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May 22, 2009

Pioneers close season with banquet, say goodbye to collection of seniors

Ron Holt — Special to the NewsPress

Seniors were presented top honors at Stillwater High’s annual baseball banquet Wednesday.

SHS, 14-16, recently wrapped up the season in a Class 6A Regional Tournament in Sand Springs. The Pioneers defeated top-10-ranked Choctaw in the opening round but were eliminated after losses to eventual regional champion Muskogee and Sand Springs.

Senior catcher Kale Gaden and senior shortstop Michael Patman were named the team’s Co-Offensive Most Valuable Players and senior right-hander Korbin Kenmore was named Pitching MVP.

Junior second baseman Griffith Roark was presented the Defensive MVP award. The annual Brad Holt Pioneer Pride Award was given to senior pitchers Nick Julkowski and Brian Todhunter.

“It was a good banquet,” said coach Tony Holt. “We gave all the senior players and managers Stillwater Pioneer pullovers with their names written on them.

“We also watched a superb DVD of the season that Tami Gaden put together. I was holding up fine but the video started getting to me when it got to the part about the seniors.”

Patman, who signed with Butler County Community College in El Dorado, Ks., emerged as the Pioneers’ leading hitter, finishing with a .439 batting average. He contributed 12 doubles, six home runs and led the team with 33 runs-batted-in.

Gaden, a University of Missouri-signee, was close behind his teammate. He finished with a batting average of .434 and ended with a team-high 13 doubles and two triples, while clubbing five homers. He drove in 31 runs, scored 30 times and had a team-high eight stolen bases.

Roark had a productive junior season, finishing with a .372 batting average. He hit two home runs, drove in 16 runs and led the team in runs scored with 31.

Sophomore pitcher/first baseman Matt Brown finished with a.308 batting average and drove in 12 runs. As a team, the Pioneers hit .305.

Kenmore, who signed with Northern Oklahoma-Enid Junior College, led the Pioneers on the mound. He ended with a 7-3 record and an impressive 1.89 earned run average. The talented right-hander fanned 51 and walked 11 in 66 and 1/3 innings of work.

Senior Tyler Scribner and Brown each were 2-3 on the season. SHS had a team earned run average of 4.56.

SHS will have holes to fill next season, replacing Gaden, Patman, Kenmore, Scribner, Nick Julkowski, Blake Zimmerman and Shaun Brinker and Brian Todhunter.

“This was a good group of seniors. They are all good kids and students,” Holt said. “They made it easy because we had very few problems. We weren’t where we wanted to be this season but if you look at it as far as improving and having fun this was a successful season.”

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