FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
SOUTH YAMOUTH —- For the second straight season and third time in his Cape League career, Scott Pickler has been named the Mike Curran Manager of the Year.
Pickler led the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox to the league’s best record and the East Division championship for the second consecutive year. The division title is the fifth for Y-D under his direction.
Pickler has guided the Red Sox to league championships in 2004, 2006 and 2007. The Cape is not the only place he wins; he has also captured four titles at Cypress (Calif.) Community College. The veteran coach is known as a talent developer, and more than 80 of his players have been selected in the MLB draft.
“Winning Manager of the Year is because I have (assistant coaches) Taylor (Cameron), Larry (Mahoney), Adam (Petke) and Dez (Chris Podeszwa),” said Pickler, who became the first field manager to capture the award in back-to-back seasons and only the third to win the award three times.
Don Reed won in 1989 with Yarmouth-Dennis and then received the honor again in 1991 and 1993 while wearing a Wareham uniform.
The Manager of the Year award is named after Mike Curran, a former assistant sports editor of the Cape Cod Times. Curran started as a Cape League scorer and publicist in the early 1970s and was president from 1976-1977. He is partially responsible for creating a nationwide recruiting system to bring college players to the Cape and give the league national prominence.
Pickler has been honored three times in the last four seasons. He has been head coach at Cypress Community College for 24 years and Y-D field manager since 1997.
“Pick” led the Red Sox to a 27-17 record, finishing one point ahead of Brewster for the best record to gain home field advantage throughout the postseason.
“It has nothing to do with me,” he said. “It’s having the right kids who play hard all year long and having great assistant coaches.”
Pickler gives credit for his team’s success to his players and coaches. He says even though he gets the award, it really belongs to the members of his team. He won’t even take credit for bringing his team closer together. According to Pick, that happened with a sixth run ninth-inning against Wareham just weeks before the season ended.
