By MICHAEL RADANO
Courier-Post Staff
CAMDEN

In front of a somber crowd, the Camden Riversharks got back to work Monday night.

The Sharks (22-32 half, 46-71 overall) scored single runs in the second and sixth innings and two more in the seventh for good measure, in a 4-1 win over Lehigh Valley. The announced crowd of 3,040, was an indication of tickets sold as only about 1,500 were actually in the building but in light of national events, supplied the high point of the evening as they joined Camden High School's Ryan Bates' rendition of ``God Bless America'' on the soprano sax.

After last Tuesday's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D. C., the Atlantic League and other professional leagues, including Major League Baseball, halted games until Monday. In a quirk of scheduling, the Sharks were the first professional team to get back to action at 6:45. A full 20 minutes before the Phillies began their series with the Atlanta Braves.

But the important thing on this night wasn't who started first or even who won, especially between two teams with a combined record of 81-153, but that life was returning to at least some semblance or normality.

``I would have been fine if the league had called off the rest of the season,'' manager Wayne Krenchicki said. `` But I understand that we needed to get back to work. I was happy with our effort tonight. We had a good pair of workouts before today and we played well.''

Starter Derek Root pitched seven innings of eight-hit ball, and picked up his eighth win of the season in the process.

``There was some debate if we should go and play in Nashua,'' Root said of the canceled weekend series that will be played this weekend instead. ``Yesterday I watched as President Bush said we should get back to work. I think it was time.

``I was surprised I pitched as well as I did. I hadn't thrown a curve in 12 days but I was able to be effective with it tonight.''

Dan Held went 2-for-4 with an RBI and Dwight Maness went 1-for-3 with an RBI and a sacrifice. Maness had three home runs, six RBIs, six runs scored as he hit .444 in the five games before the unscheduled seven-day layoff.

``It's hard to get right back in, but I felt comfortable tonight and hopefully I can carry it over to tomorrow,'' Maness said.

``I agreed with not playing last week. We're right here and all of our games are around New York City. We needed to think about more important things than baseball. It's just a game.''

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