After quarterfinal loss, Riverview baseball looks forward to next season

By: Michael Love
Sunday, June 5, 2022 | 11:01 AM

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Riverview baseball players had winning playoff experiences under their belts as they began this year’s WPIAL Class A tournament with a first-round matchup against Bishop Canevin.

The Raiders, hoping for a second straight run to the WPIAL finals, checked in as the No. 10 seed, but coach Bill Gras knew his team, which went 6-10 overall in the regular season and was fourth in Section 3 at 4-6, had what it took to advance.

“It was sort of reminiscent of last year where we started to hit in the playoffs,” Gras said.

“We didn’t hit as well in the regular season this year as I had hoped, but we came out against Bishop Canevin with 11 hits. It made me think about what we could’ve done if we hit this well in the regular season.”

Those 11 hits helped Riverview produce a mild upset of the No. 7 Crusaders. The Raiders were in the quarterfinals with a 13-7 victory.

The quest to reach the title game, and the season as a whole, came to a sudden close, however, in the quarterfinals with a 5-1 loss to No. 2 Union. The Raiders, who also fell to the Scotties in last year’s title game, were limited to just one hit this time around.

Union went on to defeat Eden Christian, 4-1, to capture another WPIAL title.

But for at least one day in this year’s postseason, Riverview was sitting in the winner’s seat and feeling good.

Junior Luke Migely led the way against Bishop Canevin with three hits and two runs batted in, while juniors Enzo Lio and Daniel Roupas and freshman Johnny Bertucci tallied two hits apiece.

Bertucci, one of two freshmen for Riverview in this year’s playoffs — the other being Tyler Aftanas — collected four RBIs against Bishop Canevin.

“Experience is everything,” Gras said. “With that, I felt very confident that we wouldn’t be hurt by nervousness or anything like that. I could see their focus leading up to that game. I felt we could beat this team. We lost some really close games to Sewickley Academy and Leechburg. The pitching was there, and if we did a little bit of hitting, knowing how aggressive we had been on the bases, I knew we could compete with them.”

Against Union, Gras felt his hitters did a good job of putting the ball in play. Only one batter struck out throughout the seven innings.

“We battled tough against Union both times,” Gras said.

“We hit the ball hard. We did that in a number of games this year. We would hit the ball hard but it would be right at someone. If we moved that ball a couple of feet either way in several cases (against Union), it could’ve been a different game.”

Riverview’s four section wins this season came in sweeps of St. Joseph and Springdale. The two losses to Sewickley Academy and the pair of setbacks to Leechburg to close out section play were by a combined seven runs.

The Raiders also outlasted Class 2A playoff qualifier Apollo-Ridge, 12-9, in nonsection play.

“It was a little frustrating that we didn’t find a way to win those close section games,” Gras said. “We were right there in all four. For the season, we hit .260 as a team, and that needed to be better for what our goals were, but at the same time, we scored three more runs than we did last year.

“I felt the guys progressed and got better as the season went on. They started to understand what it took to be a hitter. They became more and more patient at the plate. They stopped thinking too much, and it became ‘see the ball, hit the ball.’”

Gras said it will be tough to say goodbye to the pair of senior starters in catcher Taylor Zellefrow and pitcher Vinnie Shook, who he said have given so much on and off the field to the successes the team achieved.

“They both were outstanding,” Gras said.

“We had Vince for four years and the three seasons, and Taylor transferred into the district and had two really great seasons for us. Taylor was so valuable for us behind the plate in how he handled the pitchers and his bat in the lineup. Vince, for four years, I loved the kid to death. He gave us everything he had, and was our bulldog last year and this year on the mound.”

Gras said both Zellefrow and Shook hope to continue to play locally at the next level.

With the loss of only the two senior starters, Gras likes the potential for the team heading into the 2023 season.

Many of the returning team members, Gras said, will join the seniors on travel baseball teams this summer as they continue playing and hope to keep their skills sharp.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

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