The 2017 All-Western State Conference South Division awards were announced recently. Conference champion, Los Angeles Mission College was home to three of the fourth top honorees, while Los Angeles Pierce College was the home of the fourth. Mission's Robert Reeves was named the Player of the Year; while Mission's Anthony Donatella split Pitcher of the Year honors with Pierce's Tom Wilson. Rounding out the awards was Mission Head Coach Joe Cascione, who was tabbed as the WSC North Coach of the Year.
For Cascione it's his second Coach of the Year award, after earning the honors for the first time back in 2014. Cascione led the Eagles to the WSC South title, their second overall. Mission finished the year 28-16 overall and 15-5 in WSC South play, earning the #8 seed in the 2017 CCCAA SoCal Baseball Playoffs. Cascione then guided his team past #9 Palomar, before falling in the Super Regional round to #4 Long Beach City College.
Reeves hit .331 overall for the Eagles, with 43 RBIs, eight big flies, and five stolen bases. In conference play, Reeves hit .403 and slugged .753. In his 20 games behind the dish, Reeves also threw out 50% of the runners attempting to run on him, and committed just one error.
Donatella was 4-1 in WSC South play, with a pair of complete games and just over 50 innings under his belt. He posted a 1.79 ERA, and struck out 50 batters, posting a 8.94 K per 9. Wilson was 5-0 in conference play, with a 1.39 ERA, a save, and a pair of complete games in 51.2 innings worth of work. Wilson fanned 62 batters and walked just 12.
