Senior Deklan Lawlor was nominated for the YAIAA Athlete of the Week. Lawlor said, “I forgot that player of the week was a thing, and when I realized I was nominated I was pretty excited.” He added, “seeing the amount of votes that other people had my excitement got shut down pretty quickly.”
Lawlor believes he was nominated because “that week I put my team on my back playing almost three perfect games and keeping my teammates in the game.”
Baseball head coach John McDonald commented on Lawlor’s nomination. “It feels awesome as a coach to have a player nominated for the Athlete of the Week. I want the best for all of my baseball players.” McDonald added, “This season Deklan is the first player to be nominated as player of the week.”
Lawlor’s home run may also have contributed to his nomination. “The homerun was the very first pitch of the game. It was awesome, but I couldn’t keep that idea stuck in my head with the entire game still having to be played.” Lawlor added, “I kept the hit out of my head until the end of the game, when the team went out to eat to celebrate.”
McDonald said, “I loved seeing him hit his first career home run, especially at an away game on the first pitch of the game. The opposing team fell silent after seeing that happen.”
Lawlor looks forward to continuing his baseball career after Dover. “I’m committed to playing D3 baseball at King’s College, and if baseball becomes a career or even a job, that would be amazing, but it‘s not my top priority.”
Lawlor said, “I believe in the saying ‘practice makes perfect,’ and ‘practice how you play,’ so every practice I work as hard as I can to ensure that my talents and abilities show off during games.”.
McDonald admires those traits in Lawlor. He said, “He’s a leader on and off the baseball field. Off-season or in-season, his teammates look up to him. Always fun to be around and works hard at what’s in front of him.”
Lawlor’s hard work has paid off this season. He is first in the following categories: batting average, slugging percentage, and on-base + slugging percentage, hits, doubles, runs scored, walks and tied in home runs.
