Things could have gone a lot worse for the newly-formed Whitehall-Coplay Legion team this past season.

The team finished 11-7-1, falling in the finals to eventual champion Salisbury in a COVID-shortened season.

The team opened the playoffs with an 8-1 win over North Parkland before falling to Salisbury 9-1. The team battled back in the loser’s bracket to beat North Parkland again 3-2. They advanced to the finals needing to beat Salisbury twice but fell in the first game 5-4.

“I am very happy with how everything came together in our inaugural season as Whitehall-Coplay Legion,” said manager Andy Hausman. “I received many comments from players, parents, fans and the community that this merger between the Coplay and Fullerton Legion programs was long overdue.

“Although we fell a little bit short of our ultimate goal with a loss in the playoff championship to Salisbury, I feel we had a very successful season and I could not be more proud of our players. They battled to the end and hustled and played hard all season long.”

Whitehall-Coplay had a few players among the league leaders. Among those was Zack Hartman who led the Lehigh Valley League in OPS, batting average, slugging and RBIs. He hit for an average of .463, his OPS (on base plus slugging) was an impressive 1.069 and his slugging percentage was .537. He also led the league in RBIs with 15.

Matt Snyder was tops in first pitch strikes with 69.3-percent. He was fifth in ERA at 2.52, was second in WHIP at 0.96 and third in strikeouts with 35. Sammy Castillo was fifth in first pitch strikes at 60.7-percent and Nick Lindenmuth was fifth in WHIP at 1.36. Castillo had a 2.77 ERA and had 27 strikeouts.

As far as batting average on the team, Owen Ness hit .353 and was second behind Hartman. Dylan Carfara hit .351, Snyder .333, Matt Bernhard .324 and Lindenmuth hit .323.

The team finished second overall in the regular season before falling in the finals, but the team had other goals as well.

“Another one of our primary goals was for the boys to have fun, and I believe we accomplished that goal too,” Hausman said. “Our players always supported each other on the field and in the dugout and it was obvious they enjoyed playing together. I believe the best indicator of this is how many of our players told me they were already looking forward to next season. We only have two or three players that are ‘aging out’ so we should have a nice core returning next summer.”