CENTER TWP— Center Township center fielder Randy Hepler received the second annual Butler County American Legion Baseball Player of the Year award.

Hepler, 19, was selected in a poll of the league's managers.

Criteria for the award include being a senior player, game attendance, being a leader on the team and for other youngsters and being respected around the league.

"That kid has had a tough go of it,"Butler City manager Jerry Piroch said. "But he wears his love for baseball on his sleeve, and I love that.

"He made his life better with the experience of playing American Legion Baseball."

Hepler has been playing baseball since he was 8. The oldest of five adopted children in his family, he lost his father to a heart attack June 11, 2006.

Don "Moose"Hepler was keeping score at another son's all-star tournament at the Center Township baseball complex when he was stricken.

"I was umpiring a game on one of the other fields when it happened,"Hepler said. "It was crazy at the time."

And it turned him off baseball for a while.

"For a couple of seasons, I didn't want anything to do with it,"Hepler admitted. "The game wasn't the same without my father being there. I wasn't getting the feedback I used to get."

Center Township manager Mike Campbell urged Hepler to play for his team in 2007. After giving it a try, Hepler left the team for an eight-game stretch.

"I just wasn't ready yet," Hepler said. "But after not coming to some games, I found myself missing it.

"I wasn't hitting at first, I wasn't getting on base, I wasn't doing anything. Once I started playing better again, I got into it again. When you're helping the team, you feel like you're more a part of things," he added.

Hepler's family dealt with more adversity when one of his younger brothers was struck by a car and underwent a year of rehabilitation.

Even with that, Campbell noticed a difference in Hepler's attitude toward baseball.

"I had to talk him into coming out for the team last year. He wanted to come out this year,"Campbell said.

"Randy didn't miss any games this year. He has a great attitude and he's a true team leader."

Hepler batted .320 this season and hit fifth in Center Township's batting order.

"He had a lot going on around him, yet Randy kept it together and kept playing ball,"Campbell said. "I give him a lot of respect for that."

"He had a lot of opportunities to go the wrong way in life, but he went the right way,"Piroch said.

Hepler's brother Lee, now 13, was scheduled to return home from rehab Wednesday. Hepler is postponing the start of his college education at Butler County Community College until winter semester to help tend to his brother's needs at home.

"There are priorities," he said. "I definitely feel like I have more responsibility now (since his father's death), but it's no burden or anything.

"It's hard to explain. You just go with it. ... You just do it."

While Hepler has played many sports, he lists baseball as his favorite.

"Baseball is twice as high as any sport on my list." he said. "It's more relaxed. You can joke around in baseball more. You have a good time.

"My teammates aren't the friends I hang out with, necessarily, but we're all still friends. The time we spend together, we're playing baseball and talking baseball.

"It's completely separate from the rest of the things I do. I needed that and I'm thankful for it," he added.