Western grad Bly has Mason back in state semifinals

Jun. 9—MASON — Baseball is always at the forefront.

Almost 40 years later, Curt Bly can still remember his early days of playing the game. His introduction to organized baseball came in the Sandusky AMVETS league, playing at Sprau Park.

Bly and his brother, Chris, also made their fair share of trips a quarter-mile down the road for sweet treats from Cobbs Drive-in, as well.

"I remember those days well, playing with my older brother," said Curt, now in his ninth year as the head coach at Division I Mason High School. "Our grandfather, Carl Bacni, was a great baseball guy, and our dad (Wade) was a really great baseball man as well."

Those early days of baseball continue to play an integral role in Curt Bly's life. After growing up in Sandusky, Bly attended high school and graduated from Western Reserve in 1993 — shortly after earning first team All-Firelands Conference honors at shortstop.

On Friday, Bly will coach Mason in the state semifinals for a second time in five years at Canal Park in Akron. The No. 2-ranked Comets face No. 12 Grove City (25-7) at 1 p.m. after Friday's first semifinal between Sylvania Northview and Chagrin Falls Kenston.

The Div. I state championship game is scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday.

Mason (27-4) beat perennial powerhouse Cincinnati Moeller, 4-1, in the regional championship game on June 4 in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup to reach the Final Four. According to maxpreps.com, Mason is the No. 16-ranked team in the U.S. entering this weekend.

"Getting through our regional is tremendously difficult," Bly said. "We've been to the regional five times in my eight seasons as coach, but getting out is never easy. Being able to do that again, we count it as a blessing.

"It's definitely not less exciting because we've done it before, because every success we have in every season is tremendously important to us," he added.

The Comets also reached state in 2018. Though many coaches often say each season is very different in unique ways, that thought especially rings true for the Bly family this spring.

Curt and Melissa Bly's oldest son, Brady, is a key member of this year's Comets team. The senior catcher was first team All-Greater Miami Conference and his headed to the University of Charleston in West Virginia to continue his baseball career.

The couple also has a daughter, Corinne, 16, and another son, Gavin, 12.

"And it's not just Brady, but this whole class I've known since they were six years old," Curt Bly said. "I coached them in little league and know the families well. It's certainly a blessing, and with Brady, he was our bat boy when he was just five.

"So he's been around the program almost as long as I have," he added. "To see that transformation from when he was a little kid looking in awe at the players — to now being one of them as a chance to compete for a state title — is almost too good to be true."

When Bly's mother, Judy, moved to Vegas, he wasn't looking to leave home. With Wade Bly living in Wakeman, he and his brother transferred to Western Reserve.

Chris was a year older and graduated in 1992. Chris Bly said coaching has always been in the family. Chris coached six years at the senior level of the Lefty Grove Baseball League in Norwalk, and also does fall baseball in Sandusky with high school kids.

"Our dad coached for three decades," Chris said. "Even when we were kids and playing through high school together, my brother always had attention to details. He was the most heads-up player I ever played with."

That included mimicking famous baseball players as a kid.

"Curt was scheduled to pitch one particular night in the AMVETS league he was eight years old," Chris said. "He watched and read about Gaylord Perry and listened to my dad talk about him."

Perry — the Hall of Fame pitcher who was the first Cy Young Award winner in Cleveland history — gained notoriety for doctoring baseballs.

"So Curt shows up to the game and my dad notices something funny about his hat and his hair," Chris said. "He lifts up my brother's hat, and his hair is caked in vaseline. He's eight years old thinking he's going to throw a spit ball, because he learned about Gaylord Perry."

To this day, Curt Bly said he checks on Western Reserve athletics almost every weekend during the school year.

"I became a Roughrider, and it's a place I hold dear and still value my experiences there," Curt said. "I always follow Western Reserve sports on social media and keep tabs on what their sports teams are doing."

Ironically, Chris and Curt Bly faced Edison in non-league games as players for the Roughriders under head coach Frank Maire. The Chargers were led by pitcher Ben Simon, who went on to play for Eastern Michigan and was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers, eventually reaching the Triple-A level.

This weekend, Edison is also in the state semifinals, and are led by pitcher Thomas Simon, who is Ben's nephew.

Curt Bly has been at Mason since the 1997-98 school year. He met Melissa at Capital University, and she is a Mason graduate.

"We applied everywhere all over the state coming out of college," Curt said. "We both happened to get hired at Mason, and we've been here ever since."

Bly started coaching for the Comets as a junior varsity and later varsity assistant for legendary coach Ken Gray.

Gray, who won 768 games at Mason — the second-most wins in Ohio history — came and spoke to the team this week.

"He really helped set me up for success," Bly said of Gray. "He didn't leave when the cupboard was bare. Coach Gray decided to leave after the 2013 season, and at one point we were ranked No. 11 in the country that season with five kids who eventually got paid to play baseball.

"He's always been supportive, and he allowed me as an assistant to take more ownership within the program. That allowed the transition to go more smoothly."

As for Bly's future in the game, it doesn't appear to be ending anytime soon.

"Every day is an opportunity to measure yourself against someone else," he said. "That competitive fire is still something that burns for me. But in addition to that, the opportunity that we have in here in Mason to impact these kids into developing them as young men and seeing them reach their goals and beyond ... it's much more than wins.

"I love seeing them five or 10 years later when they have their families and careers," he added. "Just like I check in on Western Reserve still, our alumni check in on us consistently. By the time we got on the bus after beating Moeller, I had 25 messages from former players. That's gratifying, and that keeps us in it still."