want to recognize those that stood out in their performances,” said Tilman Bishop, who is in charge of the trophies.

Of the awards handed out, Bishop said the first-, second- and third-place trophies, medals for championship teams, and the coach of the year trophy are provided by the NJCAA.

The rest of the trophies, including the Rawlings “Big Stick” hitting award and the Jay W. Tolman Outstanding Defense award are made locally by Arrow Trophies, Bishop said.

A SHELL THAT SELLS

One of the hottest baseball cards at the Alpine Bank Junior College World Series wasn’t that of a player, but of Navarro mascot Rally the Turtle.

The card was sold starting Wednesday inside packs containing the entire Navarro team.

On the card, Rally’s height is listed simply as “small” and his weight as “2 oz dry, 4 oz wet.”

Sean Nickle, sales representative for Colorado Printing Company, said the cards were made Tuesday once hype started building for the mascot and the first batch sold out within minutes Wednesday.

More cards were made available through the rest of the tournament.

Rally was the first mascot put on a card.

WHOA THERE

Central Arizona’s Jordan Weymouth faced an unexpected obstacle while trying to advance on an overthrown ball Saturday — umpire Charles McElroy.

Weymouth was trying to advance to second after Navarro shortstop Brett Doe threw the ball over the head of his first baseman. As Waymouth started to second, he bumped into McElroy

Neither was injured, but Weymouth did not make it to second and was later called out at second in an inning-ending double play.

EXTRA TOUCH

Subtle decorations were added near the dugouts for Saturday’s championship game.

Corresponding chalk logos for each team were placed in the on-deck areas near the dugouts.

BOTTOM’S UP

Entering Saturday’s game, the bottom third of each team’s lineup had players hitting .500 or better.

For Central Arizona, Jorge Flores, who hit ninth, came in with a .643 average, and Mark Shannon, who hit eighth, was hitting .571.

For Navarro, David Harris, the seventh hitter, was hitting .500, and Garret Autrey, who hit eighth, was hitting .583.

ATTENDANCE

Attendance in the championship game was up almost 3,000 people from last year.

Saturday’s final contest between Central Arizona and Navarro drew 11,007 fans, compared to 8,227 at last year’s Saturday championship.

Total tournament attendance over the eight days was 117,821.