Ursuline takes the long way to title showdown

The Irish outlasted Cleveland VASJ in the last of the 12th inning.
& lt;a href=mailto:mollica@vindy.com & gt;By PETE MOLLICA & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
MASSILLON -- It took 12 innings, but the Ursuline High baseball team made it into the Division III regional championship game.
The Irish (11-15) scored the winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning on a Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph error for a 7-6 victory Friday at Schroeder Field.
Ursuline tied the game in the bottom of the seventh inning on a wild pitch by VASJ starting pitcher Pat Glina, which sent the contest into extra innings.
In the 12th, the Irish opened with David Patrick reaching on a walk, and then Josh Conkey dropped a perfect bunt down the third-base line for an infield single.
John Metzinger then struck out trying to advance the runners, but Cliff Panezich drew a second walk off relief pitcher Steve Zemanek to load the bases.
Tried for double play
Brad Borghetti then hit a sharp grounder to third. Chris Gentile made the play and fired home for the force out on Patrick. Vikings catcher Joe Tichar tried to double up Borghetti at first, but his throw went into right field and Conkey came around to score the game-winner.
Ursuline will meet the Campbell Memorial-Elyria Catholic winner today at 1 p.m. That game was tied 2-2 in the eighth inning when it was suspended. It will be completed today at 11 a.m.
"I'm just so relieved," said Ursuline coach Sean Durkin. "This might just be the most exciting game we've ever been in since I've been coaching.
"Both teams had so many opportunities to win this game and we feel fortunate that we won."
Conkey in 10 innings
Conkey started for the Irish and pitched the first 10 innings, but didn't have his best stuff.
"Josh really showed what he was made of today," said Durkin. "He didn't have his good stuff, but he hung in there for 10 innings."
Armand DePaul came on to pitch the final two innings and picked up the victory.
Ursuline jumped out to a 2-0 lead, scoring once in the first and second innings. Conkey singled to open the first, stole second, was sacrificed to third by Metzinger and scored on Panezich's ground out.
In the second, the Irish got a pair of walks to open the inning and then Patrick drove in the run with a single.
The Irish scored two more in the fourth with the help of two wild pitches from Glina, who had four for the game.
Gave up four runs
Leading 4-1 going into the fifth, Ursuline gave the Vikings four runs in the inning with the help of a pair of errors and a two-run double by Gentile.
VASJ extended its lead to 6-4 in the sixth on two walks and a sacrifice fly.
The Irish came back with one in the sixth on an error and Metzinger's double to deep right field.
They tied it in the bottom of the seventh. Chris Ziemianski was hit by a pitch and replaced by Ryan Coffey. Coffey went to third on Patrick's single and then with two outs scored from third on Glina's fourth wild pitch of the game.
Conkey finished with three hits and threw 154 pitches over his 10 innings on the mound. Patrick also had two hits for the Irish.
"We thought we had a pretty good team this season, but we struggled early and lost some close games," Durkin said. "We weren't sure what to expect in the post-season."
& lt;a href=mailto:mollica@vindy.com & gt;mollica@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;