KANSAS CITY, Kan. | There was a point before the start of RailCats spring training that neither Tanner Townsend or Jeremy Plexico was 100 percent certain another season of baseball was in the cards.

For Townsend, it was the prospect of repeating his 2007 season, which was inconsistent, even through his team's second Northern League Championship.

For Plexico, it was the heartbreak of being cut during spring training with the Nationals.

The reasons varied, but both opted to play, and the payoff for the individuals came Wednesday as the RailCats swept the final postseason player awards of the year with Townsend selected as the league's Player of the Year and Plexico taking home Pitcher of the Year honors.

"It's kind of funny because in the past, it's like we never had really any standout players," Townsend said. "We just always played well as a team. This year we played well as a team and had some guys that put up some good numbers. It really is a tribute to everybody for us to win these awards."

Townsend finished second in a race for the league's batting title, hitting .371, well above last year's .267. He also finished second on the team with 14 homers in the regular season and 84 RBIs.

"Before, I played with the goal of making it to the big leagues," Townsend said. "This year, I was just here to have fun and play the game of baseball and win a championship. Certainly I was prepared to play, but that wasn't the main concern."

Townsend waited until late in the winter to inform manager Greg Tagert that the third baseman would be returning for his fourth season with the club.

"I couldn't be prouder of (Townsend's) accomplishment," Tagert said. "To come here and put in that kind of effort in the season is a manager's dream."

Plexico was the first pitcher in the league to win 10 games and finished with a 10-3 record in his first season as a starting pitcher.

Formerly a relief pitcher, the 28-year-old improved his sinker this season and said he started to feel good as a pitcher in his fourth start of the year and his first win against Fargo-Moorhead.

"It's almost a relief," Plexico said. "Not a relief that, 'Wow, I expected it,' but more of a relief as to, 'Wow, that's really awesome.' It's good to kind of punctuate the year. Obviously, we're going for a title right now, getting the ring is the biggest goal, more the team than the personal goals."

"I think Jeremy took the right attitude to look at our franchise and our team as another avenue and another direction and it couldn't have worked out better for either of us," Tagert said.

The only previous RailCat to win one of the two awards was Willie Glen, who was named the 2007 Pitcher of the Year.

The RailCats became the first team in Northern League history to win both player and pitcher honors. First baseman Mike Rohde was also named the Rookie of the Year last week.