Crown Point 12s fall 13-3 to Kokomo at Cal Ripken Baseball at Ohio Valley Regional
A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith  (7-25-2007)

Friday, July 20, 2007 - 78-degrees at Ohio Valley Regional Cal Ripken (age 12) double elimination game at Crain Field - LOGANSPORT, IN

WP - Zach Gerrrens (4-1) 2Ks, 2 Walks
LP - Chris Dietrich (1-1)  2Ks, 4 Walks (2 inn.)

CROWN POINT (9-2)
Ronnie Plesac (1B) Single, RBI, run scored
Anthony Geisen (2B) Single, RBI
Chris Dietrich (L) Single, run scored
Zach Plesac (SS) Walk, 2 runs scored
Johnny Lynx (RF) Walk, run scored

Kokomo UCT (9-3)
Drew Gage (SS) Triple, 2 singles, 2 RBIs
Jared Wilford (CF) Double, single, 2 RBIs
Justin Walker (LF) Single, 2 walks, RBI

Ohio Valley Cal Ripken Regional
Age -12 and under     July 19-14
7-19: Newburgh, In. 8,  Benton Harbor, Mich. 6
7-19: Henderson Ky. 11, Logansport 0
7-20: SE Lexington, Ky 11, (Youngstown, Oh.) Mill Creek 0
7-20: Kokomo 13, CROWN POINT 3 (4 inn.)
7-20: Newburgh, Ind. 12, Superior Wis. 4
7-20: Galesburg Ill. 4,   Henderson, Ky. 3
7-21:  Mill Creek 14,  Logansport 1
7-21: CP  5, Benton Harbor, Mich. 1
7-21:  Mill Creek 4, Superior,  WIs. 3
7-21: Henderson, Ky. 11, CROWN POINT 8
7-22: SE Lexington, Ky. 1, Newburgh, Ind 0
7-22:  Galesburg, Ill. 1 ,  Kokomo UCT 0
7-22:   Henderson, Ky 4,   Newburgh, Ind 1
7-22:    Mill Creek 6, Kokomo UCT 5
7-23:  SE Lexington, Ky.8, Galesburg 0
7-23:   Henderson 7,   Mill Creek 6 (8 innings)
7-23:   Galesburg 2, Henderson 1
7-24:  Galesburg, Ill. vs. SE Lexington - championship
7-24:  Championship round game two (if necessary)

Crown Point 12s (10-3)
Cal Ripken baseball all-stars - Manager Ron Plesac

District  (Hammond)  Optimist Park
7-6 (W) CROWN POINT 6, Schererville 6
7-7 (W) CROWN POINT 10, Griffith 0
7-8 (W) CROWN POINT 14, Griffith 0
State Finals (Kokomo) Southside Park
7-11 (W) CROWN POINT 16, Russiaville 6
7-12 (W  CROWN POINT 4, Morgan Township 0
7-14 (W) CROWN POINT 14, Harris Township 0
 7-15 (L) Kokomo UCT 6, CROWN POINT 2
7-15 (W) CROWN POINT 9, Griffith 0
7-16 (W)  CROWN POINT 8, Kokomo UCT 7
7-16 (W) CROWN POINT 11, Kokomo UCT 5

Ohio Valley (Logansport)
7-20 (L) Kokomo 13, CROWN POINT 3
7-21 (W) CROWN POINT 5, Benton Harbor, MI 1
7-21 (L) Henderson, KY. 11, CROWN POINT 8

KOKOMO (7-24-2007) -  The Crown Point 12-and-under all-stars might dominated all Hoosier boys in their path this spring.  Except for that Kokomo team.  In an odd rematch of the Northern Indiana state finals’ championship round, the Crown Point 12-and-under Cal Ripken all-stars’s first game in the Ohio Valley Regional Friday was against the same team they defeated 2-out-3 to win the state title.  You can probably guess what happened.

Facing Crown Point for the fourth time in six days, Kokomo UCT bombed the CP 12s 13-3 in the Friday afternoon sunshine to begin the demise of the Lake County team in post-season play.  Faced with the prospect of needing seven consecutive wins to advance to the World Series, CP (10-3) bounced back to eliminate Benton Harbor, Michigan 5-1 early Saturday.  But the all-star run came to an end Saturday night with an 11-8 loss to Henderson, the Eastern Kentucky champion.

“We played our worst two games against Kokokmo,” said a disappointed CP 12s manager Ron Plesac after the 10-run loss.  The manager couldn’t start son Ronnie Plesac as the opening game pitcher because the left-hander had been injured in the state finals.

“Ronnie’s a bit beaten up,” admitted his dad.  “We’ve been careful with him.  He ran down a bad base line in Kokomo and he turned his knee.  It blew up on him a bit and it's his push off leg for pitching.  We had him in there because we need his bat, but we told him not to run too hard and he hurt himself.  Anthony Geisen has a bad back, too.  But that’s not an excuse for today.  We just didn't make the plays and they did.”

There was no doubt who was the better team Friday, but there is doubt as to who is the better team overall.  CP would have liked to have drawn anybody but the team they just defeated twice three days earlier.

“It didn't seem like a national tournament because we were playing Kokomo again.”

In the Northern state finals in Kokomo, CP lost 6-2 in third round play to Kokomo UCT, but then beat them twice in the same day 8-7, and 11-5 to win the state trophy on July 16.  Faced with the same team Friday, the CP 12s took a 1-0 lead on an RBI single by Ronnie Plesac.  CP would have scored another run, but Kokomo’s shortstop Drew Gage made a stretching catch of Anthony Geisen’s line drive for the third out.

Gage then tied the game after a walk to Kokomo’s Cody Shipley.  He hit a sinking line drive to center field on which CP’s Danny Aultman made a diving attempt.  But the ball got by him and rolled near the center field fence, tying the game.  Kokomo then got a little lucky when Evan warden took a full swing and chopped a pitch from CP’s Chris Dietrich slowly down the third base line.  CP’s Nolan Bish rushed a throw to the plate that was high and late, scoring the 2-1 run.  Brandon Nawton’s RBI single made it 3-1.

CP did rally on Geisen’s RBI single to cut the lead to 3-2, but after that, it was a dark day for the CP 12s under the sunny Logansport skies.  The first four batters reached base in the bottom of the second inning and a 3-2 pitch walk to Zach Girrens made it 4-2 for Kokomo.  Newton’s RBI ground out made it 5-2 and Justin Walked’s two out soft single to left upped the count to 6-2.  Another slow fielder’s choice ground ball to first base saw Jared Wolford beat Ron Plesac’s throw home to make the score 8-2 and Gage’s third base hit of the game upped the count to 9-2.

Crown Point scored a third inning run on pitcher Chris Dietrick’s single, an error, three wild pitches and a base hit from Anthony Geisen.  But they lost a chance for a big inning when Dietrick was caught in a rundown.  CP pitcher Chris Dietrich wasn't that bad and his defense, which made a couple of bad decisions, only made two errors.

Kokomo, which was eliminated from the Ohio Valley Regional Sunday with same-day, one-run losses, 1-0 to Galesburg, Illinois and 6-5 to Youngstown, Ohio, scored four more runs against CP in the third inning to create the 10-run, 13-3 lead.  CP could have extended the game by scoring in the fourth, but Johnny Lynx’ drive was caught by Kokomo’s Josh Mantis at the center field fence and Garris retired the last two CP hitters easily.

The Kokomo boys just seemed very comfortable facing CP again and they ran the bases aggressively.

“They jumped on us,” agreed the manager.  “This guy that we faced tonight.  He was the same guy who beat us in Kokomo.  We’d really like to meet him again.”

They didn't get the opportunity as Henderson outscored the CP boys late Saturday.  It was a far cry from the state finals night when Crown Point rallied twice to take the 12-and-under northern state crown in the team’s first year in Cal Ripken ball.  Plesac knew that his team could have finished second at the state tournament and advanced like Kokomo did, but nobody from CP wanted that.

“We really wanted to come in as the winner,” he said Friday.  “Second place was not something we were going to be happy with.  I’ve got to give the kids a lot of credit.  They had intensity and they were focused all day.  They really earned it.”

OHIO VALLEY NOTES:  There were no shenanigans involved in CP facing Kokomo in the opening game of the Ohio Valley Regional.

“The West Virginia champion couldn't come (to Logansport),” said CP league president Dave Hanaway.  “They couldn't make the trip.  It just so happened that the bracket had us playing the West Virginia champ.  By the time it happened, they (Logansport tournament officials) had already sent the bracket out.”

Kokomo UCT refers to a company called United Commercial Travelers, which has sponsored this particular Kokomo-based Little League for many years.  Both teams had good-sized Little League crowds in the perfect weather conditions.  Kokomo and Logansport, less than 25 miles apart, are major rivals in baseball at all levels of baseball.

Manager Don Ernst and the CP 11s, who were third in the 11-and-under state finals in Hammond last week, made the trip to Logansport and sat in the front row to watch the battle with Kokomo.