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CRVL hands out awards for 2023 season
BYKIPKOVAR Herald Journal Sports Editor
PLATO – The Crow River Valley League once again had another successful season in 2023 . Waconia , Plato , Green Isle , and Carver all represented the CRVL at the Class C state amateur baseball tournament this past summer . Young America also qualified for the Class A / B state tournament in their final year before returning to Class C .
The CRVL as a whole put a bow on the season at their recent October meeting . At the meeting , the league as a whole voted on a CRVL Most Valuable Player and CRVL Pitcher of The Year . Plato ’ s Matt Odegaard was named the league Most Valuable Player while Mayer ’ s Blake Tritch won the league ’ s Pitcher of The Year .
Each team in the CRVL also announced its own MVPs and POTYs . The following is a look at the CRVL team ' s POTYs and MVPS .
CRVLTeamPitchersofTheYear
Jack Jahnke ( Green Isle )
The Green Isle Irish were one of the surprising teams in 2023 for the CRVL . The presence of Jack Jahnke on the mound was a big reason why .
Jahnke helped the Irish steal a state tournament bid from Region 7C as the No .
5 seed . For the regular season , he posted an ERA of 2.25 in 56 innings of work . He was also tied for the league lead in strikeouts with 87 while claiming five of the nine wins for Green Isle this season . Josh Lenz ( Young America ) No matter what level the Young America Cardinals might be at , Josh Lenz is still an ace . In the second year of being a Class B team , Lenz still showed he has it on the mound .
Lenz turned in another stellar season on the mound for Young America leading them to the Class A / B state tournament after missing out last year . In their first game of the tournament , Lenz and the Cardinals took on defending Class A state champions St . Louis Park . Lenz finished the game with the loss despite keeping Young America in it with eight strong innings in which he allowed just two runs off four hits while striking out seven . Holt Hunziker ( Watertown ) The Watertown Red Devils once leaned on ace Holt Hunziker this season . The tall and hard throwing righty was dominant once again throughout the CRVL season . HUnziker tossed 55.1 innings during the regular season for the Red Devils and posted an ERA of 1.63 . He had 73 strikeouts which ranked seventh in the league .
After Watertown was eliminated in the
Region 7C Tournament , Hunziker led Green Isle to a win over Jackson in the first round of the Class C State Tournament . Blake Tritch ( Mayer ) The Pitcher of The Year for the CRVL in 2024 , Mayer ’ s Blake Tritch was as good as it gets . Tritch helped lead the Blazers to the Region 7C Tournament this year .
In the regular season he finished with 74 strikeouts which ranked him sixth in the league as a whole . He also posted a sixthbest ERA in the league finishing with an ERA of 2.20 in 41 innings of work . Tritch also tossed a no-hitter for the Blazers in their matchup with Winsted this year .
Tritch was drafted by the Waconia Lakers in the Region 7C draft helping them reach the Labor Day weekend .
Colten Latzke ( Norwood )
In their first year back competing in the CRVl , the Norwood Indians had a lot of new faces for fans to watch . Colten Latzke was one of those .
Latzke was one of the pitchers for the Indians this year . In 10 innings of work , he struck out five and allowed six runs . Jon Ludwig ( Westonka ) The Westonka Waves became a scary team to face this season in the CRVL . They got even scarier when Jon Ludwig was on the mound .
Ludwig had a big season for the Waves posting an ERA of 2.58 in 52.1 innings of work . His ERA had him in the top 10 for the league while he also ranked fifth in strikeouts with 76 . seeCRVLAWARDS , Page9
PHOTOBYKIPKOVAR
BlakeTritchhadabigseasonfortheMayerBlazersonthemoundthispastseason including a no-hitter against the Winsted Wildcats .