2009 Bama Section awards

The voting period for All Bama Teams, Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year ended last night with a flurry, as several nominations were cast just before the midnight deadline. But all of the votes have been cast and counted, and I for one am thankful that this process is over.

Why?

Well first of all, I wanted to see who was going to win the two major awards this year. LSU swept the majors last year as Chris Bankhead took home his second consecutive POY honors and Daniel “DirtyD” Vermaelen walked away with the ROY award. But this year’s race for POY was up for grabs between two strong candidates — Bankhead and Mississippi State’s Arthur Corbitt — and the winner could not be determined until near midnight.

The ROY award also became a tight race between two young players from the state of Mississippi. Tyler Olander of Ole Miss and Daniel Zabaldano battled up to the midnight deadline along with Bankhead and Corbitt in another tight race.

Finally, I was tired of counting ballots and tallying the results. But now, the moment the Bama Section has been waiting for …

Bama Section Player of the Year

Arthur Corbitt, 2009 Bama Section POY

LSU’s reign over Bama Sectionals may have been restored in 2009 thanks in large part to the heroics of Chris Bankhead, but his grip as the Section’s best player has loosened a bit.

Arthur Corbitt, the do-it-all spark plug for Mississippi State, edged Bankhead in Bama Section Player of the Year voting by the narrowest of margins, taking home the title as the Bama Section’s top player in 2009.

The race was very tight until the deadline, with Bankhead taking the lead during parts of the day yesterday. The final tally between the two came down to six total nominations, and the two teams each submitted a comparable number of ballots.

Corbitt helped lead Mississippi State to Regionals for the second year in a row, just three years after State’s program began thanks to the help of former-player-now-blog-stalker Brad Jones.

Bama Section Rookie of the Year

Daniel Zabaldano, 2009 Bama Section ROY

This year’s sweep was completed by Mississippi State, a year after LSU pulled the same stunt despite missing South Regionals.

Mississippi State’s Daniel Zabaldano earned 2009 Bama Section Rookie of the Year honors by garnering 20 nominations for the award. In addition to being named the ROY, Zabaldano also earned three nominations for All Bama Team consideration, which was good enough for him to land on the All Bama Third Team.

He did not win ROY honors without a fight, though. Ole Miss’ Tyler Olander kept it interesting by closing the gap yesterday, getting within four nominations. He would, however, get no closer than that allowing Zabaldano to claim this year’s title as the Bama Section’s best young player.

Both Corbitt and Zabaldano, along with Bankhead and Olander, should be players to keep an eye on at South Regionals in a few weeks. The rest of the All Bama awards can be seen below, and I apologize for any name-spelling errors. Please correct them in the comments.

And thanks to everyone for voting, hope y’all had a great season and good luck to those teams still in the chase!

All-Bama First Team
Arthur Corbitt [Mississippi State]
Chris Bankhead [LSU]
Ben Deneka [Ole Miss]
John Clemmer [Mississippi State]
Hayden Sewell [Ole Miss]
Michael Schulz [LSU]
John Rhodes Martin [Ole Miss]

All-Bama Second Team
Phil Martin [Auburn]
Scot Tran [Mississippi State]
Justin Miller [Vanderbilt]
Gamble Ruff [Auburn]
Joe Oaks [Alabama]
Eric Buzby [Vanderbilt]
Eliot Alexander [Vanderbilt]

All-Bama Third Team
Daniel Zabaldano [Mississippi State]
Daniel “DirtyD” Vermaelen [LSU]
Stephen Rhea [Samford]
Hunter Murray [Mississippi State]
Jacob Young [Auburn]
*Quint Northen [Mississippi State]
*Jackson Vaughn [Ole Miss]
*Matt Rushing [Ole Miss]
*June Naiki [Tulane]
*Read Founds [LSU]
*Tim Brady [Alabama]

*Northen, Vaughn, Rushing, Naiki, Founds and Brady all tied with two nominations each.

All-Bama Rookie Team
Daniel Zabaldano [Mississippi State]
Tyler Olander [Ole Miss]
John “Pingy” Nguyen [LSU]
Dylan Shannon [LSU]
Sam Linton [Vanderbilt]
Daniel Rhea [Mississippi State]
Jeremy Kharrazi [Vanderbilt]