Irish avenge regular-season defeats by ousting Tigers

May 22, 2014 at 12:09a.m.

By STEVE WILAJ

STRUTHERS

When Springfield beat Ursuline twice during the regular season, the Fighting Irish didn’t dwell on the losses. Instead, they stored them as motivation for future use.

That time came on Wednesday.

Ursuline defeated the top-seeded Tigers, 7-1, for the first time in three tries. But this victory came in a Division III baseball district semifinal at Bob Cene Park.

The Irish advance to play South Range at 6:30 p.m. today for the district championship.

“We couldn’t let them beat us for the third time — especially when it really matters,” Ursuline’s Tannor Berry said. “So we came out to play today. We hit the ball and all played together.”

The Irish were solid in all facets of the game as they collected 12 hits, received a complete-game effort from starting pitcher Dion Felger and didn’t commit an error.

“We played very well in all aspects,” Ursuline head coach Sean Durkin said. “This was the game that we thought if we got the lead, it would be a big momentum boost and it turned out to be true.”

Ursuline (9-10) jumped ahead in the second inning when Vito Petrillo and Joel Hake each delivered two-out RBI singles off Springfield starter Dalton Donachie. A run-scoring single by Gianni Quattro pushed the lead to 3-0 after three innings.

“It feels like we’re making plays when we need them and getting big hits when we have guys on base,” Berry said. “We’re coming up clutch and scoring runs.”

The Irish then made it 5-0 after a two-run fourth inning. Springfield (21-6) committed consecutive errors to allow the first run to cross before Berry added an RBI single. That was Donachie’s last inning. He allowed four earned runs on nine hits.

“We made too many mistakes,” Tigers coach Matt Weymer said. “We made two errors in the first few innings and that hurt us. In a game where it was 5-0 most of the game, we probably should have been down just two or three.”

Offensively, Springfield wasn’t any better thanks to an outstanding performance by Felger (5-2). In seven innings, the lefty allowed one earned run on three hits and struck out seven.

“He really kept them off-balance and threw a lot of off-speed pitches for strikes early in the count,” Durkin said. “Then he kind of changed a bit during the game. I think he had them guessing the whole day.”

Ryan Kohler brought home the lone Tigers run in the sixth inning with an RBI triple. Weymer said Springfield’s struggles at the plate were an all too familiar sight.

“We’ve been pretty anemic offensively for a while now and it showed tonight,” he said.

Meanwhile, every Ursuline batter in the starting lineup hit safely as Berry and Drew Potesta led the way with two hits apiece.

Much like the Irish did against Springfield, they’ll seek revenge against South Range. The Raiders defeated Ursuline, 9-5, on April 24.

“We’ll definitely use that to our advantage,” Berry said. “We’re gonna try to come out hot and put a good beating on them tomorrow.”