The National Wiffle League Association released its first round of the 2018 Wiffy Awards Winners this Sunday (January 13). The Wiff is Life League earned two awards, the National Photo of the Year and the National Manager of the Year. These are the first Wiffy Awards won by the league in its 4 year membership with the NWLA.
The Photo of the Year was the first award WILL acquired. The photo, titled “Trophy Friends” was of the 2018 NWLA National Tournament Championship trophy, which the WILL Waves won in exciting fashion, alongside the 2017 NWLA National Tournament Dangerfield trophy, which the WILL Waves won in disappointing fashion. The picture signified the unheard of improvement by the WILL Waves team over the two year span.
That improvement led to the second award, National Manager of the Year. Jacob Davey won it, as he was at the helm of the WILL Waves for the 2018 season. The Waves played in one event under the NWLA and had themselves a year. The Waves went 5-2-1 on the weekend event and won the 2018 NWLA National Championship, as the 14 seed, just one year after a Dangerfield finish. Davey oversaw the roster makeup and had to adjust to a couple players dropping out after last years NWLA Tournament. Two additions of big time contributors, Nate Morris, who led the Waves with 4 HR and a .364 AVG, and Austin Berger, who was a workhorse on the mound for the Waves at 17.1 IP, 3.81 ERA, 34 K’s, and a 2-1 record. The whole roster had success at the tournament and was led by Tournament MVP, Jordan Castelli. A big part in the success of the WILL team was in game management, Davey co-managed that with fellow player, Mike Graziani.
The Wiffy Awards are given out by the National Wiffle League Association, and have been since 2006. There are 45 total Wiffy’s given out each year. Still to be released are the winners to National and Regional Player awards, those makeup 23 of the 45. For all the award winners follow the NWLA on Twitter, @_NWLA. The league offers congratulations to all Wiffy Award winners, and stay tuned for more information, as the rest get released in the coming days. The best way to stay up to date on all the WILL news is to follow the league on social media, @wiffislife on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.