MILROY - Lewistown rolled to its fifth straight Mifflin County Babe Ruth title in 2012 and in the process it also gained its sixth Most Valuable Player Award.
The annual award ceremony will take place at 6:30 p.m. at the Armagh Memorial Field today before the Mifflin County-Perry County 14-year-old All-Star game. Also being honored will be the three top teams in the league: Lewistown, Beaver Springs and Reedsville. Also there will be the induction ceremony of Yeagertown's Mike Milliken into the Pennsylvania Babe Ruth Hall of Fame.
Lucas McKay, a 15-year-old, was named the league's MVP. He led the West in hitting with a mark of .559, second highest in the league.
He had 47 hits with 17 of them going for doubles. He also smashed three triples and three home runs and drove in 38 runs.
On the mound he was 4-0 with seven saves. McKay struck out 42, walked 22 and only gave up 22 hits in 37 innings of work. His ERA was 1.32 and his WHIP was 1.19.
Past West MVPs include Chris Tressler in 2004, Kirby Moist in 2008, Hunter Walker in 2009 and Trevor Peachey in 2010. Matt Hilton tied for the award in 2003 as did Connor Muir in 2007.
Fact Box
What: Babe Ruth awards ceremony
When: Saturday, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Armagh Memorial Field
This marked the 40th year for the award as it was started in 1973.
Winning the Outstanding Pitching Award was Belleville's Ross Torquato. The 15-year-old had a 10-1 record with three saves. He accounted for 81.2 percent of Belleville's 16 wins.
He becomes the ninth Belleville pitcher to win the award, which was started in 1974. The last Belleville hurler to win the honor was Jesse Yoder in 2006.
Torquato appeared in 16 games and worked 61 innings. He gave up 39 runs, 56 hits, struck out 83 and walked just 11. His ERA was 1.61 and his WHIP was 1.01.
Winning the league's oldest award, the batting title, was Beaver Springs' Alex Hackenberg. The 14-year-old hit .612 as he was 41 for 67. He is the first player from the Beaver Springs franchise to win a batting title as it is the newest member of the league joining in 2009. The last 14-year-old to win the batting crown was Strodes Mills' Kalen Gearhart in 2000.
Included in Hackenberg's 41 hits were 15 doubles, three triples and two home runs. He drove in 32 runs.
The award is in its 43rd year and was started in 1970.
Two 15-year-olds were co-winners of the John Howe Sportsmanshsip Award for 2012. Winning the award were Yeagertown's Chase Fredericks and Lewistown's Teague Miller.
The sportsmanship award was named after Milroy's John Howe, who had an untimely death after his 1983 Babe Ruth season in which he was on the Mifflin County 13-year-old All-Star team that won a state championship.
