The 2011 Okotoks Dawgs Rookie of the Year credits the foothills area baseball program with giving him the tools to land a baseball scholarship at a major United States university.
However, it was an Okotoks school which has provided Tyler Hollick the academic skills to get to Ohio State University in the fall.
“I was part of the first group of Dawgs Academy players to got to Holy Trinity Academy as part of the Dawgs Academy,” said Hollick who graduated from HTA in 2010. “I became a better student at HTA. Marlene (HTA guidance counsellor Marlene Donnelly) is the best. We didn’t receive any special treatment, but every student at the school seemed to get attention.
“She stayed on top of us.”
The 19-year-old Hollick received his Okotoks Dawgs Rookie of the Year Award in person at the team’s awards banquet on Jan. 21 at the Foothills Centennial Centre.
Hollick estimated he raised his grade point average from the high 60s and low 70s to the 80s at Holy Trinity Academy.
While Donnelly and the HTA staff were honing Hollick’s study skills, the Dawgs Academy was grooming a ballplayer who would finish third in the Western Major Baseball League batting title race at .407 in 2011. He was named the league’s Rookie of the Year and a first-league all-star.
He played in the outfield for the Dawgs, but moved to second base in the finals due to an injury to another player. Although his statistics would catch the eye of any baseball bird dog, the only stat that counts to him is winning championships.
“I have signed a contract (with Okotoks) and I plan to back In June,” Hollick said. “This is my home now. When people asked me where I am from now, I say Okotoks. I want to come back and help us win a championship.”
Hollick attended Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Chandler, AZ in 2010-11 and led the team in hitting at .394. He will play for Chandler-Gilbert this spring before transferring to play for the Ohio State Buckeyes in the fall.
The road to Columbus, Ohio went through Okotoks, according to Hollick.
“The Dawgs Academy shaped me not only as a ballplayer, but as a person,” Hollick said. “They prepared me for the next level.”
Hollick was a member of the 2007 Okotoks Dawgs Bantam team, which won a provincial championship at the higher Midget level.
“That was a real highlight for me,” Hollick said. “Those guys on that team are still some of my best friends.”
The other award winners at the banquet included Kasey Coffman, a sophomore at Arizona State University, who was named the Dawgs’ 2011 Most Valuable Player.
The hard-hitting first basemen hit .364 with five home-runs, 34 RBI and 15 stolen bases.
He cranked it up for the Dawgs in the playoffs when he slammed four home runs and 14 RBI while hitting .444 in just 12games.
Coffman will not be playing for the Dawgs this summer.
The Dawgs’ pitcher of the Year was Jared Rogers.
Rogers, a right-handed pitcher at Hofstra University in New York, had a 1.55 ERA and a 4-0 record in eight starts with the Dawgs. He also will not be back in Okotoks for 2012
The winner of the True Grit Award, Austin Voros, said he will be back this summer.
“It’s a great honour to accept this award,” Voros said in front of approximately 500 people at the banquet. “I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else than being in Okotoks. It is the best place in Canada to play baseball.”
Voros hit .287 last year with the Dawgs last season. He is presently attending Texas A&M International.
