PLYMOUTH (8-7-2007) - There's a couple of questions about the 2007 American Legion Plymouth regional finals that you're not going to be able to answer.  But the big one is: Did the same storm postponements that allowed Crown Point Post 20 to juggle their thin pitching staff and reach the final game, eventually stop Post 20 when they were on the verge of winning?

A rainout Sunday allowed Post 20 manager Larry Samano, who had used CPHS star Chris Saroff to win Friday's first round game, to use the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) MVP  again Monday in a 12-5 win over Mishawaka in the first game of the championship round.  But when CP left 2-1 in the bottom of the third inning in the final game, it would appear that the lightning in the sky that stopped the game stopped Post 20 as well.

Crown Point (20-13) had runners at first and second with one out and Matt Dobin, the multiple Kankake Valley offensive record holder at the plate when lightning (not rain) influenced umpires to stop the game at 11 p.m. Eastern time Monday, Aug. 6.  When play resumed on Tuesday, Aug. 7 at 7 p.m., Dobin walked to fill the bases and a wild pitch by Mishawka lefty Ben Niespodgany made the score 3-1.  But CP's Adam Kennedy struck out, Caleb Douglas grounded out and the CP offense did not score again until the ninth inning, losing 6-4 to Mishawaka.

"That was a good game," said Mishawaka manager Jeff Moore.  "They're a very good team."

But Moore made a very good move.  The number 13 didn't work for Crown Point Post 20 Tuesday night in what seemed like the 13th time they traveled to Marshall County.  After the third inning, Moore turned to No. 13, Marian high graduate Bobby Rinard, to save the day.  Rinard pitched five consecutive shutout innings while his side rallied to take a 5-3 lead.

In the ninth inning, Rinard lifted a home run over the left field fence to make it 6-3 and seemingly clinch the game.  But CP rallied and had the winning run at the plate when Rinard struck out Post 20's Rahdric Dix with the bases loaded to end the game, a 6-4 win for Mishawaka.  Crown Point, which rallied through the loser's bracket and pushed their way through two postponements to the brink of the regional title, had 13 hits and left 13 runners on base.

"You just can't leave 13 men on base in a championship game," said Larry Samano.  "That's been our problem all year.  But I told them before the ninth, 'If this is your last at bat in a Legion uniform, make it a good one. Win or lose, I'm still proud of you and I'm glad to have been with you all these years'."

Both sides had reason to be proud.  Mishawka was 6-1 in sectional and regional play, defeating Plymouth Post 27, South Bend Post 50 (23-10) and Crown Point Post 20, three of the tradition-rich Legion teams in the north.  Crown Point, which surprisingly got only one varsity starter from the top-ranked 2007 Crown Point high school team, slapped together an unlikely group of CP, Merrillville, Kankakee Valley and Kouts players and charged to within two runs of a regional title.  Crown Point held a 3-1 lead in the fifth inning when the game turned.

Kouts junior Morgan Drazer, a 6-foot-5 right-hander, ran into trouble when second baseman Chris Saroff fumbled a slow spinning one out grounder.  Drazer, a total unknown when the summer began, struck out Mishawaka's Mike Huling for what should have been the third out.  But Bobby Rinard, a recent graduate of Marian high in Mishawaka, lined a base hit to right field.  Post 20 right fielder Marty Rasala fired a one hop strike to the plate, but baserunner Brady Iams from Penn kicked the ball out of the glove of Post 20 catcher Adam Kennedy.

When Drazer waked Matt Abel on a 3-1 pitch, Samano went to the bullpen to get Caleb Douglas, the winning pitcher over Hammond in the elimination round three days earlier.  Dylan Brammer lined Douglas' first pitch to left center for a two-run single and a 4-3 Post 161 lead.  Adam Auter also singled to make it 5-3.  But 5-3 shouldn't have won the game.

Post 20 filled the bases in the bottom of the fifth but failed to score in bizarre fashion.  Alex Ponce hit a slow, bases loaded roller to second base.  But Douglas, the Post 20 runner collided with Mishawaka second baseman Brady Iams.  The ruling was that Douglas was out for interference and no CP runner could advance.  With the bases loaded, Rahdric Dix struck out swinging on a high inside 3-2 pitch to end the inning.

Rinard, a right-handed curveballer with good control, then blanked Post 20 until the ninth inning, even though Post 20 had runners at first and second with one out in BOTH the seventh and eighth in the 90-degree heat.  Moore said there was no secret as to why he chose Rinard to pitch the final innings.

"He wanted to pitch," said the veteran manager.  "He wanted to go out there.  He had pretty good control and we played tighter defense.  When you play that bunting game, you either make the play or you don't."

Crown Point developed a style late in the year which keyed their 5-2 record in the playoffs.  They accepted the fact they didn't have much power or many high-average hitters and converted to a running, base-stealing team.  With the top three in the order, RJ Zambrano, Marty Rasala and Chris Saroff laying down attacking (non sacrifice) bunts, Post 20 irritated Hammond and Mishawaka, two teams that had the power to blow them out of the relatively small Bill Nixon Field.  In the deciding game, Zambrano and Rasala began the night with bunt singles on the soft Plymouth infield.  Then came a rare move.

Moore, the Mishawaka manager, ordered his pitcher, left-hander Ben Niespodgany, to walk the right-handed hitting Chris Saroff and pitch to left-hander Matt Dobin, who batted .553 for Kankakee Valley this spring.

"I just didn't want Saroff to beat us," Moore said later.

With a 1-0 count on Dobin, the Post 20 cleanup man hit a hard line drive to Mishawaka center fielder Mike Huling.  In a slice of very bad baserunning, both Zambrano and Rasala started towards the next base, racing before they knew whether the ball would drop in or not.  When Huling made the catch, not only could Zambrano not score but Rasala was doubled off second base.  And the inning where CP might have scored at least three times ended with CP getting its one run on a wild pitch.

Post 20 left two or more runners on base five times.  But the biggest may have been the third inning.  After one out, Zambrano doubled before Rasala and Saroff singled to make the score 2-1.  With a 1-0 count on Dobin, lightning postponed the game for 24 hours.  Dobin then walked but Kennedy struck out and, after a run-scoring wild pitch Caleb Douglas bounced the ball back to the pitcher to end the inning.

Post 20 had two on and nobody out in the seventh when Kennedy hit into a double play and Douglas popped to second base.  Post 20 had two on and none out in the eighth when Zambrano struck out on a nine-pitch at-bat and Rasala's bunt down the first base line saw Rinard throw him out on a close play.

With the score 6-3 in the bottom of the ninth, Dobin doubled and Kennedy and Douglas walked with one out.  Alex Ponce hit a deep sacrifice fly to center field that was caught 15-20 feet in front of the fence for a sacrifice fly.  Dix then struck out on a 1-2 fast ball.

"He didn't take it," said Samano.  "He went down swinging."

Crown Point's three core players, Saroff, Dobin and Kennedy have been with Post 20 for four years.

"Its been a helluva week," said Samano.  "Dobin's been very consistent for our program.  What more can you ask?  He's a good kid.  He's got a lot of character.  Sometimes he gets tired but we all do.  Dobin, Saroff and Kennedy.  They've been with us for four years."

"We didn't have a lot of talent, but who we did have gave us everything they had.  I'll admit I'm not always an easy guy to play for.  A lot of kids, because it's summer baseball, just want to come out and have fun.  But when you put on the Post 20 uniform, it's the name on the front, not the name on the back.  I don't think I'm any different from their high school coaches.  When you put on the uniform, I want you to be into the game and play hard."

REGIONAL NOTES:  Mishawka manager Jeff Moore didn't want to come back after the second delay Monday night.

"The field was getting to be unplayable," he said, adding that once the tournament went past Sunday, Post 161 was shorthanded.  "It was the right decision.  I think it benefited them (Post 20).  We had a couple of guys out Monday that we knew weren't going to be back.

The 2008 Post 20 team will look much different from the 2007 squad as eight of the 10 players (counting the designated hitter) who started at the regional will be ineligible by next summer.  The pitching should be good with Mike Hernandez, Morgan Drazer and Caleb Douglas all returning, but virtually every position on the diamond must be filled.

Chris Samano will probably move from the outfield to second base while Kyle Bacon seems a good bet to start in the outfield.  Douglas played second base this season and he'll fill a spot when he's not pitching.  Morgan Drazer who won't be 18 until July of 2008, probably will see time at first base.  'B' team manager Marty Zurbriggen's son Matt will be asked to fill Adam Kennedy's shoes.

"We'd have added him to the state finals roster," revealed 'A' team manager Larry Samano, "if we'd have won tonight."

Samano would like 'B' team regular shortstop and pitcher Jack Standley but American Legion rules allow you to claim players from schools if their enrollment collectively is under (l believe) 6,000.  If Post 20 claims Standley, who has played two years in the 'B' team, they'd have to take Munster's enrollment of 1,500 and since they already accept CPHS, which is at 2,400, they don't have much room left.  Post 20 must take Merrillville's enrollment (2,100) to get Caleb Douglas and Kouts enrollment (200) to get Drazer and Andy Rasala.  That math doesn't work.

CP's 'B' team, made up of a group of boys who were the 2006 Babe Ruth state champs and CPHS junior varsity players in 2007, includes likely 2008 Post 20 starters in Josh Nottingham, Jeremy Kooi, Miles Atherton and Paul Aulwurm, to name four of seven or eight.  But, after much of the expected core of the 2007 CPHS senior class chose not to return in 2007, Samano isn't going to count on 2008 high school graduates automatically returning as he did this year.

"We'll have the signups in March and see who comes out," he says.  "I think we'll be OK."

Samano would have loved to have had Tommy Parks, Tim Mummery and Jon Sertich on hand last weekend but he had no longing for others who left the team during the season.

"The guys who quit during the season... we did fine without them," he said.  "All they were thinking about was 'them'.  It wasn't about the team."

Post 20 figures to get a boost from the 2007 age-15 CP Babe Ruth all-stars who also won the Northern Indiana state title this summer.  If the core of that team, which includes ace left-handed pitcher Josh Negele (7-0 as a CPHS freshman and 4-1 for the CP 15s) and pitcher and state finals MVP and top hitting prospect Scott Donley, plays for Post 20 (they played on the 'B' team part time in 2007), the future for Post 20 is bright.  The core of that team, Negele, Donley, Spencer Rapchak and Beau LaSalle, all have three years left of Legion eligibility.

If the majority of the last two years' Babe Ruth all-star teams return, Post 20 will be a regional championship contender again.

Crown Point's coaches and players were still very upset about the time schedule for the tournament.  Most four team post-season tournaments do not require a first round winner to play an early morning game the second day.  But when CP beat Hammond 9-5 on Friday, Aug. 2, they were required to meet Mishawaka on Saturday, Aug. 3 at 9 a.m. Central Time.

"I'm not making excuses," said Samano.  "But we got punished for winning.  You can't play a winner's bracket game at 9 a.m.  It was 10 a.m. here (in the eastern time zone) but three of the teams here are from Lake County (Central Time zone).  "We're getting here at 10 o'clock in the morning, coming from an hour away and its nine o'clock our time.  We should have been playing at noon.  A couple of hours makes a difference.  But the tournament is run by the tournament director's rules."

There was an appearance of funny business as well because the Regional tournament director, by chance, happened to be Mishawaka'a manager Jeff Moore.

"The tournament director was their manager," Samano said amazingly.  "So he decided what the schedule would be.  That's okay.  If we host the regional in the future, we'll decide what the schedule is."

Plymouth officials reminded that the schedule was the same one they'd used for the Plymouth Sectional, allowing that all four of the teams in that playoff came from the Eastern time zone.  The problem with that fact is, the four-team state finals in Madison posted a bracket which had the winning first round teams returning the next day at 12 noon.  Other than the starting time dispute, Plymouth officials did a fine job with the rain challenged tournament.  The field was soft but in good shape.  While the short fences were thought to favor Mishawaka and Hammond, conditions actually favored Post 20's bunt-and-run style.

Regional crowds were slim because Plymouth Post 27 lost at the sectional level but Bill Nixon Field always gets rave revues.  It is rumored that Post 27 will bid for the 2008 state finals.
  

Copyright © 2007 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp.  All rights reserved.
Revised: August 11, 2007.