Western Counties baseball recognizes Chatham coaches and umpire
Three Chatham natives were honoured by Western Counties Baseball Association for their efforts this past season.
Paul Ketchum won the association’s umpire award, while Pat McMahon and Michael Dozis were named as coaches of the year.
Western Counties concluded their season by naming player, coach, umpire and volunteer of the year.
Wyoming’s Clayton Armstrong was named player of the year and Sarnia’s John Vasey won volunteer of the year.
Ketchum has been a long time umpire in the Chatham area. He won the Chatham minor baseball’s senior umpire of the year in 2012.
The following is an unattributed quote from the Western Counties website.
“Paul will take the time to explain to the kids why he made the call or even help offer advice to help the kids improve their own skills. Paul is 100 percent there for the kids and seeing the smile on his face each game can’t help but bring joy to others. With his many years of experience, he is the most respected umpire I know.”
Pat McMahon and Michael Dozois have been long time coaches with Chatham minor baseball. Here’s a quote about the pair from the Western Counties website.
“These nonparent volunteers have stepped up to coach the 14U Chatham diamonds team the last two-seasons. Pat and Mike have coached many teams over the past 20-30 years, and they are the most dedicated coaches I have ever seen.
Pat took the team from one of the worst in Ontario, to OBA champions through tireless efforts with extra practices and games. The team had only 3-4 pitchers when they started, and Mike has transformed the entire team into serviceable pitchers. Players were asked where they wanted to contribute to the team and when all 13 players showed an interest in pitching Pat found extra practice time and game play to make it all work out. It is incredible to see the effort these men have put in to not only improve the players skills but also the maturity and accountability life lessons as well. I for one feel blessed to have had the opportunity to work and learn from them.”