Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
CROWN POINT (14-1)	0	2	0	7	0	1	1	11	14	1
Portage (10-6)	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	3	3

PORTAGE (05-03-2010)  They do it so easily these days.  Crown Point shows up.  Scores 5-10 runs and gets back on the bus.   Just dominating the opposition.  Like Monday night's 11-2 win at Portage.  Portage, the third place team in the league, was 10-5 and 7-2 in the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC).

"The Duneland is all but theirs," said Portage coach Gil Arzola. "You hate to say it, but they're a very strong team.  Unless they have a meltdown, they're going to win it."

And they win so easily at times.  Most of the time.  Monday's win, Crown Point's 13th in a row was the seventh time this season they've won by seven runs or more.

But CP has matured from past years.  CP is vividly aware that they don't want to be the Chicago Black Hawks.  A team that rumbles during the regular season and crumbles during the post-season.

"It's nice," coach Brett Crutchfield said of the Lady Bulldogs' 13 wins in a row.  "But what we're trying to accomplish is that we're just trying to get us ready for the second season.  These guys and the teams before have learned to play during the regular season and now we want to win championships.  Thirteen in a row is great, but we can't lose focus on what we're doing here."

Junior shortstop Jessica Palm also is old enough not to get too happy about a Monday afternoon win the first week of May.

"Winning is important," Jessica said.  "But winning in the post-season; sectionals or something.  That's something that we haven't done in the past."

Jessica knows about the past.  That time when she couldn't hit.  As a freshman in 2008, Palm had 11 hits in 51 at bats, a .216 batting average.  Last year, she lifted that to .300 (21 of 70), but most everything was singles.  Now she's batting .400 after four hits at Portage, the fifth time (in 15 games) this season she's had three or more hits in a game.

"I think I've improved a lot," Palm said softly before heading for the bus. "It's staying on plane.  That's what he (Crutchfield) always says.  Level swing.  No holes in your swing."

"It was all about getting her to stand straight up," said Crutchfield.  "She was tilting back.  Now she's straight up and she makes more contact.  She's been hot for weeks now."

Crown Point's undefeated senior right-hander Taylor Perry (8-0) struck out 11 of the 25 batters she faced and allowed just three hits.  Several of the Indians were overpowered at home plate by Perry's velocity, something they perhaps had not seen this season.

"It's not so much simulating her," said Arzola.  "There are so many variables.  Especially when we moved back three feet.  Everything is hard to simulate because of movement.  That three feet makes such a big difference."

"We had problems.  Previously, you had to go up and down (in the strike zone) on these guys.  Natalie didn't have an up and down tonight.  We tried to live with moving (the ball) side to side and it got away from us."

Palm and Kelsey Batz had RBI hits in the second inning against Portage starter Natalie Korpak.  In the fourth, Tori Connelly walked with the bases full and Rae Anna (Lulu) Jenks lined a two-run single to right field.  With runners at second and third, CP catcher Katrina Klingberg pushed a bunt past the pitcher into the hole between first and second, scoring two runs before Portage could track it down.

"We are a better team than we demonstrated tonight," said Arzola.  "There's no need to dwell on it.  But we're better than that."

CP looked ahead to a road game Thursday at Chesterton (16-4, 9-1 DAC), a team they topped 7-0 in Crown Point in April.

"They've been playing very well since then.  I think it's going to be a lot closer this time."

NOTES:  The Lady Bulldogs offensive prowess in 2010 is gratifying to CP coach Brett Crutchfield because he's more of a hitting coach than a pitching coach.

"When I've been around the girls for while, I can pick up some of the (pitching) things each one does.  I can see what they're doing with the body.  But mostly I work with the hitters."

Crown Point plays Frontier Friday at 4:45 p.m. (CP time) in the first of three pool play games in the 16-team Twin Lakes Invitational.  Weather for Monticello Saturday is for high temperatures only in the upper 50s.  There is a 60% chance of rain Friday.

Frontier is a 1A school that plays largely a 1A and 2A schedule.  With that said, Frontier junior Chelsea Heath struck out 13 and pitched an eight inning no-hit game against 1A North White on April 20.  Heath and Frontier lost 4-2 to 4A power Harrison (14-7) last week.

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2010 Crown Point (14-1)
Coach Brett Crutchfield, 24-5 in 2009

3-29 (W) 13-0 (5 innings)at Hobart (1-10)
4-1 (L) 4-6 Penn (14-0)
4-6 (W) 3-1 at MERRILLVILLE (2-14)
4-8 (W) 2-0 LAKE CENTRAL (13-9)
4-9 (W) 9-0 at Munster (12-9)
4-13 (W) 1-0 PORTAGE (10-6)
4-15 (W) 12-1 (5 innings) @ VALPARAISO (1-13)
4-17 (W) 5-4 @ Lowell (12-7)

4-19 (W) 7-0 CHESTERTON (14-5)
4-21 (W) 14-2 (5 innings) at LaPORTE (12-6)
4-23 (W) 5-0 MICHIGAN CITY (2-12)

CROWN POINT Invitational
4-24 (wet grounds) Andrean (10-4) and Hanover Central (11-4)
4-27 (W) 15-0 MERRILLVILLE (2-14)
4-29 (W) 7-3 at LAKE CENTRAL (13-9)
4-30 (W) 9-0 Illiana Christian (14-7)
5-3 (W) 11-2 at PORTAGE (10-6)

5-5 (Wed) VALPARAISO (1-13) 4:30 p.m.
5-6 (Th) CHESTERTON - 4:30 p.m.

Twin Lakes Invitational
5-7 (F) vs. Frontier - 4:45 p.m.
5-8 (S) Maconaquah - 9:30 a.m.
5-8 (S) @ Twin Lakes (8-7) 12:30 p.m.
5-8 (S) semifinal game - 2:30 p.m.
5-8 (S) championship game - 5 p.m.

5-11 (Tu) LaPORTE - 4:30 p.m.
5-13 (Th) at MICHIGAN CITY - 4:30 p.m.
5-14 (F) Griffith - 4:30 p.m.
5-17 (M) Boone Grove - 4:30 p.m.
5-21 (F) at Highland (13-4) 4:30 p.m.

4A Sectional 2
5-24 (M) quarterfinals (TBA)
5-26 (W) semifinals (TBA)
5-28 (F) championship (TBA)

Regional championship
6-1 (Tu) one game

Semistate Championship
6-5 (S) semifinals

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Revised: May 10, 2010.