RENFREW — At 4-foot-10, 88 pounds, Campbell Ray hardly has the look of a power hitter.

Nor does the 12-year-old Renfrew resident play baseball that way.

“He's all about doing the little things right,” his father, Robb Ray, said. “Moving runners along, laying down a bunt, spraying singles ... Cam appreciates being a role player.

“And he absolutely loves the game.”

Still, there was something missing.

Having played organized baseball since age 4, Campbell had never experienced the feeling of hitting a baseball over the fence. He set a goal of doing that this season.

Next year, he will be playing Pony League ball.

“The fences at our field will be 290 feet to left, 300 to center ... I don't think it's gonna happen there,” he admitted.

So it had to happen now. Campbell plays for the Core Athletics, a travel team based in Tarentum. But he went through the entire regular season without hitting a home run.

“I've never hit a ball over the fence — ever,” Campbell said. “I hit the fence a few times, had one hit the top of the fence and bounce back in.

“It just never happened.”

Finally, at Cooperstown Dreams Park in New York, near the Baseball Hall of Fame, Campbell's dream happened.

The Core Athletics played a week-long tournament there in mid-August to end their season. In the first five games of pool play in the tourney, Campbell's team hit 15 home runs. He did not hit one of them.

In the last game of pool play, against the Connecticut Blackhawks, he stepped up to the plate immediately after a teammate hit a home run. Campbell quickly fell behind in the count, 0-2.

“I didn't have a very good swing at one of those pitches,” he said.

He made the third one count, hitting a towering fly ball that easily cleared the 8-feet high scoreboard in left field, 200 feet from the plate.

“I hit it pretty high ... It was a high pitch and I usually strike out on those,” Campbell said. “I didn't know if I hit it far enough to get out.

“I started running around first base and saw it disappear over the fence. From there, it was just craziness. The way everyone reacted was pretty cool.”

Athletics coach Shawn Manning said he “still feels chills” when he thinks about that home run.

“I've never seen a place — players and parents alike — have that type of emotional reaction after a home run,” Manning said. “I mean, there were tears. People were crying.

“You have to understand what this kid is about. We were ahead 4-0 in a game earlier in the tournament. Cam was up at bat with a runner on third. I told him he could do whatever he wanted, to just go for it.

“He dropped down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt to score the run,” Manning added. “He's always thinking about the team.”

Campbell thought the decision to bunt was “no big deal.”

“We needed the run. It was the play to make,” he said.

Manning said Campbell Ray “is the first 12-year-old I've coached who is right on par with me in knowing the game. I talk to him about strategy at times.

“I'll pick his brain. He's a true student of the game.”

Now, after approximately 450 at bats in youth baseball, he has a home run on his resume.

“People jumped in the air, screamed and clapped and celebrated as if we had won the World Series,” Robb Ray said. “As it would happen, that game was taped, so we have that moment forever on DVD.”

Campbell is an outfielder-second baseman for the Athletics. He will return to the organization next season. His team did not win the Cooperstown tournament. But Campbell won the moment.

His parents have been a host family for the Butler BlueSox for five years. He's played catch with BlueSox players and gone to most of the team's games during that time.

“I'm growing up around baseball,” Campbell said. “I've been loving it my whole life.”

On this day in Cooperstown, baseball loved him back.

“I got to the plate (after the homer) and the whole team was waiting for me,” Campbell said. “Everyone was going nuts. It was amazing. I'll never, ever forget that.”