If you are going to name a player of the year, make sure it’s the right player.

I was shocked to see that senior Jo Pedro of Pilot Rock was not named the Eastern Oregon League Player of the Year. A strong argument could also have been made for Ashley Martinez of Echo/Stanfield, but neither one of these two players earned the award.

Instead, Lacey Lick of Wahtonka was named the EOL West Division Player of the Year.

Nothing against this young lady, but considering her team finished fourth out of six teams and Pilot Rock and Echo/Stanfield finished first and second, respectively, thanks in large part to efforts from Pedro and Martinez, it’s hard for me to fathom why Lick was named Player of the Year.

Pedro finished 19-0 against EOL competition and walked just seven of the 434 batters she faced in leading Pilot Rock to its third consecutive EOL West Division regular season title.

Not only did Pedro win games, she did it in dominating fashion. Pedro tossed 96 innings, allowed just 12 earned runs, 65 hits and struck out 90 batters.

Pedro nearly averaged a strike out per inning, had a 0.88 ERA and had nine shut outs.

Wahtonka won just seven of its 18 EOL games and finished 8-13 overall.

Echo/Stanfield won all of two games in 2003 and Martinez, a freshman, came to the rescue this season and pitched strong the entire year in leading Echo/Stanfield to a 14-7 overall record.

Martinez and Pedro were the two most important players in the EOL this season, making the biggest impact on the league.

Martinez in my opinion is a close second to Pedro for the player of the year award, but her time will come as she still has three years ahead of her.

Pedro not only got Pilot Rock to the district tournament; she was dominate in the championship game, fanning 10 Union batters and hit the game-winning single to give Pilot Rock back-to-back titles.

Picking a player of the year from a team that struggled like Wahtonka seems unfair compared to the results that Pedro delivered. In my opinion, player of the year is the person who has the biggest impact on the league. When you win every league game that you pitch, that is player of the year material.

According to coaches in the Eastern Oregon League, a voting system is used to nominate and choose the player of the year. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own players. This system does not work and if Pedro was overlooked because she has played on a winning team for the past several years, that is a major injustice to a player who has earned the award.

Lick may be the player of the year in the eyes of some, but I’ll take Pedro. Unlike Lick, Pedro has season and district championships to show for her efforts.