Crown Point falls 2-0 to South Lexington, KY in Cal Ripken 12s at Ohio Valley Regional Title Game
A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith  (7-27-2011)

Monday, July 25, 2011 - Ohio Valley 12s Regional Championship game, 90-degrees, sunny at South Bend East Side, SOUTH BEND, IN

WP - Jackson Boggs (5-0) CG, 13 Ks, 1 walks, 4 HBP
LP - Mike Wathier (2-1) CG, 3K, 3 walks (2 intentional)

CROWN POINT (13-1)
Ben Ostrowski (LF) 0-for-0, HBP,
Justin Akers (C) 0-for-2, HBP
Mike Wathier (P) 0-for-2, sac bunt
Brandon Haczynski (3B) 0-for-3
Ty Wewntz (1B) 1-for-3
Joey O’Keefe (CF) 1-for-3
Brad Poston ()2B) 0-for-1, HBP
Charlie Patrick (RF) 0-for-1, walk
Sasha Stefanovic (SS) 0-for-1

SOUTH LEXINGTON, Kentucky (13-0)
Jackson Boggs (P) 2-for-2, HR, 2 runs scored, Int. walk
Harrison Fields (2B) 0-for-2, walk
Jacob Abbott (RF) 0-fo-2, Int walk
Martin Gonzalez (1B) 0-for-3
Austin Shepard (3B) 0-for-2
Morgan Harris (CF) 0-for-1, walk
Brady Bowling (LF) 0-for-2
Nate Henry (C) 0-for-2
Luke Johnson (SS) 0-for-2
 

Monday, July 25, 2011 - Ohio Valley 12s Regional Semifinal game, 85-degrees, sunny at South Bend East Side, SOUTH BEND, IN

WP - Brandon Haczynski (5-0) 8K, 1 walk ( 4 in.)
LP - Braydon Wikson (2-2) 5K, 4 walsk, CG

LOGANSPORT (9-4)
Matt Jennings (CF) 1-for-3
Zach Overway (2B) 0-for-2, sac bunt
Jalen Adaway (SS) 1-for-3
Brayden Wiklson (P) 2-for-3, double, HR, 2 RBIs
Jared Ehase (C) 0-for-2, walk
Denver McLochlin (1B) 0-for-2
Riley Raven (LF) 0-for-1, walk
Hunter DeHaven (3B) 0-for-2,
Clay Matheis (RF) 0-for-2

CROWN POINT (13-0)
Ben Ostrowski (LF) 1-for-3, double, RBI
Justin Akers (C) 3-for-3, HR, 6 RBI, walk
Mike Wathier (CF-P) 0-for-3, walk, RBI
Brandon Hacynski (1B) 0-for-3
Ty Wentz (1B) 0-for-3
Hunter Ryan (3B) 2-for-3, double. 2 RBIs
Joey O’Keefe (RF) 2-for-3, RBI
Brad Poston (2B) 1-for-3
Sasha Stefanovic (SS) 0-for-2
 

Saturday, July 23, 2011 - Ohio Valley 12s Regional Pool Play, 85-degrees at South Bend East Side, SOUTH BEND, IN

WP - Mike Wathier (3-0) 4K, 0 walks (3 inn.)
Brandon Hacynski (Save) 5K, 0 walks (3 inn.)
LP - Slayde Hanville (2-1) 3K, 1 walks (4 inn.)

CROWN POINT (10-0)
Ben Ostrowski (CF) 2-for-4
Justin Akers (C) 1-for-3
Mike Wathier (P) 1-for-4, double
Brandon Hacynski (1B-P) 1-for-3, double 2 RBIs
Ty Wentz (2B) 1-for-3, HR, 2 RBIs
Hunter Ryan (3B) 0-for-3
Joey O'Keefe (2B) 1-for-2, HBP
Charle Patrick (RF) 0-for-1
Sasha Stefanovic (SS) 0-for-1, walk

Henderson County, Kentucky
Tanner Dallas (SS) 0-for-2, HBP
Kyle Reed (C) 0-for-2
Slayde Hanville (P) 0-for-3
Dylan Fox (3B) 1-for-3
Brennan Allen (2B) 1-for-2
Hunter Kloke (1B) 0-for-2
Joe Woodard (1B) 1-for-2
Eli Douglas (LF) 0-for-1
Dylan Sutton (RF) 0-for-1
 

SOUTH BEND, IN (07-25-2011) In the overall athletic sense. it might have been fair. Unbeaten Crown Point defeated South Lexington 8-4 in the Ohio Valley Cal Ripken championship game for 11-year-olds in 2010. Undefeated South Lexington came back one year later Monday afternoon and stopped Crown Point 2-0 in the Ohio Valley cal Ripken championship game for 12-year-olds. One problem.

There is no World Series for 11 years olds.

South Lexington’s Jackson Boggs struck out 13 Crown Pont batters and hit four others in an emotional 2-0 win, ending this Crown Point team’s two-year, 25-game Cal Ripken all-star winning streak and sending South Lexington, a three-time World Series champ, to the 2011 Cal Ripken 12-year-old World Series next week in Visalia, California. Crown Point goes home with more than some hurt pride.

The game pivoted in the first inning when Boggs, a curveball pitcher, hit CP leadoff man Ben Ostrowksi on the forearm forcing him to leave the game. Boggs, the top player for South Lexington, one of three youth baseball leagues in Lexington, Kentucky, then hit CP's No. 2 hitter Justin Akers with a pitch.
 

The small Monday afternoon group of CP crowd of parents and relatives howled in anger and the South Lexington followers responded in kind. CP manger TJ Pruzin tried to calm his hometown people down, insisting that Boggs obviously did not attempt to hit the CP boys.
 

Pruzin then made a decision that seemed fundamentally sound at the time. He had power hitting Mike Wathier bunt the two runners (Akers and pinch runner Tommy Benson) to third base. But Boggs, who reportedly struck out two batters per inning all season, struck out Brandon Haczynski and Ty Wentz, two of CP’s top guns, to end the inning and CP’s biggest threat.
 

Boggs singled to deep short leading off the South Lexington first inning and stole second base. No. 3 hitter Jacob Abbott hit a deep drive to right field but CP’s Charlie Patrick reached up above the fence to steal a potential home run, Boggs advance to third base after the catch. Boggs scored on Mike Wathier’s wild pitch and South Lexington led 1-0.
 

Boggs one-out home run in the third was the only other run of the game. Boggs, a 5-foot-8 right hander, intimidated some of CP’s hitter, something that was understandable after the first inning.
 

“When they hit our first two batters,” said coach Joe O’Keefe. “that took away some of our aggressiveness.”
 

South Lexington manager Kevin Payne agreed.

“We knew they were good hitters. Aggressive hitters,” he said. “Jackson pitched them inside. He didn't want to hit as many as he did but he had to pitch inside. He didn't let it (the first two mistakes) upset hit. Anybody else I’d have been worried, but I had faith in him. In all the time I’ve been coaching, he’s the best player I’ve ever seen.”
 

The South Lexington people understood why CP fans were upset but they said their boy has to pitch inside or CP would have bombed him the way they did everybody else.

“It's hard when you’ve got all those people yelling at a 12-year-old kid,” said Payne. “We’ve scouted them (CP) since we got here and if those guys get (their arms) extended, they are going to hit it out of here. We always pitch in. They were leaning over the plate. It's unfortunate the kid (Ostrowski) got hurt, but if you knew him, he’s the last kid who wants to hit anybody on purpose. You don't want to put them on base. But we knew they were fastball hitters. He knew he’d have to throw a lot of curves. He threw curveballs early in the count. Late in the count. Kept them off balance.”
 

Crown Point had two threats after the first inning. In the second, Joey O’Keefe singled and Charlie Patrick walked with one out. But ninth place hitter Sasha Stefanovic popped up a bunt attempt. Boggs grabbed it and doubled Patrick off first base.
 

In the fourth, with one out, Ty Wentz reached base on an infield singled chopped down the third base line. O’Keefe struck out, but Brad Poston was hit by a pitch to bring the go-ahead run to the plate. But Patrick was called out on strikes to end the inning. Boggs struck out the final batter of the inning five times.
 

It seems unfair that after 13 consecutive wins, one 2-0 loss eliminates you, but that’s pool play. In double-elimination tournaments, the end feels much more fair.
But South Lexington knew how CP felt.

“Yeah, this feels good,” said Payne, who managed the South Lexington 11-year-olds last season. “We’ve waited a year to play this game.”

OHIO VALLEY NOTES: The CP 12s were able to put only five balls into play and two of them were bunts. CP parents calmed down afterwards, but as you might guess, nobody from Crown Point was too happy with how they lost. Pruzin, who thought the turmoil was upsetting his team, repeatedly asked the CP fans to stop yelling at Boggs for hitting their boys.

“He‘s throwing curveballs,” Pruzin repeatedly said to the parents, “If he was trying to hit us he’d be throwing fastballs. Cedar Lake native Brad Poston was hit on the shirt in the fourth. Grant Miller was bopped off the helmet leading in the fifth. Benson appeared to be hit by a pitch leading off the third inning, but the umpires ruled the ball hit his bat before it hit him.

Cal Ripken (12s) Ohio Valley
at South Bend's East Side Little League

7-22-11 (F) Logansport, Indiana 11, Benton Harbor Michigan 0 (4 inn.)
7-22-11 (F) Neenah Wisconsin 3, Vincennes, Indiana - 2
7-22-11 (F) Henderson County, Kentucky 11, Bay Port, Wisconsin 5
7-22-11 (F) South Lexington, Kentucky 11, Clay County, Indiana 0 (4 inn.)
7-22-11 (F) Vincennes , Indiana 10, Cortland, Ohio 1
7-22-11 (F) CROWN POINT, INDIANA 14, Williamson-Mingo County, West Virginia 0
7-22-11 (F) Logansport, Indiana 6, Clay County, Indiana 3
7-22-11 (F) Neenah, Wisconsin 5, South Bend East Side 2

7-23-11 (Sat) Clay County, Indiana 8, Benton Harbor Michigan 2
7-23-11 (Sat) CROWN POINT, INDIANA 6, Henderson County, Kentucky 0
7-23-11 (Sat) South Bend East Side 2, Vincennes, Indiana 0
7-23-11 (Sat) Williamson, West Virginia 0, Bay Port, Wisconsin 20

7=23-11 (Sat) South Lexington, Kentucky 17, Benton Harbor, Michigan 0
7-23-11 (Sat) Neenah, Wisconsin 14, Cortland, Ohio 0
7-23-11 (Sat) Henderson County Kentucky 15, Williamson, West Virginia 0
7-23-11 (Sat) CROWN POINT 3, Bay Port, Wisconsin 0
7-23-11 (Sat) South Bend East Side 5, Cortland, Ohio 0
7-23-11 (Sat) South Lexington, Kentucky 12, Logansport 0.

7-24-11 (Sun) Bay Port, Wisconsin 3, Clay County, Indiana 2

QUARTERFINALS
7-24-11 (Sun) Henderson County, Kentucky 2, South Bend East Side 1.
7-24-11 (Sun) CROWN POINT 13, Vincennces, Indiana 3 (4 inn.).
7-24-11 (Sun) Logansport, Indiana 2, Neenah, Wisconsin 0
7-24-11 (Sun) South Lexington, Kentucky 11, Bay Port, Wisconsin 1 (4 inn.)

SEMIFINALS
7-25-11 (Monday) South Lexington 8, Henderson County 0
7-25-11 (Monday) CROWN POINT 11, Logansport 3

CHAMPIONSHIP
7-25-11 (Monday) South Lexington 2, CROWN POINT 0 (title)

South Lexington (13-0) advances to the Cal Ripken World Series next month.
Crown Point (13-1) had its two-year, 25-game Cal Ripken all-star winning streak broken.

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Revised: July 28, 2011.