Crown Point eyes trip to Ohio Valley Regional Tourney after 3-0 win over Kokomo-South

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

(7-19-2009)

Cal Ripken 12s Northern State Finals
Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E
KOKOMO SOUTH (5-2)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
CROWN POINT (5-2)	1	0	1	1	0	-	3	5	0

Friday, July 17, 2008 - 68 degrees, Winner's Bracket semifinal at Logansport Little League - LOGANSPORT, IN

WP = Donnie Ernst (3-1) CG, 10K, 3 walks
LP = Bo Baker (4-1) CG, 5K, 2 walks

Kokomo Southside (5-2)
Charlie Newcom (1B) 0-for-3
Logan Drake (SS) 0-for-2, walk
Bo Baker (P) 0-for-1, 2 walks
Tristan Perkins (CF) 1-for-3
James Myers (SS) 0-for-2
Connie Berger (2B) 0-for-2
Mason Tweed (3B) 0-for-2
Taylor Jefferson (RF) 0-for-2
Casey Conwell (C) 0-for-2

CROWN POINT (5-2)
Billy Bernhardt (C) 0-for-2, walk, stolen base
Mitch Kooi (SS) 1-for-3, RBI
Kevin Cunningham (1B) 1-for-2, walk
Donnie Ernst (P) 1-for-3
Fred Newman (RF) 1-for-2, stolen base
Ryan Prodehl (3B) 0-for-1, walk
Nick Kulpa (CF) 1-for-2, walk
Troy Grady (LF) 0-for-1
Noah Thiel (PH) 0-for-1
Cameron Divjck (2B) 0-for-1
Jacon Balko (PH) 0-for-1

2009 Cal Ripken (12s) Northern State Finals
double-elimination (12-and-under) at Crain Little League in Logansport
7-14 (Tu) Kokomo East 11, Muncie 1
7-14 (Tu) Logansport 11, Hammond Hermits 1
7-14 (Tu) CROWN POINT 6, (Kokomo) Taylor 4
7-14 (Tu) Kokomo Southside 9, (Chesterton) Liberty Township 0
7-15 (W) South Bend Eastside 11, Kokomo East 1
7-15 (W) Logansport 9, Greentown 3
7-15 (W) CROWN POINT 13, North Judson 3 (5 innings)
7-15 (W) Kokomo Southside 4, SCHERERVILLE 2
7-16 (Th) (Kokomo) Taylor 14, Kokomo East 13
7-16 (Th) Greentown 7, (Chesterton) Liberty Township 1
7-16 (Th) Muncie 10, North Judson 9
7-16 (Th) SCHERERVILLE 11, Hammond Hermits 2
7-17 (F) Greentown 7, (Kokomo) Taylor 5
7-17 (F) SCHERERVILLE 13, Muncie 3
7-17 (F) South Bend Eastside 8, Logansport 2
7-17 (F) CROWN POINT 3, Kokomo Southside 0

7-18-9 (Sat) Kokomo Southside vs. Greentown - 10 a.m.
7-18-9 (Sat) Logansport vs. SCHERERVILLE - 12 noon
7-18-9 (Sat) South Bend Eastside vs. CROWN POINT - 2 p.m.
7-18-9 (Sat) Loser's bracket final (morning winners meet) 4 p.m.

7-19-9 (Sun) Loser's bracket championship - 12 noon
7-19-9 (Sun) championship game one - 3 p.m.
7-20-9 (Mon) championship game two (TBA) if necessary

LOGANSPORT (7-17-2009) Baseball is a sport that can't be defined by one game. Many have proven that and the latest locally could be the Crown Point 12-year-old Cal Ripken all-stars. The CP 12s, who lost twice in first round play in St. John, have jumped up on a serious winning streak at the Northern State finals in Logansport.

Right-hander Donnie Ernst shut out Kokomo Southside 3-0 Friday night for the CP 12s third consecutive road win, moving them to within one victory of the league's second berth in three years in the Ohio Valley Regional. If CP rejected undefeated South Bend Eastside (6-0) in Saturday's winner's bracket championship or, if they won a Sunday loser's bracket title game, the Crown Point Little League all-stars would be headed for the 12-team Ohio Valley tournament at the Riley Little League, west of Terre Haute on July 23.

"It's my understanding that two teams are going," said CP manager Paul Thiel. "There are two slots for teams from Logansport. So if we beat Eastside, we should be going."

The CP 12s were solid Friday as Donnie Ernst, who pitched a one-hit shutout, sliced an RBI single to right to open the scoring. Mitch Kooi's ground-out scored Billy Bernhardt to up the lead to 2-0 in the third inning against hard-throwing Kokomo right-hander Bo Baker. Nick Kulpa's RBI single upped the CP edge to 3-0 in the fourth inning and Ernst made it stand up with 10 strikeouts in six innings.

"Last year we got to the final game," said Thiel. "We only lost to one team (Logansport) and they knocked us into the loser's bracket. We beat Griffith and we ended up playing them again. We beat them once and we lost the final game."

That prospect arises here because South Bend Eastside has not been challenged, winning two games 11-1 and 8-2 after a 4-0 sweep in early play in St. John.

"They are very good," said Thiel. "There's no question about that. We were in the game with them. It was 6-3. Ernst and Mitchell Kooi are 1 and 1A as pitchers. Donnie's a little faster and he's got a soft breaking pitch. Mitch has got a fastball, slider and straight change. We wanted him to face (SB) Eastside. He pitched against them before and we were in the game until they scored one in the fifth and one in the sixth."

"If Donnie gets in a groove, he's hard to beat. He pitches quickly and gets in a rhythm and that's when he's at his best."

RIPKEN NOTES: Crown Point's other loss was 8-3 to Schererville, a loss manager Paul Thiel has more difficulty explaining. That's actually Schererville's second team," said Thiel. "Their top team is in the 70-foot tournament (Cal Ripken has tourneys for 12-year-olds with 60-foot base distances and 70-foot distances). We just had a bad day and they beat us."

If there is a winner-take all championship game it must be held Monday night because the loser's bracket champion will have played twice on Sunday. Tourney officials were in high spirits as the first 16 games had gone off on schedule. Logansport has teams in the 11-and-under state finals in St. John and they were very much aware of the heavy rain that postponed play in Lake County Thursday night.

The Riley Little League, where the Ohio Valley playoffs will be held, is five miles west of Terre Haute and its facility was only constructed in the last few years. There will be 12 teams in the Ohio Valley Regional and only one goes to the Cal Ripken World Series. All Ohio Valley qualifiers will get to play three pool play games. There will be teams from five different states including five from Indiana, which has so many qualifiers (normally four, Riley qualifies as the host) because the state of Indiana has more Babe Ruth and Cal Ripken baseball teams than most states.

The 10-team Cal Ripken 12-and-under World Series is in Winchester, Massachusetts, which is a suburb 10 miles outside of Boston. The dates are Aug. 15-22.