Lacamas Little League Team Wins Triple Crown Baseball Tournament

The Camas Barbers traveling baseball team won the Bend Elks Triple Crown Baseball Memorial Day tournament for their age division on Monday, May 28. The team, which is comprised of 13 players from multiple Lacamas Little League teams, were undefeated throughout the tournament. They faced the Beaverton Cardinals, from Murray Hill Little League, in the Championship game, winning 8-4.

The tournament began at 8 am on Saturday, May 26 at Skyline Park in Bend, OR as Camas faced the Suncreek Wildcats. It wasn’t much of a contest as Camas won 19-0 in two innings.

Pitcher Caden Wengler showed strength and accuracy as the first Camas pitcher of the tourney.

The boys played Irish Wilkinson at 10 am and won 20-0, also in under three innings. The tournament had a 20-run mercy rule in the second inning.

“It wasn’t much of a competition on Saturday morning,” said Camas Barber player Jake Blair, who played center field and pitched some during the tournament.

Most of the team stayed in Sunriver and spent Saturday afternoon at the opening of the Sunriver Aquatic Park. It was a cold day but the park was nonetheless packed.

On Sunday, Camas kicked off game 3 at noon against SELCO, which was a local team. Camas struggled in the first inning and gave up four runs, only to bounce back and ultimately put 20 runs on the board in three innings. Camas won 20-4.

“We’re really proud of these guys,” said Coach Jeff Mansur. “They’re all great hitters – and they all know how to play baseball. They’re competitors.”

Game 4 was played Sunday at 4 versus St. Helens Black Sox and that gave Camas its most competition to date, but Camas still beat them 17-1.

The 4-0 record moved Camas to semi-finals on Monday morning as the No. 1 seed. They played No. 4 seed Sandy and beat them 16-4 in a full game. There was some controversy as parents claimed that Jordan Geigenmiller’s pinch running was illegal. It was overruled twice by the head umpire and the tournament director. There was excellent pitching by Drew Ott.

Being the No. 1 see gave Camas home field advantage going into the Championship game against the Beaverton Cardinals from Murray Hill Little League. This is the same league that sent their Majors All-Star team to the Little League World Series in 2006 and placed third.

Again, Wengler showed up and only allowed 4 runs. The kids kept batting and fighting throughout and were behind 2-1 at the top of the second inning. There were excellent defensive plays by shortstop Josh Mansur who caught one jumping in the air. Blair made two outstanding catches at centerfield, and Christian Knuth had a lot of fun at third base. Camas beat Beaverton 8-4.

The championship win qualifies the Camas Barbers for a trip to the Triple Crown Baseball series in Las Vegas.

The team is coached by John Blair, Jeff Mansur, Andy Ott, Brad Day, and Joel Shega.

In this photo: Front row (left to right): Josh Mansur, Christian Knuth, Jackson Day, Jake Blair, Kolby Broadbent. Second row: (left to right): Braden Sanville, Jackson Gibbs, Drew Ott, Tayler Shega, Caden Wengler, Jordan Geigenmiller, Dante Humble, Cameron Smith. Back row: Coaches Joel Shega, Brad Day, Andy Ott, John Blair, and Jeff Mansur.