Rapchak's 19 HRs leads CP 12s into 2006 Little League All Star Playoffs
	A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith 7-12-2006

 

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
CROWN POINT (1-0)	2	0	3	6	-	-	-	11	9	0
Hebron (0-1)	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	0	1	3

Wednesday, 7-12-2006 (Pool A play), 12-and-under at Crown Point, 4-innings

WP - Casey Rapchak  (1-0)  CG, 7K, 0 walks
LP -  Alex Anderson (0-1)  4K, 3 walks (3.7 inn.)

Hebron (0-1)
Kyle Joyce (CF) Single

CROWN POINT (1-0)
Zac Plesac (RF) Double, 2 RBIs
Joey Hopman (C) Double, 2 singles
Danny Stefanovic (1B) Single, 2 RBIs
Nick Brun (LF) Single, RBI
Nick Gerilimos (1B) Single, RBI

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Irving (0-1)	0	2	0	0	0	-	-	2	1	2
LOWELL (1-0)	0	3	1	2	6	-	-	12	13	1

Wednesday, 7-12-6  (Pool A play) 12-and-under at Crown Point, 5-innings

WP - Jake Fox (1-0)  3k, 3 walks (2 innings)
LP -  Santiago Diaz (0-1)  5K, 1 walks (3 inn.)

(Hammond) Irving (0-1)
Lalo Kilbury (RF) Single
Terry Kramer (1B) 2 walks, run scored
Ian Hernandez (2B) Walk, RBI
Diovanni Davis (CF) Walk, RBI

LOWELL (1-0)
Danny DeBoer (P-SS) Double, single, 2 RBIs
Nick Kijurna (3B) 2 singles, 2 runs scored
Nick Willison (RF) HR, double, 3 RBIs
Dean Simpson (1B) Triple, 2 singles, 2 RBIs

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CROWN POINT (7-12-2006) - The great thing about the District II Little League all-stars playoffs this year in the 12-and-under bracket is that every body thinks they're going to win.  And one of those everybody's Crown Point lifted off the launching pad Wednesday night with an 11-0 pool play victory over neighbor Hebron at the old red brick CP Little League.  Lowell had earlier opened the 60th Indiana Little League playoffs with a 12-2 rout of Hammond's Irving Little League.

Right-hander Casey Rapchak allowed just one infield hit in four innings and catcher Joey Hopman had three base hits as CP won the first of four pool play games on their home field.

"We want to be the top seed at the district finals," said manager Joe Plesac.

Here's the story:  There are three pools of teams in District II and the top two teams in each pool will advance to the District Finals beginning on July 19 in Dyer.  But since only six teams advance to the district finals, the top two record-wise will get a bye in the single-elimination district playoffs.  Your goal in pool play is not just to advance to the next round, but to do it as one of the two top seeds.  The tie breakers in deciding where those six district qualifiers will be ranked will be runs allowed.  Bottom line: If you go 4-0 in pool play and do not allow a run, odds are you will be the top seed.

"Our goal was to get out of here in four innings and give up no runs," said Plesac, "and we did that.  Our goal is to win all four games here and allow no runs.  Munster and Dyer will have to play in their pool at Dyer.  We have to play Highland here.  So we're making a lot of changes to get everyone in and to sub gloves for bats."

Manager Joe Plesac, brother of the 17-year major leaguer Dan Plesac and a CP high school star in the 1980s in his own right, didn't even start his nephew Ronnie Plesac, in part, because Ronnie isn't one of his top players defensively.  The CP 12s need to shut out Lowell Friday and Irving Saturday to set the stage for what should be a battle of unbeaten teams Sunday night (7-16-2006) at 6 p.m. against formidable Highland, the team that won the 2004 state championship.

Lowell had to rally from a 2-0 deficit to beat Irving and manager Dan Kijurna knows what he's up against.

"I've been hearing quite a bit about how good Crown Point is," he smiled after his team's big win. "And I know Highland is very good and we've got to beat one of them."

Kijurna gambled against Irving by using three different pitchers in the first three innings.  After ace starter Danny DeBoer struck out the side in the first inning, Kijurna pulled him to have him available Thursday night against Highland.  Little League all-star pitchers who pitch more than one inning in any game are ineligible for the next game.  The skies became cloudy for Lowell when Irving scored two runs in the top of the second inning to take the lead after DeBoer had been removed.

"I was a little nervous about that," Kijurna said. "We had some jitters early on.  Yeah, I was worried about that.  But I thought we had to do that to have everybody available against Highland.  They put a scare into me.  Kids do that sometimes."

Lowell must play Highland and Crown Point on back-to-back nights so they need all hands on deck.  They could also use more big hits from Nick Willison, who hit a line drive two-run homer in the bottom of the second to give Lowell a 3-2 lead.  Willison later snapped off a pop fly RBI double down the right field line inside a six-run Lowell fifth inning.  Clean-up man Drew Simpson was 3-for-4, including a line drive triple off the right field fence.

"We've got a lot of good athletes," said Kijurna. "We can run really well.  Athletically, I'd put us up against anybody."

The ominous fact about foes of Crown Point is, the Crown Point 12s won 11-0 without any long balls from Rapchak, the CP Little League home run champion.  The CP pitcher struck out twice and walked one in three at bats.

"Casey was swinging great," said Plesac.  "He just had a tough night tonight.  But he will settle down and hit the ball.  We didn't do well in the first inning tonight, but we did well from the second inning on.  Everybody is facing people they've never seen before.  You've got to get up there and have no fear at the plate.  Everybody's got a little nervousness.  Some of the guys worry about getting hit.  A couple of them don't and those are the guys who really smoke the ball.  The other ones?  They'll get over it and when they get over it, they'll be fine."

LITTE NOTES:  Lowell manager Dan Kijurna said his team did not get helped by the date change in Little League rules which moved the age limitation from August up to April.  As of this year, your 13th birthday (which would make you ineligible for the the Little League) could not come before April.  In 2005, that date was in August.  What was created was a scenario where players like Crown Point's Casey Rapchak and Nick Gerilimos could choose to be in the 12-and under bracket for the second year in a row.

"We have one kid here who is in that situation," said the Lowell manager.  "There are two or three others, but they chose to go to another (13-year-old) team.  Everybody on Highland and Crown Point and Dyer apparently stayed on the 12-year-old team.  But they're all still going to have to beat us."

Kijurna likes the pool play format which allows the all-star teams to play four times no matter how well they do.

"I'm 45 years old," he said, "and I go back to the time when you only got one game and if you lost, you were out.  These guys have it good."

Joe Plesac says it's not too bad coaching his three sons and nephews on the CP all-star team.

"It's not bad," he said.  "I can still yell at them.  It's no different than anybody else." 

When the 12-year-old all-stars from Crown Point were named, the three Plesac kids, twins Joey and Zac and 11-year-old Ronnie were the names that jumped out.  With only 13 kids on the roster, it figure to be 'Team Plesac' in everybody's eyes.  But when Casey Rapchak dominated the CP Little League with home run balls, there was a little hype for the 12-year old playoffs, but it became all about Casey Raphcak who hit 19 homers during the regular season.

"It should be all about him," said manager Joe Plesac.  "He should be the 'talk'.  There's only a couple of guys in this area who can hit the ball like he does.  Dyer has one and Munster has one.  Everybody out there is waiting for Casey to hit one.  There's a lot of pressure on him, but he's got to step up to that and he will.  He's hit all year."

Plesac says that Rapchak will pitch against Highland Sunday night.  Crown Point all-star Zack Bostian is out of town on vacation with his family and he'll be back if, as expected, the CP 12s are one of the two teams to advance to the district finals in Dyer.