Lemont Sweeps Pleasant Gap for CCBL Championship

BOALSBURG — Heading into the Centre County Baseball League Championship Series against Pleasant Gap last week, Lemont Duck coach Cam Aungst said that he would like his team to just “keep doing what they’re doing.”

His players must have been listening because that’s exactly what happened.

On Aug. 9, Lemont completed a three-game sweep of Pleasant Gap with an 11-1 win that brought home the Ducks’ first CCBL Championship since 2013. The win was a culmination of a season that began with a large group of new players — some new, some experienced — and ended with the Ducks running roughshod over everyone they played.

Somewhere toward the end of the regular season, the Ducks started to get dangerous with their bats, but exactly how dangerous wasn’t evident until the semifinal series against No. 2 seeded Howard.

The Hawks were a solid team with speed, power, and balance, and they scored 35 runs in the four games they played against Lemont.

They also lost three of those games. Lemont won the series going away with wins of 13-7 and 11-5 in the final two games. The Ducks’ only loss was by 15-12 in Game 2, and they barely blinked before taking Games 3 and 4. In all, Lemont scored 48 runs in the series.

“It was hard during the regular season because you can’t always get everybody there,” Aungst said, “but honestly we never got blown out and all of our losses were by just a few runs.

“When it really mattered, going into the playoffs, I thought this team would turn it on and we did.

“The Howard series, I think, really got us ready for the finals because it was such an emotionally gritty series. We had to go for it all, and we realized then that we really had a shot.”

Next up, in the finals, was Pleasant Gap. The Peppers were the No. 5 seed, but they knocked off both No. 4 Spring Mills and then No. 1 Blanchard to get to the Championship.

Pleasant Gap was a different sort of team than Howard — more conservative and they relied much more on pitching and defense. So Game 1, on Tuesday, August 4 at the Shaner Complex, on paper looked like a low-scoring affair with both teams trying to set the tone for the series.

In reality, not so much.

Before the end of the second inning it was Lemont 13, PG 1, and it ended after four innings in a 20-1 Ducks’ win.

It was quite a statement, and the Peppers were well aware that they needed to show up big-time at home for Game 2 if they were to have a chance.

And they did. Even though Lemont took a 5-1 lead into the fourth inning, Pleasant Gap battled back to make it 5-4 after the fourth. It was anyone’s game.

But Lemont scored two in the fifth and another in the sixth to go up 8-4. At the same time, pitcher Collin Stauffer was holding the Peppers at bay, and the game ended with Lemont up 2-0 for the series after an 8-4 win.

Game 3, on Aug. 9 at Shaner, began with the Peppers putting up a run in the top of the first, but that was it.

Lemont scored three in the bottom, two more in the second, and three in the third. The Ducks ended up scoring in every inning and wrapped up the series with an 11-1 win. After scoring 12 runs per game against Howard, the Ducks actually improved on that with 13 against PG.

“It was a perfect ending to the series and the season,” Aungst said. “We ten-runned them with a walk-off single in the fifth inning with the bases loaded. It was exciting.”

Lemont Coach Cam Ungst gets the customary cooler shower after his Ducks defeated the Pleasant Gap Peppers in the third and final game of the Centre County Baseball League championship series. Submitted photo

It was also a good ending to a very exciting and competitive CCBL year in what can only be described as very difficult circumstances.

The league managed to play a 15-game regular season and added three playoff rounds. All done with few outward problems and no delays or cancellations.

For that, no one is happier than Aungst and his Lemont Ducks.

“We knew going into the finals that Pleasant Gap was a competitive team,” Aungst said, “but after the first game — I wasn’t expecting it — but we thought we had a chance at a sweep.

“Honestly, these are obviously extraordinary times, but the players in the league trusted each other. We knew we were going to be around each other, and to me this all seemed like a normal season.

“We just trusted each other and got through this, and I think that’s what everybody needed. Just going out and playing baseball was awesome.”

And, of course, it was all made better with Lemont reemerging as one of the powers in the league.

“This was,” Aungst said, “one of the best teams I’ve ever been around. And there were others who thought the same thing and told me. In all, it was unbelievable, and I am so glad we got a chance to bring it home.”