Now that the Olympics are over, its nice to return home and focus on local athletic accomplishments.
In July, the Munroe Falls Hammers won the 15 - 18U division championship of the Suburban Community Baseball League. The home fields for the Hammers were the ball fields at Stow High School and Forrest Brook Park and they competed against teams from the local area including: Revere, Copley, Green, Hudson, Stow, Cloverleaf, Highland, and Wadsworth.
Coaches Larry Smith and Dave Edwards managed the pitching staff and the club to an 18-3-1 record.
The season ran from late May through the hot first half of July and was concluded with a league tournament. The Hammers advanced to the semi finals and won a well-played pitcher's dual against the Stow Vipers with a 1-0 score to reach the championship game.
In the tournament title game, they faced off against a good team from Cloverleaf and won the ball game with a 7-2 score. Adam Porto started for Munroe Falls and pitched four solid innings. He struck out seven batters with a mix of a fastball and a knuckle curve. Eric Jovanovich pitched the fifth and sixth innings and notched two strikeouts. Kyle Scelza came on in the seventh to close out the game for the win with two more strikeouts. Randy Smith caught the entire game and managed the three different pitchers well.
On offense, the Hammers got big hits from Dan Garner with a triple and an Eric Jovanovich double. Devon Jackson showed great speed and was a scoring threat on the bases all afternoon.
The team featured a mix of seniors that had just graduated from Stow Munroe Falls High School and then a group of underclassmen who also attend Stow. Seniors that played on the team from the Stow Varsity baseball team played out of their normal positions for the Hammers.
Pictured are: Back Row L-R: Dave Edwards, Justin George, Eric Jovanovich, Nick Shellhorn, Kyle Scelza, Devon Jackson, Adam Porto, Dan Garner, Mike Smith, Larry Smith
Front Row L-R: Randy Smith, Mike Edwards, Brian Soldierson, Kyle Brown
Not Pictured: Chris Choler
