Ryder Peace wins Wannamaker Award

By John Sherman
Ryder Peace of Shakopee Post 2's baseball team receives the Free Wannamaker Award for Outstanding Player in the Tournament. From left are Post 2 Coach Dave Johnson, Peace and Minnesota American Legion Commander Linda Dvorak.

ST. MICHAEL — While the focus of the Minnesota Division I American Legion Baseball Tournament was securing the team title, members of the Post 2 team from Shakopee were pleased to have one of their own, outfielder Ryder Peace, as the Fred Wannamaker Award winner.

Each year, the last award of the day following the championship game is the Wannamaker, which goes to the tournament’s most outstanding player.

It was an easy selection Aug. 3, based on Peace’s overall statistics in the tournament and his clutch performance during a 13-9 win over Grand Rapids in the championship game.

Peace hit two home runs in the tournament and drove in 15 runs. His batting average of .533 was one of the best in the tournament.

The game-tying RBI in the seventh inning of the championship game was a base hit to right field by Peace. Several more timely hits followed and Shakopee was well on its way to winning.

Fifteen All-Tournament Team members were announced Aug. 3 at St. Michael’s Lower Rec Field before the announcement of Wannamaker Award, which goes to the most outstanding player each year.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

Pitchers: Sam Dick of Grand Rapids, Parker Erickson of East Grand Forks, Evan Newlander of White Bear Lake and Karl Schiebe of Hopkins.

Catchers: Kyle Albrecht of New Ulm Gold and Tyler Hand of Fridley Gold.

Infielders: Gavin Becker of St. Michael, Ethan Morgan of Grand Rapids, Lukas Niederkorn of Hastings, Carson Schroeder of Shakopee, Rob Shull of Hopkins and Alex Wegwerth of Grand Rapids.

Outfielders: Nick Johnson of Shakopee, Ryder Peace of Shakopee and Griffin Wimmer of Alexandria.