‘C-Town!’ Stands for More Than Campbelltown

5 years ago
‘C-Town!’ Stands for More Than Campbelltown

Jul 23, 2019
Jeff Falk
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Baseball, FEATURE STORIES
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BY JEFF FALK

EPHRATA – C-Town baseball. It’s more a way of life than a mindset.

It’s selling out defensively, getting the bunt down and picking up a teammmate. But it’s also going out for ice cream, placing a brother ahead of even the game itself and understanding that you’re making memories, even as you’re doing it.

It’s more about action than it is about words.

On a cloudy Tuesday evening at Ephrata’s War Memorial Field, Campbelltown’s American Legion summer baseball season came to an end, with a 6-2 loss to host Post 429, in the next-to-last game of the eight-team, double-elimination Region Four tournament. C-town surrendred three runs in the top of the second inning, then eventually ran out of hitting, pitching and magic.

Yet, it was a memorable summer, none the less. Over the past two months, Campbelltown compiled a 21-4 record – three wins and two losses of which came in the regional event – and captured the championship of the Lebanon County American Legion baseball league.

But it was somehow ironic that the end came at the hands of Ephrata, which Campbelltown had bested for the county title eight days prior. During the regular season, Post 831 and Post 429 had split regular-season road contests.

But on Saturday, Ephrata had handed Campbelltown its worse loss of the summer, 16-3 in the second round of the regional event. After defeating C-Town, Ephrata dropped a 2-0 decision to Dauphin County champion Paxton in Tuesday’s Region Four championship tilt, and finished its season at 23-6.

“It means a whole lot to me,” said C-town head coach Tim Morgan. “It’s the main reason I do this whole thing. We started that years ago. You can’t get it up with ‘Campbelltown’. That’s too long. No, it’s ‘C-town’. The kids love it.”

“Honestly, in high school, it’s uptight,” said C-town centerfielder Kasey Shughart. “You come here, and we love to have fun. We love to play for each other. It’s all about the team. And we love playing for Coach Morgan and all the coaches.”

The momentum from Monday’s 5-2 victory over Waynesboro seemed to spill over into Campbelltown’s home half of the first inning. That momentum manifested itself in the form of a lead-off walk to Brian Coburn and Shughart’s bunt single.

Trevor Binner made it 1-0 C-town with an RBI single. But the threat was ended by a Campbelltown runner getting picked off and two other runners left on base.

C-town would go on to leave a total of ten runners on base.

“We had the bases loaded and my best hitters up,” said Morgan. “I told my guys not to take the first pitch. You’ve got to take that outside pitch to the right side. But it is what it is.

“I’m happy because we split with them (the Chryslers) in the season,” continued Morgan. “We beat them in the league championship game. That’s huge. They’ve got kids from all over Lancaster County on their team. But we hung with them.’

“We started well,” said Shughart. “But we made a few mistakes. I thought in the first inning it looked like we were going to have a good game. We were having good at-bats. It’s baseball. That’s how the game goes sometimes.”

Ephrata asserted itself with a three-run, top-of-the-second inning, on RBIs from Dylan Embiscuso and Ricky Bromirski, and a wild pitch. Then in the top of the third, Ephrata extended its lead to 4-1 on Embiscuso’s suicide squeeze bunt.

It became 5-1 in the fifth, thanks to Colby Martin’s two-out RBI-single. And in the sixth, Post 429 pushed its advantage to 6-1, courtesy of Zach McGuillan’s sacrifice fly.

“I started my lefty,” said Morgan of Nick LaFoe. “The kid’s green. But he got his fingers wet a little bit today.

“I was trying to get me someone who can throw strikes,” Morgan contined. “We’ve got the defense out there to make plays. Seventy-five percent of walks score. We weren’t throwing the first pitch for a strike tonight. We pitched from behind.”

“I haven’t seen anything like that,” said Shughart of Ephrata starter and winner Dagen Young. “His first pitch was a curveball. He got ahead with his curveball. That’s tough, on any level. You have to make adjustments and sit back. But he kept us off balance. He’s a good pitcher.”

Campbelltown scored its final run of the game and its final run of the season in the bottom of the sixth.

Following Thomas Zeigler’s lead-off walk, Jake Roe singled. Coburn plated Zeigler with an RBI ground out.

“At the beginning of the season, I actually thought we were going to go far,” said Morgan. “Now we’re losing (Jake) Wagner, and I’m losing Trevor’s (Binner) bat. But I’m thinking more about next year. We’ve got our pitching back.”

“After winning the league championship, we came in confident,” said Shughart. “We played good the first game, then got killed by Ephrata, but we bounced back. We just kind of ran out today. Ephrata’s a good team. They’re going to hit the ball.

“We came into the season wanting to win the league championship,” added Shughart. “We’re a confident group and we’re a close group. We wanted to win. We thought we could win. This is a great team. All the guys who are leaving, I’m going to miss.”

To purchase images in this article email jkfalk2005@yahoo.com.

2019 Campbelltown Results

Day	Date	Time	Status	Score	Visitors	Home	Venue
Fri	5/31/2019	6:00 pm	W	0-8	Annville	Campbelltown	Palmyra High School
Tue	6/4/2019	7:00 pm	W	8-4	Campbelltown	Fredericksburg	Earl Wenger Memorial Field
Fri	6/7/2019	6:00 pm	W	16-2	Campbelltown	Richland	Lyle Krall Stadium @ Elco High School
Wed	6/12/2019	6:00 pm	W	10-1	Campbelltown	Myerstown	Myerstown
Tue	6/18/2019	6:00 pm	W	0-1	Richland	Campbelltown	Palmyra High School
Wed	6/19/2019	6:00 pm	W	0-10	Myerstown	Campbelltown	Palmyra High School
Fri	6/21/2019	7:00 pm	W	6-5	Campbelltown	Ephrata	War Memorial Field
Sun	6/23/2019	6:00 pm	L	5-0	Ephrata	Campbelltown	Palmyra High School
Mon	6/24/2019	6:00 pm	W	0-2	Fredericksburg	Campbelltown	Palmyra High School
Tue	6/25/2019	7:00 pm	W	0-10	Conrad Weiser	Campbelltown	In The Net
Wed	6/26/2019	6:00 pm	W	5-2	Campbelltown	Annville	Annville High School
Thu	6/27/2019	6:00 pm	W	2-6	5th Ward	Campbelltown	Palmyra High School
Fri	6/28/2019	8:00 pm	W	7-0	Campbelltown	Conrad Weiser	Womelsdorf
Mon	7/1/2019	7:00 pm	L	5-6	Campbelltown	Fredericksburg	Earl Wenger Memorial Field
Tue	7/2/2019	6:00 pm	W	3-4	Annville	Campbelltown	Palmyra High School
Wed	7/10/2019	5:30 pm	W	13-1	Campbelltown	5th Ward	In The Net
Wed	7/10/2019	6:00 pm	W	0-5	5th Ward	Campbelltown	In The Net

Lebanon County American Legion League
Past Champions

2019 – Campbelltown

2018 – Richland

2017 – Fredericksburg

2016 – Annville

2015 – Myerstown

2014 – Myerstown

2013 – Campbelltown

2012 – Campbelltown

2011 – Annville

2010 – Campbelltown
2009 — Fredericksburg
2008 — Fredericksburg
2007 — Richland

2006 — Richland
2005 — Richland
2004 — Annville
2003 — Fredericksburg
2002 — Richland
2001 — Fredericksburg
2000 — Fredericksburg
1999 — Fredericksburg
1998 — Palmyra
1997 — Fredericksburg
1996 — Fredericksburg
1995 — Fredericksburg
1994 — Fredericksburg
1993 — Fredericksburg*
1992 — Palmyra

1991 — Palmyra
1990 — Fredericksburg
1989 — Fredericksburg
1988 — Palmyra
1987 — Fredericksburg
1986 — Fredericksburg*
1985 — Myerstown
1984 — Richland
1983 — Lebanon
1982 — Lebanon
1981 — Fredericksburg*
1980 — Richland
1979 — Fredericksburg
1978 — Myerstown
1977 — Fredericksburg
1976 — Fredericksburg

1975 — Myerstown
1974 — Lebanon
1973 — Fredericksburg
1972 — Myerstown*
1971 — Myerstown*
1970 — Annville*
1969 — Annville*
1968 — Myerstown
1967 — Myerstown
1966 — Myerstown
1965 — Myerstown
1964 — Richland
1963 — Lebanon
1962 — Richland

1961 — Richland*
1960 — Not Contested
1959 — Fredericksburg
1958 — Fredericksburg
1957 — Fredericksburg
1956 — Lebanon
1955 — Myerstown
1954 — Jonestown*
1953 — Myerstown
1952 — Palmyra*
1951 — Palmyra
1950 — Palmyra
1949 — Annville
1948 — Myerstown*
1947 — Lebanon
1946 — Myerstown
1945 — Not Contested (World War II)
1944 — Not Contested (World War II)
1943 — Not Contested (World War II)

1942 — Not Contested (World War II)
1941 — Lebanon*
1940 — Myerstown
1939 — Myerstown
1938 — Myerstown*
1937 — Lebanon*
1936 — Lebanon
1935 — Annville
1934 — Annville
1933 — Myerstown
1932 — Lebanon*
1931 — Orioles*
1930 — Fifth Ward
1929 — Progressive

* Denotes regional champions
Note — The 1937 Lebanon squad was the only team from the county to win a state title. The 1981 Fredericksburg, the 1948 Myerstown and the 1938 Myerstown clubs were all state runners-up.