Koval's varied pitches send Irish to Genshaft

Ursuline defeated CVCA, 2-1, and will take on Fairless Thursday in Massillon.
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NORTH LIMA -- Ursuline High softball coach Mike Kernan couldn't say enough about his senior pitcher, Ashley Koval, after she threw a three-hitter to lead the Irish to the Division III district championship with a 2-1 win over Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy Tuesday at the Green Beaver sports complex.
The Irish return to regional play for the first time since 2003 and will face Fairless on Thursday at 5 p.m. at Genshaft Park in Massillon.
"For four years, Ashley Koval has just given a ton to this program as a leader," said an emotional Kernan following the game. "For her to come out and pitch the way she did in the district championship game, I'm just so happy for her."
Koval (11-5) was the smallest player on the field but she had the biggest heart.
Koval doesn't possess overpowering speed so she battled a good CVCA team with a wide array of pitches to earn her 11th and most important victory of her career.
"I was nervous before the game," Koval admitted. "But I wasn't going to let my team down. I knew that if I threw strikes game that the defense would make plays."
Offspeed magic
This is Koval's first year as the team's main pitcher and she came up big when the Irish needed her the most.
Koval coaxed Royals' batters into hitting 10 pop ups with a great changeup and she struck out six more batters.
"Koval was slower than we are used to," CVCA coach Jeff Johnson said.
"Our girls were anxious up there but give [Koval] credit, she kept our hitters off balance the whole game."
Her biggest strikeout came in the third inning after she walked the first batter, Kelsey Evans, and Evans came around to score after an error and an RBI single by Bethany Myers.
With runners on second and third and only one out, Koval struck out the Royals' No. 2 hitter, Hanna Eliason, and induced Jessica Bartlett into popping up to second baseman Jenna Klempay.
One hit for Irish
Ursuline had only one hit in the game but they made the most of it when they used that hit as the catalyst for their game-winning rally in the top of the fourth.
Natalie Palermo led off the inning with a single to right field and Ashley Siembieda followed with a grounder to second that CVCA's fielder couldn't handle.
With runners on first and second and no outs, Palermo broke for third and pinch runner Mirando Carkido for second when the Royals' catcher bobbled the incoming pitch.
Teresa Masters threw the ball into left field and that enabled Palumbo to come around and score the tying run.
On the next play, Carkido broke for the plate on a safety squeeze bunt attempt. But when the Ursuline batter missed the pitch, Carkido tried to get back to third and Masters again threw wildly to third and into left field as Carkido came home with the go-ahead run.
"You can't make errors in game's at this level," Johnson said. "We are normally a good defensive team and those girls don't usually make errors but today they did.
"Our pitcher [Katie Keslar] threw and outstanding game," Johnson said. "It's a shame that we threw the game away."
Kernan said that the Irish are playing good softball at this point in the season.
"I'm so proud of our team," Kernan said. "This team has just jelled and they wanted this game really bad.
"It's really exciting to see this happen for them."
Kernan said alert base-running enabled the Irish to win the district championship.
"Natalie [Palermo] made that game-tying play on her own," Kernan said. "She saw the catcher bobble the ball and broke for third. It was a gutsy play."