It’s been a little while, but the Blue Streaks are back on top.
The Metzenbaum Blue Streaks Special Olympic softball team defeated Richland County, 12-9, to win the Division II state championship at the William P. Koontz Sports Complex in Oregon, which is near Toledo.
First-year head coach George Cervenka talked about the final moments of the championship game.
“Wow, it was close at the end,” Cervenka said. “The other team had runners on base, but everyone was confident. It was a great relief when we won, but this was a goal of our team. It was pure elation.”
Cervenka was the assistant coach since 2003 before taking over as head coach this season. Cervenka’s assistant coaches are Mike Hannan, Kaitlyn Lieb and Travis Veleba.
“I coach like any other team,” Cervenka said. “I try to put everyone in a position to do their best. We have fast guys, we’re aggressive on the base paths. But we want to hit the ball. We have a nice combination.”
The co-ed team from the Metzenbaum Center has players from all over the county including Chesterland, Middlefield, Chardon, Bainbridge and Newbury. Their season starts in July; they worked their way to qualify from the North District.
The Blue Streaks reached the final after defeating Hancock County, 19-3, earlier in the day. Some of the stars were Jake Watson, who hit four home runs and had 12 RBIs in the two games, and Trevor Piszko, who had two homers and eight RBIs in the two contests.
Some of the other members of the team are: Acey Body, Greg Dlugokecki, Eugene Duncan, Scott Ervin, Jen Gerber, Matt Gerber, Kevin Kangas, Kyle Miller, Brittany Oyaski, Jay Tartaglio and Meghan Viviani.
“I knew we had the talent to do it, but we had a number of things to work on,” Cervenka said. “When things didn’t go our way (earlier in the season), they could get down on themselves. We had to work on them believing in themselves. We had the talent, we had to believe it. Leaders developed. They learned to keep competing and to play through it.
“It’s a credit to the players. If that’s what they learned, that’s great because they can apply that to other areas in life.”
Shortstop Ryan Yanesh went over the final moments of the championship game.
“There were two outs and the bases were loaded in the seventh inning and I was really nervous, I’ll admit it,” Yanesh said. “They hit a grounder right at me and I threw to second to get the final out. I was so excited and happy. I ran up to (second baseman) Jake (Rosboril) and gave him a great big hug. We all went crazy.”
It marks the Blue Streaks’ fifth state title, but their first since 2007. They had come close in recent years as the Blue Streaks were third in 2014, second in 2013 and third in 2010.
Rosboril has played with the Blue Streaks for five years, and this marked his first state championship.
“I thought we had a lot of work to do at the beginning of the year,” Rosboril said. “But when we won, I cried and jumped for joy. It was my first state championship. It felt good.”
Yanesh was more confident at the beginning of the season.
“From the get-go, I thought we could win it because we got a couple of new guys,” Yanesh said.
Rosboril, who plays second base, said as much as he enjoyed winning, it’s the relationships he’s built with his teammates and coaches that he values the most.
“I like being with the people like Mitch (Tropf),” Rosboril said. “We are like family. We love each other and stick up for each other.”
Tropf has been with the Blue Streaks for all five state titles and has handled the pitching duties.
“I pretty much focused on pitching since I was a kid,” Tropf said. “I’ve played other positions, but I prefer pitching over all of it.”
The Blue Streaks, and specifically Tropf, ran into some adversity in the title game.
“They hit a line drive right at my pitching hand,” Tropf said. “At first, I thought it was broken. But I thought, ‘I gotta get through this.’ I iced my hand in between innings and kept pushing through. It did not affect my pitching.
“I wasn’t going to quit, I wanted to push through.”
Rosboril admitted he was concerned when he saw Tropf get hit.
“Mitch hurt his hand and still pitched,” Rosboril said. “I was kind of worried. You don’t want to lose your pitcher.”
And all the while, Yanesh had faith in Tropf.
“Mitch is pretty tough,” Yanesh said. “I knew he’d be fine and tough it out.”
Of five he’s won with the Blue Streaks, Tropf said this year’s championship may have been his favorite.
“All of them are memorable, but this one is more because of the guys behind me,” Tropf said. “We have such good friendships that we will carry on into the future.
“I can’t wait to go out and get another one (state title).”
Yanesh, who has been alongside Tropf for all five state championships, agreed that the 2017 team has been his favorite.
“I feel the same way,” Yanesh said. “This one took us 10 years.”
Asked about his reaction when the final out was recorded, Tropf said: “You’re kidding me, right? I was jumping up and down and crying. I had all of the emotions, then my mom hugged me.”
