Bienfait’s Carson Perkins was announced as the 2015 Youth Male Athlete of the Year by Sask Sport Inc. on Monday.
Perkins, 17, earned the honour through his hard work, dedication and commitment to the game of baseball. The amateur athlete was nominated for the award by the Saskatchewan Baseball Association.
“It was pretty cool,” said Perkins, about finding out he was announced as the recipient of the 2015 Saskatchewan Sport Award. “I didn’t expect it. I knew I had a good year with baseball and stuff, but I didn’t expect to be nominated or chosen for the award.”
Perkins’ list of accomplishments in the game of baseball in 2015 include being a member of the Baseball Canada Cup National Championships silver medal winning team, where he recorded a save in order for Team Saskatchewan to have a perfect 5-0 record in pool play. He also pitched a complete game in Team Sask’s semifinal 4-3 win over Team Ontario to advance them to the gold medal game.
The Vauxhall Academy of Baseball student was also named the Most Valuable Player of the Toronto Blue Jays-Tournament 12 event for his play with Team Prairies, which won the tournament. Perkins recorded wins in games against Team Atlantic and Team Ontario.
He was then invited to play with Team Canada at a fall competition in Florida and pitched two scoreless innings against the Atlanta Braves’ fall instructional team.
“Making the Team Canada junior national team was always a goal since I was five years old,” said Perkins, noting the whole Tournament 12 was also a highlight. “Most of those guys on (Team Prairies) are my real good friends, so we had a blast out there and we were winning and playing good.”
Perkins said his exceptional year in baseball came through the help of Team Sask head coach Greg Brons, with whom he developed a great relationship with this year. He said Brons likely nominated him for the award and that means a lot, but there is no time to celebrate it now.
“We still got a lot of work to do out in Vauxhall,” he said.
