Allegany's Griffin Madden wins Player of the Year

Jul. 1—CUMBERLAND, Md. — When Allegany needed Griffin Madden to deliver a dominant performance, the junior always seemed to rise to the occasion.

With a perfect game, complete-game gems in the state and region semifinals and a propensity to run into home runs when the Campers needed them the most, Madden was an integral part of Allegany's 19-2 season.

For that, Madden was selected Area Player of the Year by the area's head coaches, giving Allegany a record seven Player of the Year winners.

"I had a great team behind me," Madden said. "It starts with Josef (Sneathen) behind the plate. He didn't miss a game, we didn't really have a backup. The defense made great plays behind me, I could always rely on them. Our offense, 1 through 9, we all hit well. It's always great when you get run support as well."

Madden just edged out Southern left-handed pitcher and first baseman Isaac Upole, a West Virginia signee, six votes to five. Allegany pitcher and center fielder Cayden Bratton received the other Player of the Year vote.

Twelve coaches submitted nominations for All-Area, and all 12 returned ballots.

With seven Player of the Year winners, Allegany is one ahead of Northern with six and two ahead of Frankfort's five.

"Griffin was a very good baseball player when the season started, but I feel like he developed throughout the year with his approach," Allegany head coach Jon Irons said. "Having quality at-bats at the plate, doing your job. Not doing too much. Early, he tried to do a little too much instead of just being simple.

"As the year went on, he got so much better at that. He understood what we were trying to tell him. By the time the playoffs started, he really carried us through a lot of those games.

"When we needed big things to happen, he made big things happen."

Madden, a James Madison commit, was sensational on the mound, leading the area in earned run average and strikeouts. The junior compiled a 6-1 record with a 1.23 ERA, allowing nine earned runs on 25 hits in 51 1/3 innings pitched with 97 strikeouts and 21 walks.

Just as Madden made strides in his approach at the plate, Irons said he made strides in his mentality on the mound: Attacking hitters, making every pitch count and taking accountability for his mistakes.

"We've had kids that throw that hard," Irons said. "We've had kids that went D1. As the year went on, he found a way to hit those spots he needed to hit, especially when he needed to with certain hitters at the plate.

"Anytime he came off the field and somebody got a hit, he acknowledged he made a bad pitch. If you tell yourself, 'Oh they got lucky,' you're not going to get better. He always acknowledged when he made a mistake. Hopefully, that will help him get better once he gets to the next level."

He didn't make many mistakes on May 5 against Fort Hill, a 12-0 Allegany win in five innings. Madden faced 15 batters and retired all 15, retiring 13 via strikeout. He threw 56 pitches and 43 were for strikes.

In the state semifinals, Madden gave his Campers a chance against dominant Clear Spring lefthander Hutson Trobaugh. Madden went the distance, allowing one run on five hits with nine Ks and one walk in seven innings pitched in a 1-0 defeat to the eventual Class 1A state champions.

Yet, his best all-around performance may have been at home against Southern in the West Region I semifinals, in which Allegany and Southern combined for one of the best games of the season.

Madden came to the plate with one out in the sixth, Allegany trailing 2-1 and Upole dealing — the Southern ace had retired 13 straight entering Madden's at-bat — and Madden broke the string with a game-tying home run to left field.

An inning later, Allegany preserved the tie with some clutch defense and won it on a wild pitch in the bottom half. Madden's final pitching line was two runs on three hits in 6 1/3 innings of work with 13 strikeouts and four walks.

For the year, Madden hit safely 30 times in 65 at-bats for a .462 average with six doubles, one triple, five home runs, 30 runs batted in and 31 runs scored. He was also one of four Campers to walk more times than he struck out, joining Bryce Madden, Darian Bauer and Bratton.

"I just tried to attack fastballs," Griffin Madden said, "hit it to all fields and I felt like that benefitted me a lot throughout the season."

Madden's batting average was fifth-best in the area, and his five home runs were tied for the third most with Frankfort catcher Peyton Clark and behind Upole (8) and Petersburg's Johnathan Mallow (7). Madden was also fourth in both RBIs and runs scored per game.

Madden joins Steve Milburn (1992), Mike Carter (1995), Aaron Laffey (2003), Bryce Nightengale (2014), Carson Imes (2016) and Cameron Bratton (2018) on the list of Camper standouts to have won baseball Player of the Year.

"We came up one game short this season," Madden said of what he hopes to accomplish his senior season. "That's the main goal. That's always been my dream ever since I came to high school."

Alex Rychwalski is a sports reporter at the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @arychwal.