Patrick's triple triggers Irish victory

Ursuline plays Berkshire today at 2 p.m. for the regional championship.
By ZACH STIPE
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
MASSILLON -- When Ursuline senior David Patrick connected to open Saturday's Division III regional baseball semifinal, he thought he had hit a routine flyball.
"Then I saw [the center fielder] going back," Patrick said. "I just kept running and the next thing I knew I was on third base."
A head-first slide into third base gave Patrick a triple and the Irish a great start to an 8-3 victory over Garfield Heights Trinity at Schroeder Field.
Moments later, Patrick scored. He took the mound with his pants covered in dirt, throwing a perfect first inning for the Irish.
Catalyst
Patrick pulled double duty for Ursuline, pitching and batting lead off. He threw six solid innings, yielding only three runs and four hits, to pick up his eighth win of the season.
He also had the game's most exciting play, the lead-off triple.
"David's been terrific all year, both on the mound and at the plate," Irish coach Sean Durkin said. "He's one of our senior leaders and he relishes that roll."
Ryan Satterlee followed Patrick's triple with a single that scored his teammate.
Satterlee, also a senior, scored as well on a Matt Yarab sacrifice fly that gave the Irish a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
Durkin feels very comfortable with two of his seniors at the top of his lineup.
"[Patrick and Satterlee] have been terrific all year setting the table for us," Durkin said. "Both of them can bunt, they can run, they both swing the bat well and they've certainly been a key to our success."
Closing the gap
Trinity made the game close early, scoring two runs in the third inning.
At the beginning of the fourth inning, the Irish clung to a 3-2 lead.
When the inning was over, the game was all but decided as the Irish scored four runs on four hits to break the game open.
Matt Lapikas began the inning with a smash a double. Two batters later, Ross Revella hit a run-scoring single.
Back-to-back walks to Joe Wielbruda and Patrick loaded the bases. Satterlee drilled a single that scored another run. Eddie Rohan followed with a sacrifice fly and two more runs scored on a Yarab single.
What had been a one-run game, had turned into a 7-2 blowout.
The Irish added an insurance run in the sixth inning and were able to withstand a bold comeback attempt by the Trojans.
Works out of jam
The Trojans scored a run in the sixth and loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh against Rich Revella, who came in to finish the game for the Irish.
Revella was able to work himself out of a jam, though, striking one Trojan out and inducing a double play to end the game.
Satterlee, Yarab and Lapiskas each tallied two hits apiece for Ursuline, who will play Berkshire today at 2 p.m. at Schroeder Field for the regional championship and a ticket to the state tournament.
Patrick will remain a double-threat in the championship game, moving to center field and continuing to lead off.
"We've been a good offensive team all year," Durkin said. "It really didn't surprise me today that we came out and swung the bats real well."