Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
CROWN POINT (21-1)	1	0	5	0	0	0	2	8	10	5
Andrean (15-3)	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	8	4

Andrean's Morgan Mosely looks at a close pitch. Andrean defeated Hanover, Lewis Cass, Jefferson and Harrison to reach the title game Saturday. (All photos by Mark Smith)

Raeanna (Lulu) Jenks beats Mosely to first base but the 59er runner was called safe in the second inning of the championship game.

Andrean shortstop Audrey Bickel throws out a CP runner in the title game.  Bickel hit two home runs in five games for the 59ers at Twin Lakes.

Alyssa Moseley leads off second base as CP's Jackie Beilfuss gets set to pitch in the title game early Saturday evening.

Katrina Klingberg, left, and Jackie Beilfuss celebrate with the championship trophy. Beilfuss was 3-0 in the 5-game tournament.

Crown Point poses in the cold conditions late Saturday after wining the Twin Lakes Invitational.  CP left Monticello with a 20-game winning streak.

Lulu Jenks poses with the Twin Lakes Tourney T-shirt.

CP moved up to second place in the Class 5A rankings after five wins at Twin Lakes.  (All photos by Mark Smith)

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
CROWN POINT (20-1)	0	2	0	0	0	2	2	6	8	1
McCutcheon (15-9)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	3

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
LOWELL (13-8)	3	1	2	0	8	-	-	14	9	1
BENTON CENTRAL (8-7)	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	0	3	6

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
ANDREAN (12-2)	1	0	1	0	0	2	0	4	8	0
HANOVER CENTRAL (12-5)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	4

MONTICELLO (05-08-2010) I don't know the total story of how teams get better.  Everybody 'works hard'.  Most big schools have good players, good coaches
and good facilities.  Lots of teams that 'really want it' lose lots of games in every sport every year.  I'm also not sure why it happens overnight for some teams while others have
to hit every single incremental stop on the improvement ladder.  But, for the latter teams, you can see the landmarks.  Sometimes they're obvious.

Crown Point, which won 18 games in 2008, but did not win the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) or Class 4A Sectional two in 2008, won a school-record 24 games and the DAC before falling short in 4A Sectional Two in 2009.  This season?

CP, which tied for the DAC title Thursday, won the 16-team Twin Lake Invitational for the first time Saturday, topping McCutcheon 6-0 in the semifinals and rival Andrean 8-2 in the championship game Saturday in 48-degree cold at the Twin Lakes softball complex in Monticello.

It was Crown Point's first triumph in this part of the state's largest high school softball tournament.  The final victories gave CP a school-record 20-game winning streak.  When the next state poll comes out, CP will be ranked in the Top-5 state wide for the first time.  But now what?

Coach Brett Crutchfield seems to know that if you do not have a vision of the future, your mind can only review the past.  Crutchfield, who has been a part of Twin Lakes and sectional championship teams, keeps reminding his girls where this is all supposed to be going.

"I've here many times before (he was assistant coach at Andrean before coming to CP three years ago)," Crutchfield said, standing in the artificial light late Saturday night. "And last year, not making it to this round.  The girls made it a goal to get back to this single-elimination round, which was the whole goal for me."

"To get them back to this do-or-die point, just like the state tournament.  Now, we played Andrean in the championship.  That happens and that's fine.  But we got some competition from all over the state.  It's important to them to make them known in places other than the region."

Crown Point won the first four games over the weekend by shutout and they then broke a 1-1 tie against Andrean with a five-run third inning.  The key play of the game came with the bases loaded and one out and the score tied.  CP's Katina Klingberg singled to left field and Tori Connelly scored from third base.  Gabby Raspopovich rounded third base, but stopped when she saw the throw beating her to home plate.  Caught in a rundown, Raspopovich reversed direction twice and beat the Andrean defenders with a slide at home plate, making the score 3-1.  Jackie Beilfuss and Courtney Holm had run-scoring hits after that to give the Bulldogs extra runs.

Crown Point made five errors in the championship game but Andrean left 11 runners on base against Beilfuss (10-1), who pitched her second complete game of the day.

"We had some defensive unravelings in the last game," Crutchfield said, "but we pulled it together.  We got some big hits from kids and I couldn't ask for a lot more."

Andrean (15-3), which won four in a row before losing to CP, is a about state championships.  The Niners didn't seem devastated by the loss because they did get to play five times over the weekend and CP doesn't have anything to do with Andrean winning the 3A state title, as they did in 1998 and 2007.  Andrean's losses are to LaPorte (14-8), Lowell (14-9) and Crown Point (21-1).

"In all three games," Ryan said, "it was unearned runs that beat us.  We hit the ball and they caught it.  They hit the ball and we didn't make the plays.  It's defense that beats you.  You can have the hitting and the pitching but defense puts you over the top and we didn't have that today when we needed it."

CP will play Andrean again on May 18 in a makeup game from the Crown Point Invitational.

"Sure I want to make that game up," Ryan said.  "You always want to play good competition."

CP's Tori Connelly was on base four times with three hits in the championship game.  When she reaches base, the Lady Bulldogs have a prolific offense.

"She's a fast kid," said Crutchfield.  "When she can put the ball in play, she has a chance to be safe.  She got us started in a couple of innings.  That's exactly what you want in the leadoff spot."

Raeanna Jenks was 4-for-8 in the final two games.

"She does a really good job from hitting it where it's pitched," said Crutchfield. "Just a sophomore.  She's gotten a lot stronger."

"I've got a new bat, too," Jenks joked.  "But its probably not the bat.  We've been working really hard as a team.  I'm not surprised we've been winning."

Everyone who played multiple games in this tournament will benefit because conditions were brutal.  Temperatures dropped from the upper 60s early
Friday to the mid-30s Saturday morning.  Saturday's sunny skies were window dressing for 20-mile-an-hour north winds and highs in the low 50s.

"I told the girls early that everybody has to play in this," said Crutchfield.  "Let's not make it an excuse."

Everybody was asking about Crown Point.  Are they the top team in the north?  Is this their best ever team?  Are they going to win the sectional and the regional?  It's hard to say.  But after wining at Twin Lakes, they've taken all the required steps.
.
TWIN LAKES NOTES:  I've never accepted the logic that it's not difficult for high school softball players to play three or four games in one day because that's what they do in summer leagues.  That's like basketball people that tell you kids can play two playoff games in one day because they play all day in the summer.  There's a difference between meaningless horse-around ball and tournament competition for your school and your town.

"I think its actually more difficult than playing in 40 degrees," said Crown Point coach Brett Crutchfield said of Saturday. "They don't play in weather (upper 40s) like we have today during the summer."

Crown Point sophomore second basemen Raeanna (Lulu) Jenks has an odd name and you can sense she might be a little tired of being asked about it.

"I don't mind except when people mispronounce it, " she said.  There apparently isn't any special meaning to her unique name.

"I just liked Raeanna," says her mom, who explains that Raeanna is not named after someone else.  "Her middle name is Lucille and her grandfather just started calling her 'Lulu' and it stuck."

Andrean second baseman Savannah Kinsella may have suffered a season-ending injury in the final inning Saturday when she rushed back to first base after a single.

"She had a partially torn ACL," explained 59ers coach Henry Ryan. "She could play with it so she did.  We don't know yet but she may have hurt it worse."

The makeup of the four pools at the Twin Lakes Invitational is always a source of controversy, but there is a factor that may not be known.  McCutcheon, Harrison and Jefferson are in the same (Hoosier Crossroads) conference," a meet official said.  "And part of their deal is that they don't play each other in pool play.  They play each other all the time.  Munster, Lowell and Andrean are all in the same (Northwest Crossroads) conference.  Cass, Maconaquah, Eastern and Western are all in the same conference.  So where do you put everybody?"

Andrean and Hanover Central don't like being in the same pool and meeting on opening night (as they have the last three years), but barring a change in the 16-team field, that's unlikely to change.

The winds were a major factor all weekend.  Many pool play games are played at Voight Park, a Monticello Park District facility two blocks from Twin Lakes High school.  Those fields are not quite up to the quality level of the high school and they are not the same.  One field facing south had fences at the 200 feet mark.  Another field facing north, where Andrean and Hanover played pool play games, had fences well over 300 feet away.

Andrean's Audrey Bickel hit an inside the park home run on the 300-foot field and an over-the fence home run in the championship game at the high school on a field with 200-foot distances.

McCutcheon's 500-win coach Jim Bates is among a field of the older coaches who does not like the move of the high school pitching rubber from 40 to 43 feet this year.

"All the games take two hours now," he said after a three-hour McCutcehon-Eastern pool play game that ended 13-9.  "I think they (the IHSAA) want it to be boys baseball.  I liked it the way it was."

The tournament ran two hours behind on the final day.  The 6:00 p.m. (Eastern time) Twin Lakes Invitational championship game began about 8:00 p.m.  The IHSAA has outlawed the 90-minute time limit that was used for pool play games in past years.

LOWELL (2-1) Lowell had a very good trip.  They won two games by shutout, 14-0 over Benton Central and 3-0 over Eastern with Lauren Wells pitching two shutouts.  Then, Lowell was shut out 10-0 by McCutcheon (14-9).  But that was after 11 members of the team returned home for Lowell's school prom, which was Saturday night.  Coach Pete Iussig was okay with the weekend.

"There was really nothing positive in that last game," he said on the way to the bus.  "But we showed some enthusiasm this week with the regular players.  That's what we'd been lacking and it was good to see.  We'll play Wheeler Thursday and that's the day of the (state tournament) draw so we'll see what happens then."

Amanda Underwood was the only senior with the team for the third game Saturday.  She didn't attend the prom because her boyfriend initially said he couldn't go.

"Then he said he could go," she explained, shaking her head.

Lowell got no hits against tall left-handed Dani Owens of McCutcheon and only Morgan O'Hanlon, Kaite Bobos and Carley Austgen reached base.  Junior Leah Fenner made her varsity debut as a pitcher and Kaiylin Wells was the catcher.  Bobos, the basketball team's leading scorer as a freshman, played shortstop.  Most observers thought that if Lowell had fielded their regular team, they would have been favored to beat McCutcheon and play Crown Point in the semifinals.  If it's any consolation, Western high, a school in Howard County near
Kokomo, also had to play short-handed because their school prom was Friday night.  Western played their junior varsity and lost 20-1 to Munster.

HANOVER CENTRAL (1-2) Hanover knew they were basically eliminated when they lost 4-0 to Andrean on opening night.  The Lady Cats got just two singles off 59er right-hander Alyssa Moselely (9-2).  Kelly Ryan's RBI single and Audry Bickel's inside the park home run gave the 59ers a 2-0 lead after 2-1/2 innings against losing pitcher Jessica Toth (8-3), who smacked both of HC's two hits.

"We made some mistake in the field," said HC coach Larry McMillen.  "But when you don't hit, you can't win."

Hanover lost 4-3 to Lewis Cass (13-6) Saturday when the Kings scored an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh to beat senior right-hander Kelsey Jankowski (3-3).  But Jankowski got the win in relief Saturday afternoon when HC edged Jefferson (3-18) on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh.  Hanover (13-6), which did not hit well all weekend, has advanced beyond the pool play level at the Twin Lakes Invtational only once in 11 years.  But the results often show up the next weekend when they play in the Porter County Conference (PCC) tournament, a title HC has won nine times.

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The TWIN LAKES Invitational
$5 each day @ Twin Lakes High School- Monticello, Indiana
WEATHER: Sunny and mid-50s Saturday
FRIDAY (05-07-2010)
Twin Lakes 11, Maconaquah 1 (5 inn.)
(West Lafayette) Harrison 5, Pioneer 0
Lewis Cass 3, Jefferson 2
CROWN POINT 11, Frontier 0 (5 inn.)
McCutcheon 11, (Howard Co.) Eastern 3
Munster 20, Western 1 (5 inn.)
ANDREAN 4, HANOVER CENTRAL 0.
LOWELL 14, Benton Cental 0 (5 inn.)

SATURDAY (all times are Eastern Standard Time)
Twin Lakes 18, Frontier 5
LOWELL 3, Eastern 0
(West Lafayette ) Harrison 12, Munster 2
ANDREAN 9, Jefferson 2
CROWN POINT 15, Maconaquah 0 (5 inn.)
McCutcheon 13, Benton Central 9
Western 13, Pioneer 3 (5 inn.)
Lewis Cass 4, HANOVER CENTRAL 3
Frontier 18, Maconaquah 1 (5 inn.)
McCutcheon 10, LOWELL 0 (5 inn.)
Munster 14, Pioneer 1 (5 inn.)
ANDREAN 6, Lewis Cass 3
CROWN POINT 6, Twin Lakes 0
Eastern 7, Benton Central 4
Harrison 14, Western 4 (5 inn.)
HANOVER CENTRAL 7, Jefferson 6

Semifinals
ANDREAN 2, Harrison 0
CROWN POINT 6, McCutcheon 0

Championship
CROWN POINT 8, ANDREAN 2 (title)

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2010 Crown Point (21-1)
Coach Brett Crutchfield, 24-5 in 2009

3-29 (W) 13-0 (5 innings) at Hobart (1-10)
4-1 (L) 4-6 Penn (19-0)
4-6 (W) 3-1 at MERRILLVILLE (2-14)
4-8 (W) 2-0 LAKE CENTRAL (16-9)
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 (14-9)

4-19 (W) 7-0 CHESTERTON (16-6)
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 (15-3) and Hanover Central (13-6)

4-27 (W) 15-0 MERRILLVILLE (2-18)
4-29 (W) 7-3 at LAKE CENTRAL (16-9)
4-30 (W) 9-0 Illiana Christian (14-7)
5-3 (W) 11-2 at PORTAGE (10-6)

5-5 (W) VALPARAISO (1-13) 4:30 p.m.
5-6 (W) CHESTERTON (16-6) 4:30 p.m.

Twin Lakes Invitational
5-7 (W) 11-0 (5 inn.) Frontier
5-8 (W) 15-0 (5 inn.) Maconaquah
5-8 (W) 6-0 at Twin Lakes
5-8 (W) 6-0 McCutcheon (15-9) semifinals
5-8 (W) 8-2 Andrean (15-3) championship

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 22, 2010.