Crown Point beats Russiaville 16-1, South Bend East Side 16-4 in Cal Ripken 12s Northern State Baseball Finals
A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith  (7-23-2011)

Saturday, July 16, 2011 - 89 degrees, Cal Ripken 12-and-under Northern State finals at CP Cal Ripken in CROWN POINT, IN

WP - Hunter Ryan (2-0) 1K, 4 walks (3 inn.)
LP - Ren Chavret (0-1) 0K, 2 walks (2 inn.)

RUSSIAVILLE (3-3)
Brandon DeWeese (2B) 0-for-2, walk
Luke Florek (CF) 0-for-3
Kaleb Howard (SS) 0-for-0, HBP, walk
Carter Taylor (C) 0-for-2, RBI
Alex Harren (3B) 1-for-1, walk
,Noah Ronk (1B) 0-for-1, walk
Logan Stout (LF) 0-for-0, 2 walks
Micah Bard (RF) 0-for-1

CROWN POINT (6-0)
Ben Ostrowski (LF) 1-for-2, double, 2 walks
Justin Akers (C) 2-for-3
Brandon Haczynski (3B) 0-for-2
Ty Wentz (1B) 2-for-2, double, 2 RBIs
Hunter Ryan (P) 1-for-2, HR, 2 RBIs
Joey O'Keefe (CF) 2-for-3, double, RBI
Charlie Patrick (RF) 1-for-2, walk, RBI
Mark Martin (2B) 2-for-3, double, HR, 6 RBIs
Sasha Stefanovic (SS) 0-for-3
 

Saturday, July 16, 2011 - 89 degrees, winner's bracket 12-and-under Northern State finals at CP Cal Ripken in CROWN POINT, IN

WP - Ty Wentz (1-0) 6Ks, 1 walk (3 inn.)
LP - Ozzy Duarte (2-1) 2K, 2 walks (1 inn.)

CROWN POINT (7-0)
Ben Ostrowski (LF) 0-for-3
Justin Akers (C) 0-for-3, walk
Ty Wentz (P) 3-for-3, walk
Brandon Haczynski (1B) 2-for-4, double, 3 RBIs
Hunter Ryan (3B) 2 HRs, double, 6 RBIs
Joey O'Keefe (CF) 1-for-3, walk
Grayson Lynk (RF) 0-for-1, walk
Mark Martin (2B) 1-for-3, 3 RBIs
Sasha Stefanovic (SS) 1-for-2, RBI
 

CROWN POINT (7-16-2011) I've seen enough boys baseball all-star teams to know that everybody loses eventually. Either the CP 12-and-under Cal Ripken all-stars are not like "everybody" or "eventually" is a storm that has not arrived yet.

The CP 12s, expecting to face two stiff challenges Saturday without top pitcher Mike Wathier played like neither fact mattered, rolling over Russiaville 16-1 and powerful South Bend East Side 16-4 to clinch a trip to the Ohio Valley Regional next week in South Bend.

If the CP 12s win one more game Monday night at 6 p.m., they will be the Northern state champions for the second year in a row. As 11-year-olds, this same team went 12-0 in all state play. Saturdays' victories were CP's sixth and seventh this summer, a 19-game all-star winning streak.

"We were talking about that before the game," said Manager TJ Pruzin, who noted that since his players have played in regular season tournaments and lost occasionally, they are not invested in the streak.

"The boys don't have any idea," Pruzin said after Saturday night's unexpectedly big win over Eastside. "They aren't aware of it at all."

The CP 12s also don't seem to know when they're short-handed.

In three district tournament games, CP outscored three foes 43-5 with Ty Wentz, a top pitcher and hitter, who was on vacation with his family. In the state tournament CP lost Wathier, their No. 1 pitcher, when he was hit in the mouth with a pitch during last Thursday's 7-3 win over Logansport. Saturday's two wins came largely without Wathier, who did play the outfield in the final two innings against East Side.

"That show them that this is a team," said Pruzin, who is now very high on his side's Ohio Valley chances. "We can win without any one player. If we bring a bad attitude to a game we could get beat. But when we come with a god attitude, we're very hard to beat."

Two boys found their bats in a very good mood Saturday. Mark Martin, CP's eighth place hitter, lined a two-run RBI double to the right field fence in the second inning against Russiaville and then capped the scoring with a grand slam home run to left in the third.

Against South Bend East Side in the evening game, Hunter Ryan cracked a second inning double, a third inning two-run homer and a fifth inning grand slam out of CP's main Cal Riken diamond, a field this team has clearly outgrown. Ryan had three home runs and eight RBIs on the day.

"They obviously feel very good hitting at home," said Pruzin, who was the top pitcher on CP's 12-and-under Little League state champions in 1995.

"A lot of times, the guys who work the hardest on their hitting are the guys at the bottom of the order because they have to. But our guys who hit all the time are the guys who are in the cages all the time working on it."

RIPKEN NOTES: The 12-team northern state finals went off without any major problems at the old Crown Point Cal Ripken complex just northwest of the downtown square. It did not rain at all last weekend so no games were delayed or postponed by the weather. No team had such a large following as to cause any crowd control problem or crowding in the relatively small CP complex.

Parking problems simply did not materialize. Other than the relentless heat Saturday and Sunday during the midday hours and the fact that everybody but CP eventually lost, a good time seemed to be had by all.

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Revised: July 28, 2011.