McNeice claims top Rangers gong

SAM McNeice has capped a stellar season by sweeping the Toowoomba Rangers end of year awards.

Sam McNeice. Picture: Kevin Farmer

BASEBALL: Sam McNeice has been rewarded for a stellar season with the Toowoomba Rangers.

The club’s top pitcher claimed the Ian Luchterhand Medal as Rangers player of the season, as well as A-grade best bat and MVP.

The results were announced via social media, with the coronavirus situation preventing Rangers from holding their annual presentation evening.

This marks the third ocassion that McNeice has claimed the club’s top honour, after sharinfg the award with Buzz Brown in 2009/10, and claiming it outright the following year.

“Sam was one of our key players for the whole season,” player-coach Luke Ardill said.

“He always did his job on the mound, and what was surprising was coming away with the best batting average

“Sam really stepped up this year and it showed with the stats.”

Season 2019/20 finished in heartbreaking circumstances for the Rangers in the GBL’s fourth division.

They finished the regular season in second, and weren’t given the chance to play for the title after the season was cancelled prior to the finals because of the coronavirus.

Ardill said the consistency of the side shown throughout the season made it difficult to choose an MVP, however he was satisfied that the right choice was made.

“I was speaking to Darryl (Luchterhand) on who was the MVP and I said that I could give it to nearly everyone on the team,” he said.

“We had some really key players through the year like Sean Rodgers, Mick Locke and Laurie Taylor who all really stepped up.

“Darryl asked if you missed one of those players, who would you miss the most and not win a premiership with, and I stuck with Sam.”

The now three-time Ian Luchterhand Medal winner had a big impact throughout the season, and Ardill said he inspired his teammates.

“The great thing about having him on the team is that it gives the rest of the team confidence knowing they have someone on the mound they trust,” he said.

“It happened in a couple of games this year where we started slow with the bats and relied on pitchers like Sam to keep us in the game and help get our eyes in.

“We won a few games by the mercy rule, but in the first three innings of the game things were close.

“If we didn’t have someone like Sam that can defend, we could’ve lost a few more games.”

Ardill said they would use this season’s pain as motivation for next season.

“It’s disappointing we weren’t able to play finals, but we’ll use this as motivation to light the fire underneath us, and the boys will come out bigger, better and stronger.”

The Rangers fifth division side narrowly missed out on a finals berth.

Darryl Luchterhand took home the B-grade MVP award, with Brendan Holden claiming the golden glove and Peter Ward winning the best bat.

R ANGERS AWARDS WINNERS

A-GRADE

MVP: Sam McNeice

Golden Glove: Luke Ardill

Best Bat: Sam McNeice

B-GRADE

MVP: Darryl Luchterhand

Golden Glove: Brendan Holden

Best Bat: Peter Ward

CLUB TROPHIES

Club Person: Mitch Archibald

Team Man: Brendan Holden

IAN LUCHTERHAND MEDAL

1st: Sam McNeice

2nd: Sean Rodgers

3rd: Darryl Luchterhand

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