Riverhead baseball team rallies for strong finish at Cooperstown tournament

The Riverhead Waves, a 12-and-under travel baseball team, traveled up to Cooperstown for a week-long tournament in early August featuring all-star teams from across the country and not only competed but came away from the 94-team field as one of the best.

The growth over the years culminated in their final tournament as a team before all the players went their separate ways. 

“The same kids we met with on a dusty Stotzky Park Field 2 back when they were 10 are the team that’s here with us today,” Waves head coach Ed Meier said. “I mean, if you showed up, you were on the team. There weren’t many kids, but we had enough to field a team.”

The team was mostly a mix of Riverhead kids, but also had a few from Mattituck and Westhampton. The early beginnings were not for the faint of heart.

“We played a Sayville team and got mercy-ruled,” Meier said. “We as a staff looked at one another and said, ‘Did we make a mistake doing this?”

But as time went on, everyone on the team got better. Meier, who coached varsity for former catholic high school McGann-Mercy for 15 years, had patience and wanted the kids to believe in the process. They started winning, and that belief only continued to grow.

Later that year, the team completely turned it around and won the Town of Brookhaven 10-and-under summer championship. 

“I think at that point we realized that we have something here,” Meier said. “These kids committed to getting better. The parents bought into our system. We practiced hard, and they responded.”

Fast forward to this August, and this town team went to compete against hand-picked all-star teams from an entire region. There were teams from California, Illinois, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and then you had the Riverhead Waves.

“We didn’t know what to expect as a staff,” Meier said. “But we wanted our kids to believe they belong here. Nobody expected what happened next.”

In pool play, the Waves dominated. They defeated Leaside 12U, 11-0. Then took care of the California Bulldogs, 9-4, before knocking off the Bellingham Hawks, 16-2. They weren’t done there, either, smoking a team called Boneyard and Clubhouse by double digits. They rounded out pool play with a 4-4 tie against Welles Park Black and earned the No. 11 seed in bracket play.

“Our bats were hot,” Meier said. “It’s like everyone was at their best that week. We saw players come out and do things we haven’t really seen.”

Cole Eastwood was unstoppable at the plate. The first baseman batted .722 and clubbed five home runs over the course of the tournament. Colton Ranghelli also had an incredible tournament, hitting .647 and three dingers.

Matthew Neumaier launched four home runs and had a team-leading 16 RBIs. Matthew Meier posted a .588 average and made incredible plays in the field. The team hit 23 home runs total over the nine games played. Just about every member of the team found the other side of the fence. 

“It was electric,” Meier said. “I mean, the atmosphere was incredible. It was nothing like anything I’ve coached before, and I’ve been in the state championships over my 26 years of coaching. The fields were packed, and everyone was locked in.”

Riverhead went on to beat South Bay Inferno and Palos Verdes Renegades and made it to the final eight before ending their tournament run against Dodgers Nation: Redash.

“I’m so proud of all the kids,” Meier said. “Baseball is so hard, and the fact that our little team made it this far shows them that they can do anything. This was always going to be our last game as a team because some will pursue higher baseball, some will stay local, and some may never play again. But I know that each one of these kids will be successful in anything they want to do.”