A WILD FINISH

Photo by: Nick Mays

Special to the Vindicator

Photo

South Range’s Cory Deal (20) makes it safely back to the bag ahead of the tag by Ursuline’s John McGeary (18) during their Division III sectional final Monday at Cene Park in Struthers. After leading 5-4 in the top of sixth, the Raiders gave up two runs in the bottom of the inning to give the Irish the 6-5 win.

Two wild pitches help Ursuline rally for sectional championship

By Joe Scalzo

scalzo@vindy.com

STRUTHERS

The Ursuline High baseball team had just beaten South Range 6-5 in Monday’s Division III sectional final and as Irish sophomore pitcher Sam Donko walked into the dugout, one of the assistants yelled, “The monkey dance might be coming!”

To do the monkey dance, you put your hands above your head and wiggle your head between them. It shouldn’t be confused with the rain dance. To do that one, you have to live in Ohio and ... well, that’s it.

The monkey dance gets the Irish pumped up. The rain dance does the opposite, as Ursuline and South Range learned this weekend.

After three straight days of rainouts, the Raiders were forced to play their sectional semifinal on Monday at 4:30 p.m. at Cene Park — they beat East Palestine, 7-1 — then immediately play the Irish.

After grabbing a 4-0 lead in the first inning — thanks in part to four Irish errors — the Raiders flirted with danger over the next few innings and eventually ran out of magic, giving up the game-winning runs in the bottom of the sixth thanks to four walks (one intentional) and two wild pitches.

“It’s kind of been our nemesis all year,” Irish coach Sean Durkin said of the poor start. “We dug ourselves in a big hole but we kept fighting.

“We had good at-bats the rest of the game and eventually were able to take the lead.”

Donko (3-3) went the distance for the Irish (11-7), who will play Brookfield, Berkshire or LaBrae in Thursday’s district semifinal at Cene. After giving up four hits in the first inning, Donko gave up just five the rest of the way.

“I’m a slow starter,” he admitted. “Once I get that first inning out of the way, I find my spots. I see what the umpire’s calling and adjust to it.

“I felt like I couldn’t give up any more [runs] or I might be in trouble. So I had to buckle down.”

Donko also had two hits and a walk for Ursuline, while No. 8 hitter Paul Pegues singled, doubled and drove in two runs. Seven Ursuline batters had at least one hit.

“All throughout the game, we kept putting offensive pressure on,” Durkin said. “We had guys in scoring position pretty much every inning and just couldn’t get that big hit.

“Finally, it wasn’t a big hit that won it for us.”

Andy Lacefield had three hits, drove in a run and scored a run for the Raiders (12-10) and Gerrad Rohan had three hits, including a leadoff single to start the seventh. But after getting sacrificed to second, he got no closer to scoring the tying run.

“We got off to a great start and had a couple big hits but then our bats went dead for a few innings,” Raiders coach Jim Hanek said. “Give Ursuline credit; they battled back.

“They got down 4-0 and just chipped, chipped, chipped.”