Staff photo / Neel Madhavan. Ursuline's Thomas Pesa picks up a base hit during Ursuline's victory over South Range at Bob Cene Park.

STRUTHERS — Throughout the season, Ursuline has worked to find consistency at the plate.

In one game, the bats might get hot. But then in the next game, the hits might dry up.

On Monday, the Fighting Irish had their bats ablaze up and down the lineup, as they racked up 16 hits in a 12-4 victory over South Range at Bob Cene Park.

“We’ve been up and down all year, but we’ve worked on it so much,” Ursuline head coach Paul Kempe said. “We’ve kept preaching to our guys to keep swinging and changing your approach every at-bat. That’s something we struggled with earlier in the year that we’re doing better at, but we’ve got a ways to go. We did a really good job with guys in scoring position and putting the ball in play. It’s a credit to our guys and just the work we put in. We’ve just gotta keep building on that.”

Eight of the nine players in Ursuline’s lineup picked up hits, with the top, middle and bottom all equally contributing to the Irish’s offensive efforts.

Luke Kollar, Thomas Pesa and Thomas Kosovan led the Irish with three hits apiece, with Kosovan racking up three RBIs in the No. 9 hole, as well. CJ Frasco and Anthony Trivieri each contributed two hits and an RBI, with Triveri’s RBI coming off a double deep into left field.

However, South Range was also able to get the bat on the ball, finishing with nine hits of its own. The difference though, ended up being the bottom of the lineup.

The bottom four hitters in Ursuline’s lineup combined for five hits and five RBIs, while the Raiders’ bottom four combined for zero hits.

“Those guys come up and lead-off innings and can get you to the top of the order with runners on, nobody out,” South Range head coach Jim Hanek said. “When you have the other runners on base from the top half of your order — the bottom half can then drive them in. So when the bottom half is firing, it’s a recipe (for success). Giving up 16 hits, that’s two games worth of hits. I think we finished with nine, which in most ballgames is plenty. But (16) is tough to overcome.”

Right from the start, both teams had their bats going in the first inning.

South Range started off with three straight hits to open the game in the top of the first, which then led to a pair of RBIs from Brennen Klasovsky and Tyson Tarajack to get them on the board.

Ursuline did almost the same thing in the bottom of the first. The Irish got hits in three of their first four at-bats, which led to a run. But then capitalized by scoring two more runs on a wild pitch and a passed ball.

While Ursuline was able to continue its momentum at the plate by scoring four runs in the third inning and three runs in the fourth inning, South Range’s early scoring barrage quickly cooled off.

Irish pitcher Johnny Cambert was able to settle down after the first inning and proceeded to shut down the Raiders for three straight innings, which allowed Ursuline to build its lead.

In 5.0 innings of work, Cambert finished with seven strikeouts and just two walks, giving up four earned runs off eight hits.

“They came out swinging — they’re a very good team,” Kempe said. “We took the first punch and got ourselves out of a bit of a jam. We came and just responded. That’s really what we told the guys. We held them to two, could have been more, Johnny calmed down. You gotta take the lead right there. Johnny just got on a roll. It was a great way to respond after getting down early.”

For both teams, things are starting to come down to the wire. South Range falls to 10-7, while Ursuline improves to 9-7.

But, the OHSAA tournament seeding and bracket draw takes place this weekend, and the first games of the playoffs begin the week after that. From there, anything can happen.

“It’s kind of like the dog days of the season,” Hanek said. “You get a lot of rainouts early on and it’s cold out, but now the temperature heats up and you’re playing day-in and day-out. So guys gotta stay hydrated, gotta take care of themselves and gotta get rest. It’s just about staying focused and staying positive right now.”

Have an interesting story? Contact Neel Madhavan by email at nmadhavan@tribtoday.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @NeelMadhavan.