Legion of boom

The last time I was sports editor of The Sentinel, a young lad named Nathan Pray was one of the leaders of Juniata County's junior American Legion baseball team, which won the Susquehanna Valley League title in its only year of existence.

Pray is back in Legion ball this summer, but has to travel to Mifflin County to play. His strong arm and big stick will give MC skipper Larry Wolfe plenty to cheer for, but there should be no cheers over the loss of Legion ball in Pray's hometown — throughout his county, for that matter.

The Legion teams in Mifflintown and Millerstown — the latter included players from East Juniata and Greenwood — are dormant again this year. And that's a shame. There's no reason the two Juniata County schools can't play together, and they should be able to get enough interest to have a team. But they'd be wise to try and jump ship from the Capital Region district and get into either the West Branch (part of the Susquehanna) or the Central Penn League, where Pray and his new teammates will play this summer.

Some assembly required. Batteries not included.