9th Indiana State Softball Tournament Preview

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Before the season began we predicted Lake County could send three teams to the state finals. Now here is our USA-365.com preview of the Class 2A and Class 3A Indiana State High School Athletic Association Girls Softball tournaments involving teams from Northwest Indiana:

Class 3A - Highland Sectional

Monday, May 26

Game 1 – Hammond (9-13) vs. Highland (21-8) 10 a.m.
Game 2 – Munster (21-5) vs. Lake Central (24-2-1) 12 noon
Game 3 – East Chicago Central vs. Gary Roosevelt - 2 p.m.
Game 4 – Gary West Side vs. Gary Wallace - 4 p.m.

Thursday - May 29

Game 5 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 - 4:30 p.m.

Friday - May 30

Game 6 – Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 - 4:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 31

Game 7 – Championship: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6 - 11 a.m.

ANALYSIS: Lake Central, the defending state champion, is the defending sectional champ, obviously and they are a very intimidating team.

The problem is right-hander Brooke Baker (14-2) who has 215 strikeouts in 133 innings. Baker has five no-hitters, five one hitters and two saves. Only Castle has scored more than 2 runs against her and only Highland, Penn and McCutcheon have scored more than one.
Baker is a power pitcher, who can reach 70 miles-and-hour and she truly scares the other girls.

She pitched a no-hit game against Munster in a 4-0 LC win on April 16. LC got five hits in that game against Munster's Stephanie Andjelich (11-4). Katie Mitchell is a premier '3' hitter and Beth Adamski gets key hits in the '4' slot. Ali Pienta has caught Baker for years, back before high school. The Mustangs have feasted on a weaker schedule and they lost 2 of 3 against lesser teams last Saturday in their own invitational. The Lady Ponies appear overmatched here.

Highland may have a better shot against LC because they will not play them until later this week. The familiarity may work in their favor. LC beat Highland just 1-0 in the state tournament last year but LC may be better now. None of the other five teams here are, in any way competitive. IF LC is a notch above Munster and Highland, Munster and Highland are two or three notches above the other five teams here.

No one here has the hitters to score more than one run on Brooke Baker. It would be a major upset if Lake Central loses at this level.

3A Merrillville Sectional

Monday, May 26

Game 1 – Valparaiso (16-7) vs. Portage (17-7) 10 a.m.
Game 2 – Lowell (12-11) vs. Crown Point (13-13) 12 noon
Game 3 – Hobart (15-9) vs. Merrillville (9-16) 2 p.m.
Game 4 – Chesterton (18-4) vs. Kankakee Valley (10-16) 4 p.m.

Wednesday, May 28

Game 5 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2

Thursday, May 29

Game 6 – Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4

Friday, May 30

Game 7 – Championship: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6

ANALYSIS: There is a lot of intrigue here. For Example: Chesterton has beaten Portage twice but Chesterton has split with Hobart, who has split with Portage. Crown Point has lost to Portage twice but has split with Valpo and Hobart. Valpo, CP, Portage, Hobart and Chesterton have all beaten Lowell but Lowell has four freshmen so nobody really knows how good they are.

The key match is the quarterfinal between Portage and Valparaiso, who have split one-run decisions. If Portage, the defending champion, survives, they could win everything here. Senior pitcher Cristin Zaragoza (14-7) pitched four consecutive shutouts from May 15-21. The Indians have already beaten Crown Point twice, 1-0 and 8-0. Chesterton lost to Hobart Monday (May 19) and I'm not sure they'll win a rematch. Crown Point has beaten Lowell twice but Lowell could cause them defensive problems in the infield. They could do the same to Chesterton, if they get that far. Lowell plays a very tough schedule and they'll be ready.

Crown Point has not won a single playoff game in five years so their senior-laden team's match with freshman-laden Lowell could also have great drama. The surprise player here could be Lowell's Cristin Just (6-4), a hard-throwing freshman right-hander.

If Valparaiso beats Portage, they have Ashlee Blakenbaker, who is the best pitcher in this sectional. CP hit her in a 5-3 Bulldog win Monday but Chesterton, a squad with a team batting average of over .300, didn't score against her in 21 innings. Chesterton swept two games from Portage but they had a four game stretch this month where they won only once.

The only team you rule out is KV, which does not play a tough schedule.

This can go a lot of ways, but based on a lot of playoff experience, I like Portage to beat Valparaiso, CP and Chesterton to advance to the May 31 Penn Regional.

ANDREAN (2A) Sectional

Monday, May 26, 2003

Boone Grove (5-18) vs. No. 1 Andrean (22-1-1) 10 a.m.
Wheeler (13-9) vs. No. 12 Hanover Central (19-6) 12 noon
North Newton (10-8) vs. Rensselaer (3-20) 2 p.m.

Tuesday, May 27, 2003

Calumet (8-16) vs. Andrean (or Boone) - 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday, May 28, 2003

Wheeler or Hanover Central vs. North Newton or Rensselaer - 4:30 p.m.

Thursday, May 29, 2003

Sectional championship game - 4:30 p.m.**

**The winner meets the Griffith Sectional champion in the Twin Lakes
Regional semifinals in Monticello on May 31 at 11 a.m.

MERRILLVILLE - After watching Hanover's 2-0 victory over Wheeler on May 16, you don't totally discount a Wheeler upset victory over HC, the PCC champions. On the other hand, there is no chance that Boone, or Calumet could beat Class 2A No. 1 Andrean unless several 59ers become injured, ill or go AWOL from the team.

A Hanover Central-Andrean game would be an interesting match of two teams that do not meet during the regular season. This will be the last HC-Andrean game for the foreseeable future as Indiana softball goes to four classes next year with Andrean moving to 3A and Hanover staying at 2A.

Hanover Central must score first in this game and rely on right-handed pitcher Amanda Wendlinger (17-5, 236 strikeouts). The Lady Cats defense is inconsistent but their offense could score a run or two off 59er star Katie Sheaks (15-1). Andrean has defeated elite teams like Elkhart Memorial (20-5), Valparaiso (16-7) and Dowagiac, Michigan (34-2). All four Andrean seniors (Sheaks, Gina Gregorczyk, Cara Santori and Kelli Jeziorski) will be Division I college players at either DePaul and Ball State. They could win this game in the late going. Hanover's key players are sophomores and juniors. They'll need some major confidence-building play early in this game.

Hanover won't be blown out. Wendlinger has not allowed more than four runs in any of her 20 starts, including 3A top-10 teams Lake Central and Chesterton. Plus, Andrean has never faced her while the Lady Cats batted against Sheaks last year and probably, over many summers. You don't face players two years younger than you in summer ball so Andrean's four stars have never batted against Wendlinger.

Playing on Andrean's home field, and with the memory of last year's final set in their minds, it doesn't seem logical that Hanover will beat Andrean.

But it didn't seem logical last year either.

GRIFFITH (2A) Sectional

Monday, May 26, 2003

Clark (1-18) vs. Morton (11-10)
Gavit (8-13) vs. Bishop Noll (16-11)

Tuesday, May 26, 2003

Griffith (13-12) vs. Clark or Morton

Friday, May 26, 2003

Championship: Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 3 **

**The winner meets the Andrean Sectional champion in the Twin Lakes
Regional semifinals in Monticello on May 31 at 11 a.m.

GRIFFITH - Morton is the defending champion here, but Griffith is the only team here that plays a competitive schedule. The Panthers displayed their two-faced nature last week by losing 2-1 to a poor Kankakee Valley team and then almost beating the defending big school state champion, Class 3A No. 2 Lake Central. The Indians (23-2-1) needed two runs in the seventh to beat Griffith 3-2.

Griffith lost 13-8 to Morton on April 30 but I don't think that can happen again. Clark (1-18 has allowed more than 10 runs in 11 games so their season is over. Gavit has beaten Morton 7-6 and 4-3 and they've split two games with Bishop Noll. But Griffith pitcher Cristin Nash shut out Gavit 6-0 on May 12.

Morton has a premier hitter in Cathy Einsele but they've played one of those 'neighborhood' schedules which has not seen them leave Lake and Porter County all year. That's not a blueprint for winning in the post season.

Nash and catcher Nikki Clarkson are both four year starters and that should carry them here. The Panthers have beaten Valparaiso and Highland and their biggest question is how they've lost 12 times with the players they have.

None of these other teams have solid pitching and the Panthers should win easily here. But the winner faces the Andrean Sectional champion at the May 31 Twin Lakes Regional so this could be the high point of the post-season.