CROWN POINT (6-29-2007)  - This was down home old school American Legion baseball.  If you paid to get in, this would be what you paid to see.  Crown Point Post 20, down 3-0 and about to lose to Hammond Post 168's 'B' team, the 17-and-under group, scratched out six runs with seven somewhat soft singles in the final two innings and edged Hammond 6-3 in front of a small, but loud gathering on a 60-degree night at CP's Teagle Field.

Post 20 also served up some Chicago Cub-style brawling as CPHS grad Chris Saroff ran over Hammond catcher Pete Sobun midway between third and home plate during a rundown in CP's four run sixth inning.  Both benches emptied as Sobun, in full catcher's gear, laid on his back in the baseline, temporarily injured.  Hard words were exchanged but no punches were thrown.  Saroff, the winning pitcher, was ejected, but Kyle Bacon came on to pitch a scoreless seventh inning and get the save.

"It was a good game until he ruined it," Post 168 coach Steve Traficante said of Saroff.  "That kid (Sobun) doesn't know him.  There was no reason for that.  I've got to control my kids who are younger than that and tell them don't stoop to that level.  I didn't think their coach did enough, either.  They wouldn't have had to toss a kid of mine who did that.  I'd have benched him myself."

CP manager Larry Samano thought Saroff could have avoided the aggressive contact (he seemed to shoulder block the catcher), but he also thought his man was just playing hard, something he had been wanting more of from all his players.  To be honest, this was the most (excuse the expression) fight Post 20 had shown in any close game this season.

"They threw him out," he said.  "I don't know what else they want.  He (Sobun) was in the baseline.  From what I saw was that the catcher came in and tried to jam him with the glove. It wasn't premeditated."

Saroff, the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) player of the year, made an effort to come back onto the field after the game for the traditional post game handshakes but Samano told him to leave, fearing more hard feelings after the game.

There is an obvious rivalry between Hammond Post 168, made up largely of Lake Central high school and CP Post 20, which is traditionally Crown Point high school.  Both posts have 'A' (19 and under) and 'B' (17 and under) teams.  Many of these boys begin facing each other in 10-year-old Little League as members of the CP and Dyer Little Leagues.  Hammond Post 168 won the sectional title last season at Teagle Field with a 14-13 win over Post 20.

On this night, Post 168's 'B' team, which has never beaten the older Post 20 franchise, led 2-0 in the third inning on a two-run homer by Steve Traficante, the manager's son.  Pete Sobun's RBI-double off Post 20 starting pitcher Marty Rasala made it 3-0 in the fourth.

Crown Point (10-9) rallied in the fifth when James Frasure singled and Chris Samano walked.  Right-hander Tim Shanks came on in relief for Post 168 and he got Saroff to ground out.  But RJ Zambrano blooped a single to right to make it 3-1 and Alex Ponce's slow roller between short and third cut the score to 3-2.

In the decisive sixth inning, Caleb Douglas singled to left and Marty Rasala bunted.  Shanks tried to pick up the bunt, but he fumbled it for an error to start the big inning.  Andy Rasala then poked a soft liner over the shortstop for an RBI single to tie the game 3-3.  Frasure again smacked a single, this time off the the pitcher's glove, to make it 4-3.  Saroff, who pitched a scoreless fifth and sixth to pick up his fourth American Legion win, then pulled a two-run single to left to complete the scoring.

With Post 20 heading to Post 168 again Tuesday (7-3-2007) night, there was a thought that this game will lift the level of play of Post 20, which has been in a season-long batting slump.

"We're struggling at the plate and we'll take it," said Samano.  "We got some hits today when we needed them.  They weren't hard hits, but we got it done.  We're not hitting and nobody's giving us anything.  So when we score a couple or runs, we'll take it.  I think we took them too lightly.  You've got to come ready to play at this level.  At every level, as far as I'm concerned. "

LEGION NOTES:  Thursday was definitely a low-intensity game on the Lowel high school diamond.  Usually there's some loud-talking or somebody arguing with somebody.  But this matchup of Lowel Post 101 and Crown Point Post 20 was about as quiet as you'll ever see.  Crown Point scratched out single runs in the first, fifth and sixth to beat Lowell 6-2 Thursday behind right-hander Morgan Drazer of Kouts.

Both sides struggled all day in chilly, cloudy conditions and against strong pitching in Drazer and Kankakee Valley's Micah Raebel.

"They've always got a pretty good team," said Lowell manager Roger Hughes of Post 20.  "We were right with them, but we couldn't score until the seventh.  Micah Rabel did a good job for us.  He usually does.  We've just got to find a way to score some runs.

Post 20 had the same problems.  Adam Kennedy's RBI single put a run on the board in the first inning and that was all the scoring for four innings.

Drazer, who is a junior at Kouts, continues to be a little wild, but largely impressive.

"I'm pitching him against teams I think he can beat," said manager Larry Samano.  "I want to build up his confidence and get him experience.  It's a big jump from pitching in the PCC (Porter County Conference) to pitching against some of the teams we see.  He's going to be pretty good when he gets back to high school next year."

Chris Samano's RBI double and Kyle Bacon's sacrifice fly made the score 3-0 in the fifth and sixth.  A single, three walks, a hit batter, and a sacrifice fly by Kennedy gave CP a 6-0 lead in the sixth before Nate Korth's RBI single and a bases loaded walk to John Butor scored Lowell's two runs.  Chris Saroff came out of the infield to pitch and strike out Derek Brandenburg for the final out of the game as darkness descended on the un-lit Lowell field after 8:00 p.m.

Hughes, who is in his final year of managing, after rising with his sons through the Lowell little League system and coaching his son Jerry in American Legion ball, was happy to see Nate Korth get two base hits.

"I was batting him eighth because he wasn't hitting," explained Hughes.  "But I know him and I know he can hit.  That's what we need.  (Micah) Raebel had a couple of hits.  We just need more offense.  We're not bad, but we don't have a lot of guys."

Post 101 had the same problem as Post 20 this summer.  Senior high school players didn't stay to play for the Legion after they graduated.  Of Crown Point High Sschool's nine seniors, only Saroff plays for Post 20.  Lowell had 10 senior high school players and only Nate Korth and Zak Hoffman play for Post 101.

"I really was surprised by Josh Kuiper not playing," said Hughes.  "But he said he had to work for college and I guess I can understand that.  We have some good athletes, but everybody cant be here all the time.  We don't have much depth at all."

Boone Grove catcher Josh Cobb has left Post 20 after he found out he would be replaced at first base by Kankakee Valley's Matt Dobin.  Dobin (.553, 8 HRs, 37 RBIs at KV this spring), who has been on vacation, but was scheduled to return this week, has been a regular for Post 20 the past two years.  Manager Larry Samano said he would have moved Cobb, a natural catcher, to the outfield as Purdue North Central sophomore Adam Kennedy is Post 20's regular catcher.  Crown Point, which has also lost first baseman Joe Baker, is down to just 14 total players.

"Dobin's been in this program for four or five years," said Samano, after the win over Hammond.  "He's a proven hitter.  And he's a proven player who hits.  When he comes back, I've got to put him in the lineup because we aren't hitting.  I told him (Cobb) that I never took anything away from his desire and his hustle.  I'm just questioning his ability to hit at this level.  We're a little short now, but we've still got enough pitching.  We just have to drive in runs and that's why Dobin has to play."

"We aren't hitting.  Even tonight, it took us six innings to take them (168) out.  And that's a 'B' team.  How many hits did we have?  Eight?  Against a 'B' team?  It's not good enough."

Post 20 has four players from Merrillville high school and three players from Kouts.  Those two schools and communities are about as far apart as any two in Northwest Indiana.  So it's not surprising that Post 20 sometimes plays as if they don't know each other.

"They've been good for us," said manager Larry Samano of the Pirates and Mustangs.  "I think they're learning that this is a little different from high school.  I don't know what they go through in high school.  I don't know what they're told.  But everybody wants to beat us out here and you have to be ready for that."

2007 American Legion
CROWN POINT Post 20 (10-9)

"A" TEAM (19 and under) SCHEDULE
Manager Larry Samano (ages 19-and-under)

6/5 - @ HAMMOND 168B   (postponed)
6/7  -  HAMMOND 168A   (postponed)
6/9 (W) 4-2  LOWELL 101 (3-6)
6/10 (L) 0-2  BRISTOL 143 (11-5)
6/10 (W) 5-4  Bristol Post 143 (11-5)

6/12 (W) 0-0 @ EAST CHICAGO 369     
6/14 (L) 7-8 @ HIGHLAND 180 (6-2)
6/15 (W) 14-4 (5 inn.) ILLINOIS. LIGHTNING   
6/16 (L) 1-2 CEDAR LAKE 261
6/19 (W) 8-0 HOBART (54)
6/20 (W) 10-0 (5 inn.) HOBART (54)

Terre Haute Invitational
6/21 (L) 1-11 Terre Haute 346 (13-2)
6/22 (W) 7-2  Evansville 246 (6-6)
6/23 (L) 0-4 Madison 9 (9-3)
6/24 (L) 1-7 Bristol 143 (11-5)
6/25 (L) 8-9 Bristol 143 (11-5) Third Place

6/26 (W) 4-0 WHITING 80 (3-5)
6/27 (L) 1-3 (12 innings) PLYMOUTH 27 (9-5)   
6/28 (W) 6-2 at LOWELL 101 (4-7) 
6/29 (W) 6-3 HAMMOND 168B (12-4)
7/3 TUE @ HAMMOND 168A   6 PM
7/6 FRI EAST CHICAGO 369   6 PM
7/7 SAT @ CEDAR LAKE 261   3 PM at HC
7/8 SUN ANDERSON 127   NOON DH 

7/10 TUES HIGHLAND 180   6 PM
7/14 SAT KOKOMO 6   1 PM  DH  
7/15 SUN LAFAYETTE 11 - NOON  20A @ 20B   6 PM - TEAM-PICNIC

7/19 THUR WHITING 80   7 PM
7/20 FRI  PLYMOUTH 27   7 PM 
7/21 SAT @ VALPARAISO 94   --   1 PM at Washington Township

7/22 MON CROWN POINT SECTIONAL  (with Lowell, Cedar Lake and Hobart)

 

CROWN POINT Post 20 (6-3)
 "B" TEAM (17 and under) SCHEDULE

MANAGER: Marty Zubriggen
6/5  (W)   9-6  LOWELL (101)
6/6   (L)   2-3  Hammond (168) B
6/11 (L)   5-11 HOBART(54)
6/13 (L)   9-10 @ HIGHLAND (180)

6/15 (W) 12-6  ILLINOIS LIGHTNING
6/20 (W) 17-3  @ WHITING 80 
6/21 (W) 14-13 (8 innings) CEDAR LAKE (261)
 
6/25 (W) 8-2  EAST CHICAGO 369
6/25 (W)  16-6 EAST CHICAGO  369

6/27 (L) 10-12 @ CEDAR LAKE 261 (6-6)
6/30 SAT  20B @ LOWELL 101  3 PM

7/1 SUN  BRISTOL 143B @ 20B  1 PM     DH   
7/3 TUE  HIGHLAND 180 @ 20B  6 PM
7/5 THUR  WHITING 80 @ 20B  7 PM
7/7 SAT  VALPO 94 @ 20B   3 PM
7/12 THUR  20B @ HAMMOND 168A  6 PM
7/13 FRI  HOBART 54  @ 20B   6 PM
7/13 FRI  HOBART 54 @ 20B   8 PM
7/14 SAT  20B @ TERRE HAUTE 346 1PM EST     DH
7/16 MON  20B @ HAMMOND 168B  6 PM

7/17 TUE  20B @ 20A   6 PM - CROWN POINT - TEAM PICNIC
7/18 WED  HAMMOND 168B @ 20B   6 PM
7/19 THUR  20B @ EAST CHICAGO 369   6 PM
7/21 SAT  CEDAR LAKE 261 @ 20B     3 PM

*  all home games played at Post 20's Teagle Field
*  admission is free to all non-tournament games.