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Irish’s Finelli tames Leopards
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Ursuline ace Harry Finelli pitches to a Liberty batter during a game Wednesday at Cene Park in Struthers. The Irish defeated the Leopards 11-1 in five innings. Finelli pitched four solid innings and gave up one run on five hits. Off the mound he went 3-3 with three RBIs and was a home run short of hitting for the cycle.
Wind gusts helped Ursuline’s bats pound Liberty in a five-inning contest
By Brandon judeh
STRUTHERS
An unlikely force helped the Ursuline High baseball team defeat Liberty 11-1 in five innings on Wednesday at Cene Park.
The wind was Ursuline’s best friend as gusts of 25 mph carried the ball to right field and the Irish took advantage.
“The wind helped us in this tight game, we hit a couple of balls hard out to right field and with the wind slicing and the sun it caused Liberty some problems and it jump started us offensively,” Irish head coach Sean Durkin said.
Ursuline starting pitcher Harry Finelli kept the Leopards (4-3) in check with a steady mix of off speed pitches.
Finelli pitched four solid innings and gave up one run on five hits to pick up the victory.
“I wasn’t feeling that much velocity today so I kept working and making sure I was hitting all my locations,” Finelli said. “I worked my off speed pitches pretty good and used my curveball and cutter to my advantage.”
Not only did Finelli carry the Irish on the mound, he also ignited them in the batters box.
He went 3-3 with three RBIs and was a home run short of hitting for the cycle.
“I felt really comfortable at the plate, I knew we needed to get the bats going and take advantage of having runners in scoring position,” Finelli said.
The Irish took advantage of three fourth-inning errors by Liberty and scored six runs to open up a 10-run lead. The rally started with a two RBI double by Sam Donko and ended with an RBI single by Ryan Strollo.
“It’s huge when you can get big at bats by everyone on the team, when you hit the ball hard and put it in play, you’re going to get on base most of the time,” Donko said.
Donko also added that the game was made easy by Finelli’s great outing and the superb play of the defense under the weather conditions.
Finelli got into early trouble in the first inning as Jared Wiesen tripled to right field and came around to score on a ground out.
Ursuline responded in the bottom half of the inning when Finelli smacked a two-run double into left field to give the Irish the lead for good.
In the third inning, Donko lead off with a double and Finelli followed with a RBI triple. An RBI single by Paul Pegues and a run scored off of an error gave Ursuline a comfortable 5-1 cushion.
“I’m very happy with how our team took advantage of the opportunities given to us,” Durkin said. “It’s something we hadn’t been good at, but today was definitely a good step for us.”
It was a tough game for Leopards starting pitcher Matt Pontuti as he gave up five runs and five hits. In all the Irish had five extra base hits.
Donko went 2-2 with two doubles and two RBIs and Strollo reached base three times and knocked in a run.
For Liberty Wiesen went 2-3 and Mark Seals knocked in a run.