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Irish earn walk-off win vs. Mooney
By Bob ETTINGER
STRUTHERS
Ursuline left fielder Joel Kreuzweiser didn’t know what it was like to beat rival Cardinal Mooney on a baseball diamond. He had a great view of the final moments as teammate Colin Balas slid across home plate to give the Fighting Irish a 5-4 victory in the bottom of the seventh inning at Cene Park on Tuesday night.
“I could see all the people surrounding the whole infield,” Kreuzweiser said. “I was hoping Brady [Shannon] could hit something good. I thought there was going to be a force at home. I saw Colin slide and the ball wasn’t in the catcher’s mitt. We finally got [the win over Mooney]. It’s the greatest feeling I’ve felt in a long time.”
Balas led off the home half of the seventh with a single and stole second for the Irish (2-4).
“I wanted to be aggressive,” Balas said. “I wanted to jump on a fastball. When we got behind, he was throwing good breaking stuff. I got behind, but I kept fighting it off until I got something I could hit.”
Jeremy Kreuzwiser was intentionally walked, setting up a sacrifice attempt by Joel Kreuzweiser, who not only executed the bunt perfectly, but reached first when no one covered to load the bases with no one out.
“The first time I tried to lay down the bunt, I thought, ‘Oh, man! They know I’m going to bunt,’” Joel Kreuzweiser said. “But I had to get the runners over so I went with the flow. When I got the bunt down, I realized the first baseman was too close (to the plate) and there was no one to cover first. That’s when I realized I pulled off one of the greatest things we could’ve asked for in that moment.”
Mooney coach Al Franceschelli then moved center fielder Jordna Sheehan into the infield hoping for a ground ball and a force at the plate. Shannon delivered that, a hard shot at shortstop Ethan Shaw, but as Balas slid across the plate, the ball went to the backstop to give Ursuline the win.
“It’s tough when we lose any game,” Franceschelli said. “We don’t lose many here, but that one hurt. (Ursuline) is a good team. They didn’t quit. They played really good baseball. We kicked the ball around a little bit. When you give up three unearned runs, it’s hard to win. I don’t want to take any credit from Ursuline. They played a great game.”
The Cardinals (0-4) used a two-run single from Blake Delsignore in the fourth and a run-scoring single from J.T. Ogden in the fifth to erase a 4-1 deficit.
“Give Mooney credit,” Ursuline coach Matt Weymer said. “They scored two runs with two outs (in the fourth). We had a chance to break it open and didn’t. I’m glad we came back and executed in the end. That was a big hit by Colin Balas. Joel got the bunt down. Every year, the Mooney games always seem to be great games. That’s what a rivaly is supposed to be. Nobody on the team had ever beat Mooney.”
John Mikos brought home the first Mooney run with a single in the first.
Jeremy Kreuzwesier, Joel Kreuzweiser and Shannon each drove in a run in the first to put the Fighting Irish up, 3-1. Andrew Sabella drove in another to push the advantage to 4-1 in the fourth.
Balas doubled and singled, Joel Kreuzweiser tripled and singled and Donte Walker doubled twice for Ursuline. Jeremy Kreuzweiser worked the final three innings for the win. He allowed one run on one hit, walked one and struck out one.