DIVISION III SOFTBALL Ursuline edges Ridge in eight innings, 4-3

Courtney Davidson scored the winning run from second base on an infield hit.
By BRIAN RICHESSON
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
MINERAL RIDGE -- Courtney Davidson made up her mind. She was going to score.
"I was going no matter what," Davidson said.
One year after its run to the Division III regional tournament, the Ursuline High softball team is two wins away from returning.
Davidson kept the season alive when she scored on an infield single by Vanessa Dickson in the eighth inning Wednesday, as Ursuline defeated second-seeded Mineral Ridge 4-3.
"That drained me a little bit," said coach Michael Kernan, moments after watching Ursuline lose a 3-0 lead before winning on a strange series of events with two outs in the bottom of the eighth.
Eighth inning rally
With Davidson on second base, Dickson lined a ball that deflected off Mineral Ridge pitcher Kaili Gehring and rolled to the third-base side of the pitcher's circle.
Davidson reached third when she saw Gehring pick up the ball, hesitate and then throw to first.
In the course of those events, Davidson began her sprint home. Gehring's throw to first was low and not in time.
First baseman Katie Olive gathered it in and tried to get Davidson at home, but she was too late.
"Whoever makes the fewest mistakes comes out on top," Mineral Ridge coach Gene Cheredar said. "We made some mistakes."
The Irish (17-10), who have won 14 of their last 17 games, will play at Garrettsville Garfield in a district semifinal next Wednesday.
Mineral Ridge (19-7) seemed to have stolen the momentum in the sixth inning on Sarah Stark's two-run triple that cut the Rams' deficit to 3-2.
Stark's attempt at an inside-the-park home run failed when she stumbled coming around third. She was thrown out on precise throws from center fielder Mariah Snyder and Davidson, the shortstop, to catcher Ali Vitello to end the inning.
Davidson also came up with a key play earlier in the inning when, with runners on first and second and one out, she dove to her right, gloved a groundball and tossed it to Dickson at third base for a forceout.
"She made two huge plays in that inning defensively that could have saved us the game," Kernan said.
The Rams tied the score 3-3 in the seventh when Brandi McLean hit an RBI single.
Overshadowed in Mineral Ridge's loss was Gehring's effort. After falling behind 3-0, the sophomore (15-5) buckled down, retiring 16 straight batters.
"The first two innings, we battled her and made her work a little bit," Kernan said. "I was hoping that would wear her out, but it didn't. She seemed to get stronger."
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