Prep baseball teams come together after player dies

Lake County Lutheran helps Shoreland Lutheran say goodbye

There wasn’t a dry eye on either side of the diamond.

David Bahr walked toward home plate for the customary lineup card exchange before his Lake Country Lutheran team’s regional baseball game against Shoreland Lutheran on Thursday evening. Typically, Bahr and the opposing head coach will shake hands, exchange pleasantries and discuss the ground rules of the home team’s field.

On this day, however, standing in the opposite batter’s box were Shoreland’s six seniors.

The name of the seventh was listed at the bottom of the starting lineup, but he was not present.

He was somewhere better.

Honoring a brother

Just over 30 hours after Shoreland senior Cameron Nahf died in a car crash while headed to school two days before he would have graduated, the Lightning and Pacers honored his memory on the baseball field in front of a large contingent from both communities. Nahf was a pitcher and outfielder on the team.

“That was the one thing they asked if they could do, was to have a moment of silence before the game and then put his name on the first lineup card,” Bahr said.

The Shoreland seniors carried out Nahf ’s jersey along with the initial lineup card that listed him as the 10th player in the lineup. State rules allowed for the Pacers to officially change their lineup before the game began, but the message was clear.

“He wasn’t out on the field with them yesterday, but you could just feel that the team knew the young man was with

them at heart,” Bahr said.

A community of support

In the hours between Nahf ’s car crashing into a tree off Highway E in Somers around 7:57 a.m. on Wednesday, during which his 16-year-old brother was seriously injured, and the scheduled first pitch, the Pacers were faced with a remarkably difficult choice. To play in honor of their teammate, or to postpone the game in the midst of a wave of emotions.

“They got together as a team and felt like in honor of him they needed to play,” Lake Country Lutheran athletic director Janet Bahr, also David’s wife, said. “Their AD (Matthew Grow) and I sent emails back and forth and the team decided that they needed to be together and honor him that way. I can’t even fathom the strength it takes as a 17-year-old kid to do that. We were willing to do whatever they needed to do.”

Above and beyound

In many ways, the Lightning even went above and beyond for their school and a community they refer to as “brothers and sisters.”

The teams held a moment of silence before the game in front of around 400 people — a relatively packed audience for a Division 3 baseball game.

“I think I spent more time crying than watching the game,” Janet Bahr said.

The Lightning players all signed a card and walked it over to the Pacers dugout before the game. The LCL parents also put together a card and made a donation of nearly $1,000 to the Nahf family in his memory.

“I was very proud of our kids and community for just being so willing to try to support our brothers,” David Bahr said. “I told them at practice on Wednesday what had happened, told them Shoreland wanted to play. They held a very respectful conversation on how to honor baseball with their effort and honor Shoreland with what they were going through.”

Joy through the hurt

For perhaps the first time since receiving the devastating news, the Shoreland players could concern themselves with hitting actual breaking balls rather than dealing with the curveball life had just thrown their way.

“You finally saw some smiles and some joy as brothers across two programs got together to play,” David Bahr said. “In some ways that was probably a little therapeutic to return a little bit to what’s normal.”

The Pacers, seeded sixth, struck first with a run in the top half of the first inning. Having brought an entire cheering section on a fan bus, it gave the Shoreland community a chance to go crazy.

In the bottom half, however, the third-seeded Lightning exploded for six runs en route to a 12-6 victory.

The effects of a mentally-exhausting two days were visible on players and coaches in both dugouts.

“I can’t imagine being one of those kids and having to go through that — playing with a young man and now you look and he’s not in his position,” David Bahr said.

Of course, Nahf was not at his position on the diamond, but because of their united Christian faith, both sides could share in a belief that he was in the one place happier than a baseball field.

“It was just a reminder of why our schools exists and promoting a belief in Jesus and knowing that we’ll be in heaven together,” Janet Bahr said. “Having that hope and faith that he’ll be in heaven reminds why we do what we do.”