24 August 2007

THIS WEEK IN THE CAPE LEAGUE
2007
PAT SORENTI 
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER AWARD

 

     The 2007 Cape Cod Baseball League season was a summer of recognition for Falmouth third baseman Conor Gillaspie (Wichita State). After the Commodores fell short in their battle with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox for the Cape Cod Baseball League championship, the Omaha, Neb., native was named the 2007 recipient of the Pat Sorenti Most Valuable Player Award.

Conor Gillaspie, Falmouth Commodores SportsPix 2007

     Gillaspie had already captured the Thurman Munson Award as CCBL batting champion and his stellar season and countless contributions to the Commodores’ successful march to the championship finals will long be remembered. 

     In a season of big-name pitchers and heavy wood bats, Gillaspie proved he was the toughest out in the league. The lefty slugger was at the top of almost every individual offensive category. He compiled a league-best .345 batting average while also finishing first in slugging percentage (.673) and extra-base-hit (21), second in doubles (12) and on-base percentage (.448) and third in home runs (7).

     While his individual statistics were impressive, it was his consistent performance which separated him from the pool of worthy MVP candidates. 

     Gillaspie started 32 games at third base for Falmouth, committing only four errors. He representing the Commodores at the 2007 CCBL All-Star Game in July as the West Division’s starting third baseman and he was named Falmouth’s team MVP. 

     Gillaspie also led the Commodores at .375 with two RBI and three hits in Falmouth’s divisional playoff sweep of the first-place Bourne Braves. He did not appear in the finals against Y-D because he had to return to school for the start of the fall semester. 

Conor Gillaspie, Falmouth Commodores SportsPix 2007

    During his first year at Wichita State, Gillaspie was chosen by Collegiate Baseball as a first team Freshmen All-America for his .352 batting average, 67 RBI and seven home runs. As a sophomore this past spring, he hit .325 with a team-leading 24 doubles and 64 RBI. 

     Gillaspie joins a long list of notable recipients of the Sorenti MVP award, including Boston Red Sox catcher and captain Jason Varitek (Hyannis ’93), Tampa Bay Devil Rays first baseman Carlos Pena (Wareham ’97) and Chicago White Sox center fielder Darin Erstad (Falmouth ’94).

     The man for whom the award is named, Dante “Pat” Sorenti, was associated with the Cape League for nearly a half-century. He was a player with the Osterville franchise in the 1920s, president and field manager of the Sagamore team during the 1940s and a league administrator in the 1950s.

     Pat is credited with forming the first Little League program on Cape Cod in the early 1950s and he served as a “birddog” on the Cape for Boston Braves chief New England scout, Jeff Jones. Pat passed away in 1971, survived by his two daughters, Patricia Sanford and Marcia Huff. His contributions to baseball were formally recognized in 2003 when he was posthumously inducted into the Cape Cod Baseball League’s Hall of Fame. 

By Erica Bailey, CCBL Intern, bailey@capecodbaseball.org
 

Interns 2007: Erica Bailey, John Hannemann, Liz Hoffman,
Gabriella Remington, Kevin Wolfe