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TORONTO -- The Cameron baseball team presents "Angels in the Infield."
Adam Angel IV tallied four hits and an RBI, Coy Angel collected two singles and an RBI, while striking out seven and recording the win, and Kasen Angel contributed a single, while also providing strong defense behind the plate as No. 1 seed Cameron defeated No. 3 seed Conotton Valley on Saturday, 8-2, enabling the Dragons to repeat as OVAC Class 1A champions on an overcast Saturday afternoon at the Knights Baseball Complex.
"It feels good," Cameron (18-8) head coach Adam Angel said about winning the conference championship. "The guys have worked hard. This was a goal we set at the start of the season. We lost some key pieces from last year's group. We have had some freshmen and underclassmen step up and fill those holes in the lineup. They do a good job. We played well."
The Dragons made history last year when Cameron defeated Madonna, 6-5, in the final to win the school's first tournament title.
"Both are great," Coach Angel said. "The first one was history for Cameron. This one is a little different. We repeated as champions. I have got my third son on the team. That's pretty cool. It's nice the three boys were able to play together. It's a great experience."
Adam Angel IV -- the team's shortstop against the Rockets -- was named the game's MVP. Angel IV went 4-for-4 with two singles, two triples, three runs scored, an RBI and a stolen base. He also played strong defense as he had two assists, while also starting a 6-3 inning-ending double play in the bottom of the second.
"He played well," Coach Angel said. "They could not keep him off the bases. He made a difference for us on defense. He was a big key for us.
"Going into the game, I was thinking about mixing up the lineup. A friend of mine told me to stop overthinking it and to just play with what you have. I didn't make any changes, and it worked out. Kasen did a great job at catcher behind the plate. He had no passed balls and no errors. I could not ask for a better day."
The double play started by Angel IV was one of three the boys from Harrison County hit into during the game. The Green-and-White hit into one in each of the first two innings, and all three proved costly.
"Those double plays killed us," Conotton Valley (12-7) head coach Jim Monigold said. "I told the boys, we had the bases loaded, and if we get a hit there, it could have been a different game. Then, we got runners on again, and we hit to the shortstop, who was 10 feet from the base.
"Cameron is a good team. They are solid. They can hit the ball. They hit the ball into the gaps. That's baseball. They hit the ball into the holes."
Coy Angel shook off a shaky start and ended up going the distance and recording the win for the boys from Marshall County. Coy, who threw 111 pitches, struck out seven and walked six, while allowing two runs on four hits – three of which were singles. He walked three batters in the first and two more in the third, however, he was able to get out of each inning unscathed thanks to the defense turning a double play behind him.
Angel got better on the mound as the game progressed.
"That's not usually the case," Coach Angel said. "At the start, he was a little uptight. Us scoring in the bottom of the first calmed him down. He really pitched well. They had the bases loaded in the first inning and did not score. He competed. He pitched well."
The Blue-and-Gold scored in each inning following the first two double plays.
In the first, Adam Angel led off with a single, and Cole Burkett also collected a base hit as Adam moved up to third. After a strikeout, Coy Angel singled home Adam giving Cameron a 1-0 lead.
Cameron broke the game with four runs in the third.
Adam tripled with one out to get things rolling, and he scored on Burkett's double to give the Dragons a 2-0 advantage. Lance Hartley brought home a run, while also reaching on an error, and Mason DeBolt also tallied an RBI with a groundout.
"He struggled early, but we could not take advantage," Monigold said about Coy Angel. "He threw hard. He had his off-speed working. We just could not take advantage when we needed to."
The Rockets finally broke through with a run in the sixth on an RBI double by Justin Lambert. Lambert doubled off the fence in left field.
The Dragons delivered three runs in the home half of the inning to increase their advantage to 8-1. Kade Norris singled home a run, Adam Angel plated Norris with his second triple, and Hartley doubled home Adam to account for Cameron's final run of the game.
"Our top of the order killed it today," Coach Angel said. "The bottom of the order was able to produce runs. We want to try and score one run an inning. Seven runs usually wins a game. That is what we wanted to try and do today. The bottom of our order produced runs."
Conotton Valley tacked on a run on an error in the seventh, but Coy Angel got a groundout to end the game.
Cameron is slated to play rival Madonna at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Bowman Field in Weirton.