The award is given annually to the player who best exhibits the qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and good character on and off the field. It is named after Lavern ``Beanie’’ Ainslie, a longtime umpire in Cooperstown who was very involved with youth sports and young people during his lifetime.

``We are happy to honor Jack with this award and happy that Beanie’s family was able to share this with us,’’ said Cooperstown Youth Baseball President David Borgstrom. ``Jack loves the game. He is a competitor, and he is always positive. We had a great season with many competitive games. Jack represents his teammates and the league very well.’’

Loewenguth was also named to the Cooperstown Youth Baseball Major League All Star team, which begins its season Friday night at home at Ainslie Field against Cherry Valley at 6 p.m.

The rest of the team includes Ethan Bliss, Jacob Miller, Ben Pierson, Mitchell Bouton, Seth Klosheim, Maggie Hall, Park Summers, Atticus Dennis, Henry Stewart, Sawyer Haney and Matt Frevelle.

The Ainslie Award, which is voted on by the CYB coaches, has been given out annually since 1990.

Previous award winners include Owen Ellsworth (1990); Michael Pugliese (1991); Corey Stackhouse (1992); Michael Boland (1993); Billy Bennett (1994); Brett Wilhelm (1995); Jim Knodel and Bradley Hill (1996); Ben Ayers (1997); Joseph Basile (1998); Eddie Bauer (1999); John Hlavacek (2000); Luke Banner (2001); Alex Mahlum (2002); Brad Ashford (2003); Kyle Liner (2004); Greg Brodersen (2005); and Molly Pearlman and Jarrett Hotaling (2006).