While most of Lorain County baseball teams were forced inside to practice on Monday. Avon and Brookside opened their seasons at All-Pro Freight Stadium, the home of the Lorain County Crushers.
"It is unbelievable," Avon head coach Frank DeSmit said. "When they first started talking about we were very excited. They have been very generous offering us the field. Every coach that comes in here is really envious of the situation we are in. You couldn’t have a better facility I keep hammering that home to the kids to make sure that they appreciate that they are playing in the premier high school facility in all of Ohio."
Brookside coach Dan Zagorsky reminded his kids not to get too excited.
“It was very nice," he said. "I think the kids enjoyed. I told the kids not to let it overwhelm you. It is just another ballpark. Respect the ballpark, it is a beautiful ballpark but you still have to come out and play baseball. We did make some mistakes which I think hurt us a little bit."
Avon won 10-6.
There was a nice crowd on hand despite the chilly overcast weather and no admission was charged.
Director of Community & Media Relations for the Crushers, Nicolle Meyer said the Crushers were happy to have the high school teams on the field.
“It is just nice to have baseball here so early in the year,” she said.

Some additional information about Clearview coach John Szalay.

• Szalay grew up with parents who volunteered at Clearview games, his mother worked for the school. That made him a fan for life.
• As a player, Szalay was a solid point guard who averaged seven points and six assists under coach Bob Walsh. It's not surprising that like many other undersized point guards, Szalay went into coaching.
• Walsh went out to a Clearview practice earlier this year to reinforce some of Szalay's theories. The Clippers haven't lost since, but Walsh won't take too much credit.
  "They’re where they are today because of John and because of them," he said.
• Szalay speaks very highly of Walsh, and since he was a young basketball fan, he was a big fan of one of Lorain County's most legendary coaches.
  "I don’t think it’s just because we won a state championship together, I think that bond would have bee there regardless. I grew up watching coach and wanted to play for him. Then when I played for him, he got on me when I needed it but he showed so much support all the time like he does with all his players. He’s my role model as a coach. I’m not half the coach he is but I tried to get as much as I could from him. His success speaks for itself."
• Much like Szalay did Monday, Walsh downplayed the team's move to Division II from Division III this season. Though it's impressive that the team has made it to the regional semis in its first year in the switch, neither coach thinks the division change was much of a factor.
  "The division of basketball doesn’t make any difference. You only have five guys on the floor at a time. The competition is the competition," Walsh said.
• Szalay has a strong senior class, led by Kyle Baughman, Anthony Hitchens and Tony Williams. They've grown pretty close over the past four years.
  "He tells us in the locker room before games that he doesn’t want it to be the last time he sees us on the basketball court," Baughman said.

If Clearview can slow down Celina on Thursday, it won't be. The game starts at 6:15 p.m. at Anderson Arena on the campus of Bowling Green State University.

WESTLAKE - Everyone knows about Anthony Hitchens skills on the football field, but Saturday night against Bay in the Division II Westlake District Final he let his skills on the hardwood do the talking.

Hitchens led the Clippers with 21 points, but it was his play in the first half that proved to be the difference.

He scored 10 points in the first quarter when the team struggled and only scored three points as the Clippers led 13-12.

Hitchens scored in a variety of ways. He hit jumpers, got offensive rebounds and putbacks and scored on layups.

"Most teams try to slack off on me and try to force me to be a jump shooter," Hitchens said. "I've worked on my shot during the summer because I didn't have one last season.

"If teams are going to slack off on me I'm going to keep taking that shot. Coach (John) Szalay has faith in me and I have faith in myself and I'm going to keep taking that shot."

Szalay said the team really fed off of Hitchens and that carried over to the second quarter, where the Clippers outscored the Rockets 17-3 and took a 30-15 at halftime.

"He stepped up and we followed his lead," said Szalay about Hitchens play in the first quarter.

Bay coach Jason Frolo said his team just didn't have an answer for Hitchens.

"We told our guys to give him a little bit of a cushion, because he loves to attack the hoop and knows how to finish strong," Frolo said. "He hit two mid-range jumpers which were big for him."

The Clippers went on to defeat Bay 61-29 and advance to the Region 6 semifinal against Celina, at Bowling Green State University, on March, 18.

WESTLAKE - Anthony Hitchens scored a game-high 28 points to lead the Clearview Clippers to the Division II Westlake District Final with a 76-59 victory against the Vermilion Sailors on Thursday night.

Nick Farley scored a team-high 24 points for Vermilion, but the Sailors could not keep up with the athleticism of the Clippers. The Clippers led 36-25 at halftime and outscored the Sailors in every quarter.

The Clippers improve to 20-2 and will now face top-seeded Bay on Saturday, March 13, at 7 p.m.

The Clippers had not won a tournament game since the 2006 season when they were still in Division III.

The win also snapped the Sailors eight-game winnning streak at Westlake High School. Vermilion had won the Westlake District the past two seasons. The Clippers also got revenge on the Sailors, who defeated them at home earlier this season.

Although they lost, a lot could be said about what the Sailors were able to accomplish this season.

Farley was the only returning player from last year's team that made it to the regional final, and they finished the season at 14-9.

The Clippers, who won the Patriot Athletic Conference title, face-off with the Bay Rockets, who were the West Shore Conference champs.

The game should be very entertaining, as both teams have a number of players who can score the basketball.

The Lorain County All-Star wrestling meet was filled with great moments. Four deserving members were inducted into the Hall of Fame. Scholarships were awarded as well as a service award. And there was also wrestling.

Some of the most interesting matches:

Elyria's Kodie Egnor finished second in the state last weekend in D-I 130. North Ridgeville's Matt Zepp was a state alternate at 135. The two matched up at 130 and tied 0-0.

At the Southview sectional, North Ridgeville's Mike Mees and Amherst's Alex Basinski meet in the semifinals at 171. Basinski won 4-0. Mees got a bit of revenge with a 4-1 win at the All-Stars.

Columbia's Ethan Garofolo was one wrestler that had Wellington's Josh Roberts' number. Roberts was winless for his career against Garofolo until he upset him to win the 215-pound title at the Brooklyn sectional. Roberts used that momentum to qualify for state and then place seventh. The two met again at the All-Stars and Garofolo won 10-3.

Southview's Uland Ralston was awarded by the Paul Reynolds Trophy by the Lorain County Wrestling Coaches & Officials Association for being the best senior wrestler in Lorain County. Ralston is the first Southview Saint to win the award since 2001 when Hector Mendez won. Roderick "Juggy" Franklin also won the award in 1993.

The trophy was provided by Jim Berarducci, a Hall-of-Fame high school and collegiate wrestling official, in memory of his wife Marcia, a teacher in the Wellington Schools who passed away last year from pancreatic cancer.

The award is named for Paul Reynolds who served as the head wrestling coach at Avon Lake for 18 years. He served as an official almost up to his passing in 2008. Reynolds was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 1997.

Leading by as many as 23 points, Bay nearly gave the game away as Brookside's Hunter Skolinicki dropped 16 points in the final frame to make things interesting.

Brookside pulled within seven points with 53 seconds to go - putting even more pressure on Bay who was trying to maintain the lead.

Bay coach Jason Frolo mentioned his team has been giving away leads the entire season following the game; something they're going to need to address as the move on.

Brookside standout Nick Jackman struggled to find his shooting rhthym, missing his first five shots from the floor. He finished with nine points on 3-of-9 shooting - all 3-pointers.

At one point, early in the second quarter, the Southview girls basketball team led 13-9.

But Toledo Waite, ranked No. 3 in the country, woke up from then on, going on a 21-3 run through the end of the quarter to take a 30-16 lead at halftime.

Any chance of a Southview comeback was put to an end when the Indians outscored the Sains 43-19 in the second half.

Southview junior Shanique Ogle had a team-high 22 points. No one else on the team had more than four.

Natasha Howard of Waite lead all scorers with 28 and Shanice McNeal added 21. The Indians outrebounded Southview 53-28.

Southview had a hard time breaking through a physical full-court press and committed 34 turnovers.

Waite will move on to play Perrysburg in the regional finals at Norwalk High School.

West Shore Conference foes Avon and Vermilion met Saturday night in the Division II Westlake Sectional Final, and there was definitely no love lost between the two clubs.

The Eagles' woeful second-half shooting ultimately led to their demise, only shooting 7 of 28 (25 percent) from the field.

"We just didn’t finish," Avon coach Jim Baker said. "We went really cold for quite a stretch. We were getting the same shots in the first half and we just went cold."

The Sailors, who have won the Westlake District the last two seasons, have now won eight straight tournament games at Westlake High School.

Vermilion advances to the district semifinal where they will take on Clearview on March 11, at 7 p.m.

John Urwin, Cody Sanker and Kyle Banal scored in double figures as the No. 1 seed Rockets defeated Padua, 73-61 in the Division II Sectional Final at Westlake High School.

Urwin scored 23 points to lead the way, while Sanker and Banal added 18 and 17, respectively.

Other boys scores from Friday night

Parma 67, Midview 47: The Redmen ended the Middies’ season last night in the Division I Brecksville-Broadview Heights Sectional Final.

"Parma did a real nice job defensively on us," Midview coach Troy DiFranco said. "(Parma) has a lot of scorers. It was a great run for our kids."

Midview was led by Andrew Agee’s 12 points, while Nick Clark added seven and Riley Moore chipped in with six.

Medina 57, Westlake 47: The Battling Bees secured a 12-point lead in the first quarter and never looked back as it went on to beat the Demons, 57-47 Friday night in the Division I Grafton Sectional Final.

Marion Harding 71, Sandusky 67: The Presidents had some trouble with the Blue Streaks, but were able to pull it out in the end in the Division I Bowling Green Sectional Final game played at Willard High School.

Port Clinton 53, Perkins 45: Xavier Turner led the Pirates with 14 points, while Mike Ebert added 12 in a loss to the Redskins in the Division II Ashland Sectional Final.

Bellevue 65, Norwalk 34: The Redmen were too much for the Truckers in the Division II Sectional Final played at Sandusky last night.

Western Reserve 56, Gibsonburg 44: The Roughriders cruised past the Golden Bears last night at Norwalk High School in the Division III Mansfield Sectional Final.

Huron 62, Lakota 47: The Tigers made easy work of the Raiders last night at Norwalk, advancing them to the district quarterfinal against Western Reserve.

St. Paul 57, Fremont St. Joseph 30: The Flyers handled the Crimson Streaks in the Division IV Gibsonburg Sectional Final last night at Port Clinton High School.

Monroeville 61, Lakeside Danbury 59: The Eagles edged the Lakers in the second game at Port Clinton. Monroeville will now face familiar foe St. Paul in the district quarterfinal.

Mike Harrison and Hunter Skolnicki each hit clutch free throws in overtime to help Brookside upset Holy Name 60-56 at the Division II Sectional Final at Westlake High School.

With less than 20 seconds left and the score tied at 56, Skolnicki hit a pair from the line. Harrison then hit two more to ensure the Cardinals’ victory.

After trailing for much of the game, as much as 10 in the third quarter, the Green Wave successfully extended the game.

Holy name took its first lead since 4-0 with two free throws from Corey Elliot, making the score 50-48.

The Cardinals quickly responded when Nick Jackman hit his second 3 of the game.
With the score 54-53 in favor of Brookside with 49 seconds left, Harrison came through with two free throws.

Elliot then hit another 3 to tie the game.

Brookside sealed its fate when Skolnicki and Harrison made their last four free throws.

The ability to consistently make free throws was the difference in the game. Brookside shot 16 of 22 (73 percent), while Holy Name shot 10 of 22 (45 percent) from the line.

Matt Heben led the Green Wave with 14 points. Kevin Krakowiak and Elliot added 10 and 12, respectively.

Moody led Brookside with 17 points. Jackman added 15.

Brookside started the tournament with a comeback victory over Keystone. The Cardinals will move on to play Bay in the district semifinals on Wednesday.

Southview will continue as a basketball program for at least one more game. The Saints knocked off number one seed Westlake 52-43.
Shanique Ogle continues to amaze. The junior came close to a triple double. She put up 25 points, 16 rebounds and nine steals. She is now just 11 points away from the 1,000 point milestone.
She has a great chance to reach that in the District final against Cloverleaf (12-11) on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Medina High School.
The Saints will attempt to win their second ever district championship.

Two-time defending Division II district champion Vermilion had no problems in their sectional game Wednesday night, as they defeated Max Hayes 72-50.

Vermilion's Nick Farley led all scores with 23 points, including 5 3-pointers. The Sailors (13-8) advance and will take on Avon (12-9) who defeated Keystone for the second year in a row 53-43. R.J. Kauffman led all scores with 21.

The Sailors and Eagles, who both are West Shore Conference members, will meet for the third time this season on March 6. Each team won on their home court during the regular season. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Westlake High School.

In Division I sectional at Midview High School, defending district champion North Ridgeville (13-8) was upended by Berea 50-48.

North Ridgeville's Dominique Qualls led the Rangers with 17 points.

The other game at Midview saw Avon Lake defeat Elyria 48-43. The Shoreman were able to come away with a win, despite getting just four points from their leading scorer Ronnie Willoughby. Eric Stuczynski stepped up big for the Shoreman (14-7) as he finished with a game-high 21 points, including three 3's.

Chase Farris had a monster game for the Pioneers (9-12) with 17 points and 20 rebounds.

Avon Lake will battle Berea on March 6, at 6 p.m. at Midview High School. Both teams play in the Southwestern Conference and split the regular season series.