Sports

2016 Wade Boggs Athletic Achievement Awards Announced

Three student athletes honored at the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissions meeting.

TAMPA, FL – The Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners recognized three high school baseball players with the Wade Boggs Athletic Achievement Award and two honorable mentions during their meeting on Tuesday, June 2.

The Wade Boggs Athletic Achievement Award honors a high school baseball player or team in Hillsborough County who displays outstanding athletic, scholastic and community achievements.

Alonso High School senior Peyton Woble received the 2016 Wade Boggs Athletic Achievement Award. Woble has a .351 batting average this season and is in the Top 10 in the district in batting average, on-base percentage, fielding, slugging, runs scored and RBIs. Academically, he has a 3.9 unweighted GPA and expects to attend the University of South Florida or the University of Tampa.

Matthew Steckel of Robinson High School and Mason Strickland of Freedom High School received Wade Boggs Athletic Achievement Award Honorable Mentions. Steckel is a four-year varsity letterman, a three-year starter and Hillsborough County’s 6A Player of the Year. He has a 3.78 unweighted GPA and expects to attend the University of Central Florida.

Strickland leads Freedom with a .978 fielding percentage this year, has committed only nine errors in three years, and is a two-year team captain. He has a 3.93 unweighted GPA and will attend the University of Florida this fall.

The Wade Boggs Athletic Achievement Award is named in honor of first-ballot National Baseball Hall of Fame member Wade Boggs. A resident of the Tampa Bay area since he was a boy, Boggs is a 12-time All Star who ended his 18-year major league career as a member of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Aside from becoming the first Major League Baseball player to hit a home run on his 3,000th career hit, Boggs ended his career with 3,010 hits, 1,513 runs, 578 doubles, 61 triples, 118 home runs, 1,014 RBIs and a .328 batting average.

For more information about the Wade Boggs Athletic Achievement Award, visit www.hillsboroughcounty.org/BoggsAward.

Photo: Wade Boggs (front row, second from right) stands with Wade Boggs Athletic Achievement Award winner Peyton Woble (front row, right) and honorable mention recipients Mason Strickland (front row, left) and Matthew Steckel (front row, second from left) as Hillsborough County Board of County Commission members Victor D. Crist, (back row, from left) Stacy R. White, Sandra L. Murman and Kevin Beckner look on.

Image courtesy of Hillsborough County

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