Hempfield East Legion team honors suspended coach Shamberger

After the Hempfield East baseball team was awarded medals and a trophy for winning the Pennsylvania American Legion Region 7 title for the second consecutive season Tuesday at Latrobe, players and parents started chanting for “Harry.”

It was in honor of former coach Harry Shamberger, and the players summoned him to the field.

Shamberger was the Hempfield East coach in 2018, but he was suspended for the season in December by Pennsylvania American Legion activities director Jonathan Wiest for missing the state tournament banquet before the tournament in Boyertown.

“I didn’t know the dinner was such a big deal,” Shamberger said. “I got to Boyertown late because of bad storms and work. Now I know I should have been there.”

Shamberger was not allowed to coach for one year, so before he walked out to be with them, he asked Region 7 director Jason Bush if it was OK. Bush allowed it.

“That was unbelievable,” Shamberger said about what the players did for him. “I was talking to a couple parents, and they called me down.

“They had an extra medal and wanted to give it to me. It was pretty cool. It put some closure to the situation.”

Shamberger, who was a volunteer coach for the Hempfield varsity team this season, said he is not sure if he will return to coaching Hempfield East.

But he will be rooting for the team to win it all.

After opening the Region 7 tournament with two easy victories, Hempfield East played three hard-fought games. It won the championship by defeating Mifflin County, 8-7, in 11 innings.

The game featured some clutch hitting and great defense, highlighted by Andrew Rosenberg’s game-saving leap over the center-field fence to rob Mifflin County of a two-run homer.

The state tournament is in DuBois. Action begins 10:10 a.m. on Saturday at Shower Field, where Hempfield East faces Region 4 champion Paxton.

The rest of the schedule has Swoyersville (Region 5) vs. French Creek Valley (Region 8) at 1:10 p.m., South Parkland (Region 2) vs. Bristol (Region 3) at 4:10 p.m. and DuBois (Host) vs. Hopewell (Region 6) at 7:10 p.m.

The tournament will return to Boyertown next year, and Bush said the hopes are for the 2021 tournament to be in Altoona.

“To hold a state tournament, the site has to house seven teams and provide meal money per day,” said Bush, who will be inducted into the American Legion Hall of Fame on Friday. “You have to have a great committee that can raise a lot of money. Boyertown does a great job, but the state is hoping to move the tournament around the state.”

Hempfield East and Swoyersville are the only repeat teams in the tournament. East opened last year’s tournament by defeating Meadville, 4-1, but lost to Swoyersville, 3-0, and Ephrata, 11-7.

Spring City defeated Souderton, 6-1, for the state title.

Because of vacations, East went to last year’s tournament short-handed. That won’t be the case this year.

Hempfield East coach Scott Smith said the players made sure everyone will be available to play.