Cedar Lake "majors" and "minors" Little League teams advance to District II Finals

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E
CEDAR LAKE (2-1)	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	8	4
Robertsdale (1-2)	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	2

Little League (age 11-12) 1st round elimination game (7-2-2003), 81 degrees, Cedar Lake
WP-Frank Eaglebarger (2-0) CG, 7Ks, 1 walk, HBP
LP - Ryan Donovan (0-1) 6Ks, 3 walks, HBP
CEDAR LAKE
5 singles, 3 doubles
Jordan Rizo (CL) Double, 2 singles
Ryan Langoria (CL) Double, single

Robertsdale
Double, single
Justin Polak (R) Double, run scored

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E
CEDAR LAKE (2-1)	0	8	2	0	0	-	10	12	2
Griffith (1-2)	0	0	0	0	0	-	1	1	3

Little League (age 9-10) 1st round elimination game (7-2-2003), 86 degrees, Cedar Lake
WP- Cody Bacon (1-1) CG, 11K, 0 walks

CEDAR LAKE
6 singles, 3 triples, 3 doubles
Zach Sheehy (CL) 3 singles
Andy Wellwerts (CL) Double, single, walk
Nick Somparnago (CL) 2 triples
Cody Bacon (CL) Triple, 2 singles

Griffith
Single
Matt Bavarro (Griffith) Single

CEDAR LAKE (7-2-2003) - When Frank Eaglebarger struck out the final Robertsdale batter late Wednesday night, fireworks went off above the adjoining baseball field north of the old dairy farm at the Cedar Lake Little League.

For many Indiana Little Leagues, simply advancing the minors and majors all-star teams to the District II finals is not that big a deal.

But for Cedar Lake, the 2-1 win over Robertsdale after a 10-0 win over Griffith made July 2, 2003 arguably the greatest day in the history of the Little League. It was the first time that both of the towns' true (under age 12) Little League all-star teams had advanced to the district championships.

The Cedar Lake majors (ages 11-12) and minors (ages 9-10) league all-stars both won today," said a Cedar Lake player, in the dim light of the old Cedar Lake Little League.

"How did that happen?"

In 10-and-under competition, CL reached the district finals for the second year in a row. Manager Frank Bacon's 10s will play an elimination game Tuesday night in Crown Point. In 12-and-under Little League, it is believed to be only the second time Cedar Lake has reached the district finals.

"We went with all 12-year-olds tonight (except for Eaglebarger)," said coach Don Jackson. "They knew it could be their last game."

It wasn't. The win by the 12s sent manager Frank Zurbriggen's team to another elimination-round game Sunday (July 6) night in the eight-team district finals at the Griffith Little League. It takes six consecutive wins for a team carrying a loss to win the district title and that's probably not realistic. But the way Cedar Lake won against a tradition-rich league says the league is on the rise.

The 2-1 win over Robertsdale was very dramatic. Cedar Lake left 10 runners on base as pitcher Ryan Donovan tricked them with slow curveballs. Eaglebarger, a relatively hard thrower, threw 81 pitches, gave up one unearned run and struck out the side in the sixth and final inning. Ryan Langoria doubled and scored a third inning run on a wild pitch before Luke Kulpa doubled and scored on an error for the hosts' only two runs.

Robertsdale scored in the fourth inning on a throwing error and things got wild in the fifth inning.
With one out, Erik Martinez hit a ground ball that got by second baseman Danny Roper and was then thrown wildly by center fielder Cody Howarth. Martinez ended up at third base. The next batter, Justin Holmes hit a pop-up into foul territory behind third base that Kulpa, the Cedar Lake shortstop raced over and caught. Martinez tagged up and tried to score but Kulpa's throw carried over the runner's shoulder to catcher Matt Zurbriggen who tagged out the go-ahead run.

In the sixth and final inning, Eaglebarger struck out the side on 15 pitches to the delight of most of a crowd of about 150 on a very warm summer night.

As fireworks went off, Cedar Lake boys (and a few Robertsdale boys) ran around the bases in uniform. CL officials began turning off the light towers, creating a dimly lit playground with a soft cloud of smoke hanging over the ball fields and the farm land behind it.

"We had a lot of adults step up," said Jackson. "We had a lot of help with the field, the concession stands. That's what we need. To get more people involved. And it helps to win."

LITTLE NOTES: Eaglebarger pitched two complete game victories over Robertsdale last week, winning 4-3 and 2-1. The adjusted state tournament format worked for Cedar Lake. In Little League all-stars, a pitcher who pitches more than four innings cannot pitch for two days. All other first round district sites had play on consecutive days. But because the 10s tournament had to be moved up to the same week as the 12s, and because Cedar Lake hosted competition at both levels, the 12s had to take Tuesday, July 1 off (for 10s play) as the Cedar Lake Little League only has one tourney-worthy field. Had the day off not been added to the format, Eaglebarger would have been ineligible to pitch the second game against Robertsdale.

Cedar Lake 12s manager Frank Zurbriggen ran away from the field as the fireworks went off after the game, believing he needed to attend a district meeting (for a blind finals' draw) after the game. The draw went on without anyone from Cedar Lake needing to be there.

Cedar Lake 10s manager Frank Bacon was proud of his team, which posted an 11-1 win over Roselawn and a 10-0 win over Griffith, after the 4-3 opening game loss to Munster National. Son Cody Bacon threw a one-hitter and struck out 10.

"We've got five pitchers," said the elder Bacon. "We're in better shape than some teams." Andy Wellwerts had pitched a one-hitter with 10 strikeouts in the win over Roselawn.

The 10-and-under team will form next years' Majors at age 11 and merge with this year's 11-year-olds, which include pitcher and cleanup hitter Eaglebarger.

"We should have a very good team the next two years," said Bacon. In two years, we should be the equal of anybody around here."

The future looks good with one problem.

"The other side of the coin," said Jackson, " is that we've been on a steady decline for the last five years. Our numbers (total boys in the league) is going down. That's a districtwide problem."

MAJORS (ages 11-12)
At CEDAR LAKE - Sunday, June 29
CEDAR LAKE 4, Robertsdale 3
Highland National 28, Hobart Township 0

At CEDAR LAKE - Monday, June 30
Highland National 9, CEDAR LAKE 0 (Highland goes to district finals)
Robertsdale 10, Hobart Township 0

At CEDAR LAKE - Wednesday, July 2
CEDAR LAKE 2, Robertsdale 1 (CL goes to district finals)

MINORS (ages 9-10)
At CEDAR LAKE - Sunday, June 29
Munster National 4, CEDAR LAKE 3
Griffith (1) 19, Roselawn 5

At CEDAR LAKE - Tuesday, July 1
Munster National 11, Griffith 2 (Munster goes to district finals)
CEDAR LAKE 11, Roselawn 1

At CEDAR LAKE - Wednesday, July 2
CEDAR LAKE 10, Griffith 0 (CL goes to district finals)