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IMG_6403BY JEFF FALK

PALMYRA – The sun came up.

The calendar flipped to a different date.

And again baseball misplaced its memory.

It was a new day. A Campbelltown day.

IMG_6527On an absolutely magnificent Sunday evening at Palmyra High School, Campbelltown bettered Annville 8-4 to square its Lebanon County American Legion Baseball best-of-three semifinal series at a game apiece. On the strength of Isaac Blatt’s pitching and a three-run home run from Christian Kreiser, C-town built  leads of 4-0 and 5-2, before the defending champs surprisingly lost their composure during a wild bottom of the fifth inning.

The outcome forced a third and deciding game in the set, and that will be played on Monday at 5:45 p.m. back at Palmyra High School. At stake will be a trip to the eight-team, double-elimination Region Four tournament and the right to meet regular-season champion Fredericksburg, which edged Conrad Weiser 2-1 in the other semifinal series, for the overall league title, beginning Tuesday at Earl Wenger Memorial Field.

IMG_6397The result left Campbelltown 12-7 this summer, and Annville 11-8. Campbelltown has now won three of its four meetings with Annville this season.

“Today I had players playing positions they’re used to playing,” said Campbelltown head coach Tim Morgan. “Yesterday was a crap shoot. We had a team today. Tomorrow we’ve got (Sam) Zeigler going, and Sam’s been pitching well.

“We’re on the edge of a cliff here,” Morgan continued. “We’re going for pizza and handing in our uniforms if we don’t win. But any coach feels good when he has his lineup. I felt good last night, coming back for two home games.”

“I told our guys, ‘Forget about everything that happened in this game,'” said Mike Elliott, Annville’s acting head coach. “It was just a lot of bad breaks. Sometimes you’re the fly and sometimes you’re the windshield. But we have a tendency to hang on to bad calls.

“They (Campbelltown) definitely played better,” continued Elliott. “We didn’t play any worse. They got some big hits and they capitalized. And we didn’t.”

It was Kreiser who struck the decisive blow, a towering three-run bomb over the right field fence that gave Post 851 a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning. A batter earlier, Blatt had broken a scoreless tie with an RBI-single that scored Dylan Spagnolo.

“I told them (his players) before the game, ‘Blatty’s going to throw strikes and keep us in the game. You’ve got to get a couple of key hits,'” said Morgan. “They played well. We did what we had to do. You’ve got to hit.

“We’re doing good,” added Morgan. “I got my team back. Now we’ve got to win one more.”

IMG_6485“We’re pretty even,” said Elliott of the two sides. “When we made errors, they capitalized. They put the ball in play. They got better at that as the game went on. We’ve got to do a better job tomorrow or we’re done.

“We need to get a good pitching performance and we need to make plays,” Elliott added. “We have to do a better job of playing as a team. We’ve been working on it and we’ve been doing a better job of it.”

Annville got to Blatt in the top of the fourth, when it scored twice to pull to within 4-2. Brandon Uhrich stroked a two-out, RBI-double and then later came around to score on an error.

But that would be as close Annville would come. Blatt completed his outing with seven strikeouts and no walks.

IMG_6395“Blatty was very good. I give him an A-plus,” said Morgan. “He got the big hitters out when he needed to. You know all about him. He’s a good athlete. He’ll give you everything he can give you.”

‘He threw well,” said Elliott of Blatt. “But there were no surprises. We hit him better than we had. That three-run bomb was huge. But there were positives to take out of this.”

Spagnolo’s RBI-single in the bottom of the fourth made it 5-2. And then while Campbelltown was pushing its advantage to 8-2 in the bottom of the fifth, the wheels came unhinged just a little bit for Annville.

Annville was guilty off three errors in the frame, and head coach Ken Sauley was ejected for arguing with the home plate umpire. There were also two Campbelltown bunts – one by Chris Good and the other by Brian Coburn – that went for singles.

IMG_6461“Everybody makes errors,” said Morgan. “When someone walks and you start bunting and moving runners, that definitely has to help. Each team had runners on base every inning.”

“Yeah, I think that’s fair to say,” said Elliott, to the notion that Annville lost its composure. “Some of our guys have to do a better job of letting go. You’ve got to forget it. Some are horrible at it.”

Annville plated a pair of runs in the top of the sixth, after Uhrich and Tyler Schrader came through with one-hit hits. Tyler Talhelm knocked in a run and the other scored on a wild pitch.

IMG_6439“I think everybody likes playing at home,” said Morgan. “Both sides were lined up (with fans) the whole way down. That’s nice to see.”

“We hit the ball well,” said Elliott. “We made some base-running mistakes. The umps make calls. You’ve got to react. We’ve got to get them (his players) to forget about it. We’ll get it straightened out.”

 

 

 

 

 

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To purchase images in this article email jkfalk2005@yahoo.com, or to view more go to https://lebanonsportsbuzz.com/photo-gallery/.

 

 

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Lebanon County American Legion

IMG_6434 Baseball League Standings

Team Won Lost Tied Pct. GB
Fredericksburg 14 4 0 .778
Campbelltown 11 6 0 .647 2.5
Annville 10 7 0 .588 3.5
5th Ward 8 10 0 .444 6.0
Conrad Weiser 8 10 0 .444 6.0
Richland 5 12 1 .294 8.5
Myerstown 5 12 1 .294 8.5

 

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Lebanon County American Legion League

Past Champions
 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
IMG_64292001 — 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
IMG_63631984 — 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
IMG_64971967 — 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
IMG_63561952 — 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
IMG_63411935 — 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.

 

 

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