High school baseball: Rocky River, led by former Elyria coach Ed Piazza, knocks off Amherst and North Ridgeville on way to Adrian Abrahamowicz Summer Classic title

The last time the Comets succumbed was in the hands of Piazza and his Elyria Pioneers and in the 2021 final of the Adrian Abrahamowicz Summer Classic. 
 
This time around, Piazza, head coach the Rocky River team, Knocked off Amherst 2-1 in the semi-finals and led the Pirates to a 9-1 win over North Ridgeville in the final on Saturday at the Amherst High School. 
 
North Ridgeville topped Midview 5-2 in the other semifinal Saturday to advance to the title tilt for the consecutive year. 
 
Rocky River that was defeated by North Ridgeville 3-2 in the group stage becomes the fourth team to win the tournament alongside with; Medina, Elyria and Amherst. Thirty-six percent of the participants have won the award once, while the Comets are the only players to be duplicating the victory, having won four times. 
 
Amherst, which had competed in the finals every year since the tournament began in 2017; the 2020 tournament was called off due to COVID-19. 
 
“They were excited,” Piazza said. “There was a lot of energy and then we just took it from there It was a nice way to end the summer I really think now with all the young guys that played in this tournament that we have a lot of depth We have a lot of guys returning, those guys didn’t play as much We gave it up to some of the younger guys and I saw a lot is improvement I am excited for what the future holds for us”. 
 
It was all pitching for Rocky River today. Following the Pirates’ shut down of the Amherst offense to one run, starter Joe Brant was solid in the championship going five innings allowing one earned run on five hits and one walk and two strikeouts. Griffin Hill came out to deliver a two shutout relief innings and didn’t allow just one walk. 
 
“Anyway, the times in the field I say to myself: ‘My defense will not let me down. ” “I know they will forever be there to support me And funny whenever we score some goals This can make me aggressive , when I am aggressive I love to get on the field and give in my best shot . ” 
 
The Rangers seem to come in the championship match perfect in the tournament but were overwhelmed by a humongous first inning performed by the Pirates. Four consecutive walks and a hit batter allowed two of the six runs that were scored in the inning be made without the actual ball leaving the batter’s hand. 
 
“It felt good to step in and get some hits,” said Bryant Hurt who batting a score of 2/3 in a title match. “And it felt good to eliminate two teams that would ordinarily are in the finals of such a tournament This is the first time that Rocky River has been crowned champions of the tournament I am privileged to be part of that team. ” 
 
In the first one, North Ridgeville’s relievers again did a good job to manage the Pirates. More troubles were in store for the Mets, this time from Michael Kuna, Chase Ovelgonne and Dominic Durst as all the three gave three runs, two of which were earned, on eight hits and six walks. 
 
Still the bats could not match up to the likes of Brant and Hill appropriately. The Rangers successfully scored in the fifth when Andrew Flesher started the barrage with a two bagger as second and came home three up when Tommy Wolfram hit a wild sacrifice fly to centre. Five-hole hitter Flesher coming into the plate 2 for 2 and scored a run. 
 
‘This one feels good,’ North Ridgeville Coach Jon Flesher said, ‘We’re really proud of the kids. ’ “We saw very many great kids this week a lot of the junior kids performed; pitching did very well this week; I really don’t want to give al the attention to this game but the young kids did very well as well as some of the older kids.