IN SPORTS: JUNIOR GIANTS HAND OUT AWARDS
The Lodi Junior Giants gave out awards among its 28 teams on Friday, recognizing athletes in a variety of categories.
The Junior Giants consists of 90 leagues around Northern California, teaching the basics of baseball to children from ages 5 to 18. The organization, established in 1994, caters to about 25,000 participants, and nearly 400 of them are part of the Lodi Junior Giants.
The Lodi organization gave out 19 awards on Friday, starting with the Harmon and Sue Burns Scholarship, which is given to 10 players entering eighth grade from across the 90 leagues of the Junior Giants. Two of them went to members of the Lodi Junior Giants — Juliana Leal and Samuel Bramer.
The $5,000 scholarships, part of the Giants Community Fund, will go toward their college education upon completion of high school.
Next up was the Willie Mac Award, named after Giants Hall of Famer Willie McCovey and given to a player and a coach to recognize confidence, integrity, leadership and teamwork. Those went to player Caydence Rodriguez and coach Amanda Bribiesca.
Then came awards for the Strike Out Bullying poster contest, with three winners in each age group. The Senior winners were Madison Gallardo, Ethan Martin and Grayson Tecklenburg; the Majors winners were Hollie Isbill, Justin McPherson and Quin Leal; the Minors/Softball winners were Kailey Wilkinson, Torben Campa and Makayla Alvarado; and the T-Ball winners were Jayden Carroll, Logan Vaccarezza and Maycee Miller.
The last awards were the Commissioners Award, given for support to the commissioner as a volunteer. Those went to Sandra Vargas, Kassandra Foster and Jon Hungerford.