BY JEFF FALK
EPHRATA – They’re all swell, well-rounded young men, and today’s society has so many activities to offer. Besides, before we know it, school will be back in session.
But the Campbelltown American Legion baseball team isn’t ready for the summer to be over yet.
On a sweltering Sunday evening at Ephrata’s War Memorial Field, Campbelltown emphatically extended its summer season, with a resilient 9-3 triumph over Waynesboro, in the loser’s bracket of the eight-team, double-elimination Region Four baseball tournament. Lebanon County’s champion jumped out to leads of 3-0 and 7-1, then rode the sturdy right arm of starting pitcher Cameron Dubbs.
Five different C-town batters drove in runs, including five-hole hitter Austin Ball, who collected four RBIs.
A mere 19 hours removed from a difficult 16-3 loss to host Ephrata and with its backs against the wall, Campbelltown came out swinging and took the fight to Waynesboro. One of four teams still remaining in the event, C-town, now 2-1 in the tournament and 20-3 overall, will look to go even deeper into the summer on Monday at either 5 p.m. or 7 p.m., against Dauphin County champion Paxton, back at ‘The War’.
Campbelltown is expected to go with Brian Coburn on the mound, and blue uniforms on its back.
Waynesboro, the champions of Franklin County, concluded its summer at 16-7.
“I told our guys, ‘Listen, do you want to suck it up and play? Or do you want to hang your heads?'” said Campbelltown head coach Tim Morgan. “I want to keep going here. I told them after the Ephrata game that sometimes things happen, and that tomorrow is another day. Dubbs did a great job, and we always get runs early, which is very important.”
“We’ve all been playing together around town since we were eight- or nine-years-old,” said catcher Jake Roe, one of Campbelltown’s emotional leaders. “We’re great friends. We’re not ready to say ‘goodbye’ to baseball or each other. It’s (baseball) a passion, and having fun with friends.
“We have great chemistry on this team,” continued Roe. “We played high school together. This is pretty much the core of our high school varsity team. High school baseball is a little more tight, this is laid back. It’s a matter of just keeping it going. It’s just kind of like playing baseball and hanging out with friends.”
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