Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
CROWN POINT (25-8)	0	0	3	0	2	1	0	6	4	1
CHESTERTON (20-10)	0	1	0	0	3	0	3	7	9	5

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
CROWN POINT (25-7)	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	4	5	2
PORTAGE (18-10)	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	3	2	6

CHESTERTON (5-25-2012) You just got a feeling all night that Crown Point wasn't winning the Class 4A Sectional 2 championship game so much as Chesterton was losing it. And in the final 2-1/2 innings, Chesterton stopped losing it and started winning it.

When Mallory McKee hit a pop up into short center field with runners at second and third and two out in the bottom of the seventh inning of last Friday's title game, the first impression was that Crown Point had won. But, with the wind blowing out, CP center fielder Bailey Mores was playing deep and the ball dropped in front of her, scoring both runners for a dramatic 7-6 Chesterton victory.

That was just one in a series of plays which saw the Lady Bulldogs (25-8) lose a 5-1 lead and Chesterton win that school's eighth softball sectional championship in the 28 years of the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) state tourney.

Few losses are truly shocking, but this one was. When the final pitch was struck, it seemed one team had won. Seconds later, the other one had.

"Nothing's ever done until the last out," said Britton. "Both teams fought hard until the last out. We capitalized on some opportunities, but so did they."

Chesterton coach Lou Ann Hopson summed it up.

"We've been talking for two weeks about how this game (of prep softball) has changed in the last couple of years," she said. "When they backed the pitcher up (changed the distance between the plate and the pitcher's rubber from 40 to 43 feet), the game changed and mostly behind the pitcher. The defense makes more errors and offensively, you are never out of a game."

That's the way it was. Chesterton (20-10) had just committed three errors in the fifth inning, two by third baseman Sammi Howard, boosting CP to a 5-1 lead on a 70-degree Friday evening at the Chesterton softball complex.

But Sarah Richards hit a leadoff home run in the bottom of the fifth inning and CP manager Ginger Britton replaced starting pitcher Siena Gyure with right-hander Rachel Centanni, a move Britton had made frequently late in the season. The Trojans put runners at second and third with home run leader Sydney Cooley coming up.

Now, let's review Sydney Cooley, the premier home run hitter (she hit a school-record eight homers as a freshman in 2011) in NW Indiana. In an 8-1 quarterfinal victory over Valparaiso last week, Cooley hit two home runs. Cooley added another homer in the 13-3 semifinal over Hobart last Thursday. So, with the wind blowing out to left field at 20 miles-an-hour in the championship game, there was no chance of CP pitching to Cooley in the relatively small Chesterton ballpark.

But Centanni had trouble intentionally walking Cooley. The first underhanded delivery spun up over the head of catcher Ally Rock, allowing Megan Tymorek to score. Centanni's next pitched sailed even further over Rock's head, allowing Sammi Howard to score to make it 5-4. Britton replaced Centanni with Brittany Ard, who retired Mallory McKee on a pop up to end the fifth.

Crown Point increased their lead to 6-4 in the sixth when Howard committed a third throwing error on a ground ball hit by Courtney Holm. But the Lady Bulldogs didn't get a base hit after the third inning and it seemed they were playing not to lose in the late going.

In the seventh inning, Shelby Harder and Tymorek singled to right. Chesterton coach Lou Ann Hopson did not sacrifice with next batter Sammi Howard and Howard popped out.

"Whenever we'd bunted," she explained later, "They'd walk the next hitter."

Did you really think CP would walk Megan Matheny to get to Cooley, the league top power hitter.

"We have 21 homers this year by seven different players, I don't think people realize how good a hitter Mallory McKee is."

It worked out for the home team. Matheny hit a long catchable fly ball to right that fell near the fence for an RBI double. Cooley was the next hitter and CP, not wanting to go down the failed intentional walk road again, simply pitched her far outside, intending to walk her in that manner. Cooley reached out and did CP a favor, rolling the ball to first baseman Dani Page for the second out with the score still 6-5.

McKee, who had been hitless on the night, then swung at the first pitch and blooped a normally catchable pop fly into short center. When the ball was hit, it looked like an easy third out. But Mores, who'd had the ball go over her head on Matheny's hit, was playing deep. The ball didn't get high enough for any wind to push it to her and no one from CP could get to McKee's pop before it hit the grass. With two out, everybody was running and Chesterton had two runs and a wild game-winning celebration at home plate.

"It was close," said Britton, who said she wasn't sure the ball would be caught when it was hit. "But it was too shallow. We were playing a little deep."

Chesterton was lucky to win, but Crown Point was lucky to have that 5-1 lead. CP scored two runs on a hit batter and three Trojan errors in the fifth inning. Howard made three throwing errors at third base before Hopson moved Cooley to third in the seventh inning.

"There's no doubt," Hopson said. "My third baseman had a tough game. She's had a sore arm and that's why she had a tough game. To her credit, she was more upset with herself than she was with me for taking her out. I told her, 'You are going in to hit.' She did a good job of leading."

Hopson seemed to try to play down Cooley's influence on the outcome of the game, wanting it to be termed a team win. Few players are intentionally walked in girls softball. If Cooley isn't such a real home run threat, CP doesn't walk her with the score 5-2 and the Lady Bulldogs probably win the game.

"We've got a little bit of speed and a little bit of depth," said Hopson. "We've got a little bit of speed. A little bit of depth. But we've got good hitters. At the start of the year, we knew we'd be up and down. We're still learning. We did some base running things tonight that weren't good."

Chesterton lost the sectional championship game 2-0 to Crown Point in 2011.

"In term of youth and who was on the field," Hopson said. "I thought we had a better chance to win this last year. But we didn't hit. We got hits tonight and we overcame some sloppy defense at times."

Crown Point had pitched one-hit shutouts in both DAC games against Chesterton during the regular season and CP topped Chesterton 2-0 in the 4A Sect. 2 championship game last season. Chesterton has 21 home runs, six by Cooley in 29 games.

NOTES: CP's 4-3 sectional semifinal win over Portage in 90-degree weather was another classic softball avalanche of errors. Haley Hodges first inning home was truthfully the only real run of the night, certainly the only earned run. CP took a 2-1 lead in the fifth on singles by Siena Gyure and Rachel Suits sandwiched by three infield errors, including a two-out dropped pop up by second baseman Morgan Eastridge.

Portage tied the game in the bottom of the fifth when CP third baseman Amanda Rock dropped a two-out pop-up, allowing Jalise McKnight to tie the game 2-2 with a double off the left field fence. Portage took the lead in the sixth when first baseman Dani Page caught a one-out pop-up bunt and threw to third base when a throw to second could have doubled Katie Pensenak off base to end the inning.

Rock caught Pensenak in a run down, but threw over the head of second baseman RaeAnna Jenks. As the ball rolled deep into right center field, Pensenak scored the 3-2 run.

In the seventh inning, everything broke down. CP's Rachel Suits reached on an error by the pitcher and moved up on a sacrifice bunt. Jenks hit a ground ball to the pitcher Kiley who, instead of throwing to first for the second out, threw the ball over the head of third baseman Alexis Johnson to allow the tying run to score. Siena Gyure then hit an infield spinning popup that fell in front of second baseman Eastridge, who may have lost the ball in the setting sun. Jenks tried to go from first to third and was thrown out for the second out, but Gyure reached second base on the throw.

Finally Allison Rock grounded a clean single up the middle, scoring pinch runner Kendall Mores and breaking the 3-3 tie. The odd thing was how two good teams broke down and committed seven errors (and other misplays) in the final three innings of a do-or-die game.

"Ultimately we were successful," said CP coach Ginger Britton. "And that's what we have to do at this point. When we tied it up, we talked about how it was a new game. To score first. But, we didn't. Then it was huge that Rachel (Suits) gets on."

Britton didn't say much when the chaos was going on around her because she was surrounded by experienced players who knew that they were making mistakes.

"Lulu (Rae Anna Jenks), one of our seniors, took them aside and talked to them a bit and coach (Russ) Serrato talked to the pitcher and catcher, but they want to win this more than anybody. They know how to play. It was time to do it. Things that happened in the past can't be changed. You don't want to kick them while they are down. It's a seven-inning game. We have a very unselfish team."

Do the girls talk about rebounding from a disaster before it happens? How to act out? How to react and calm down?

"That's addressed early in the season," said Britton. "I think the girls know how to pick each other up. We have a very unselfish team. One of the more unselfish teams I've been around."

Jenks added, "You just let them work it out. I don't really like to talk to people when I'm mad about stuff. I just like to stay by myself. You don't say much."

Crown Point loses just two seniors in RaeAnna (Lulu) Jenks and Lexie Rolff to graduation this month. They return all three pitchers and the core of their position players including both sets of sisters, outfielders Bailey and Kendall Mores plus Ally and Amanda Rock.

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CROWN POINT (25-8)
Coach Ginger Britton (1st year)
3-26 (W) 10-3 Hobart
3-29 (W) 9-2 Penn (18-10)
4-3 (W) 12-1 (5 inn.) Michigan City (15-11)
4-5 (W) 8-0 Valparaiso
4-6 (W) 15-4 Munster (8-8)
4-10 (W) 8-7 (8 inn.) Chesterton (18-10)
4-12 (L) 4-2 Lake Central (27-2)
4-17 (W) 7-0 Portage (18-8)
4-18 (W) 10-0 (5 inn.) Merrillville (0-24)

Crown Point Invitational
4-21 (W) 8-1 Wheeler (7-7)
4-21 (W) 3-0 Hanover Central (13-13)
4-21 (L) 0-2 Andrean (23-4)

4-23 (W) 8-0 at LaPorte (16-13)
4-24 (L) 3-7 at Michigan City (7-9)
4-26 (W) 10-0 (5 inn.) Valparaiso
4-27 (L) 2-4 Homewood-Flossmoor
5-2 (L) 2-6 Lake Central (27-2)
5-3 (L) 6-7 Portage (18-8)

Twin Lakes Invitational
5-4 (W) 10-5 (5 inn.) Maconaquah
5-5 (W) 13-1 (5 inn.) Delphi
5-5 (W) 3-1 (West Lafayette) Harrison
5-5 (W) 4-2 Western
5-5 (W) 4-3 Lafayette Jefferson (20-10)

5-8 (W) 10-0 (5 inn.) Merrillville (0-24)
5-9 (W) 4-0 Chesterton (18-10)
5-10 (W) LaPorte (16-13)
5-11 (L) 1-3 Griffith
5-14 (W) 8-0 Boone Grove
5-16 (W) 4-0 Lowell
5-18 (W) 8-1 Highland

4A Sectional 2 (at Chesterton)
5-21 (W) 8-3 LaPorte (16-13)
5-24 (W) 4-3 Portage (18-8)
5-25 (L) 6-7 Chesterton (20-10)

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Revised: June 24, 2012.