Crown Point's 'miracle' 5-run 6th produces 6-5 Little League (age 11-12) win over Dyer

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E
DYER (4-1)	0	0	3	0	2	0	5	4	3
CROWN POINT (6-1)	0	0	0	0	1	5	6	8	2

Little League (age 11-12) District II tournament opener, 7-12-2003
73 degrees at Griffith Little League
WP- Thomas Polus (1-0) 4Ks, 2 walks (3.3 inn.)
LP - Tim Shanks (0-1) 0K, 1 walk (1 inning)
Matt Philbin (D) 2K, 4 walks (5 inn.)

CROWN POINT
7 singles, HR
Josh Wright (CP) 2 singles, run scored
Kyle Qualizza (CP) Single, 2 walks
Miles Atherton (CP) HR, walk, 3 RBIs

DYER
4 singles, double, 2 HBPs
Kyle Scheffel (DYER) Double, single, 2 RBIs
Tim Shanks (DYER) 2 singles, RBI
Neil Koricanac (DYER) Single, walk, HBP

GRIFFITH (7-12-2003) - For seven days and five innings, there was nothing to indicate that favored Dyer was not going to win the double-elimination District II Little League all-star playoffs last week. Six of the eight teams were eliminated while the eight-time district champs won their way through the loser's bracket. In the first game of the championship round on a Saturday night, Dyer led neighbor Crown Point 5-1 after five innings of a regulation six-inning game.

But this is the Little League.

In a stunning turnaround that you can watch 1000 games and never see, Crown Point scored five runs before anyone was retired in the bottom of the sixth inning and Miles Atherton hit a three-run homer on an 0-2 pitch to give CP an unforgettable 6-5 win.

The district title came down to a winner-take-all game late Sunday (July 13) between Dyer and Crown Point, District II's most classic rivals.

"I said this could happen." said manager Eli Kvachkoff afterwards. "I kept saying that he was going to hit it out and we were going to win. We never gave up. We kept saying we had a chance. That's Miles first home run ever. All the little guys are getting them here."

In the last inning, the smaller, shorter Crown Point boys, who had been dominated for five innings, found new life when Nick Bruno, who had been hitless in three games grounded a single to left off Dyer relief pitcher Tim Shanks.

Shanks, a 5-8 right-hander, replaced starter Matt Philbin, a 6-foot right-hander who had held CP to five hits on a warm early evening at the Griffith Little League. Since Little League rules allow a pitcher who hurls one inning to come back the next day, the replacement of Philbin with a 'closer' was not unusual heading into the final inning.

But CP pinch hitter Josh Nottingham followed Bruno's hit with a single to right field, a play on which Dyer thought they had Nottingham out at first base on a throw from short right field. Nate Svhilik, then worked an 0-2 count for a 3-2 walk to fill the bases in front of the game's key play.

CP's Josh Wright rolled the ball to Dyer second baseman Joey DiCicco. Svhilik, the base runner, mistakenly stopped in the baseline as DiCicco bobbled the ball. Had Svhilik run past the second baseman, DiCicco throws to first for the first out of the inning. But when Svhilik stopped DiCicco tried a backhand flip to second base for a force and threw wildly over shortstop Jimmy Wanda.

Two runs scored and the miracle rally was on.

Then, on an 0-2 pitch, Atherton, who, his coaches insisted had never hit a home run in his life (he's only 12), lined a no doubt-about-it line drive off the scoreboard beyond the left center field fence. The drive of about 200 feet would not have left the Crown Point Little League, but the small Griffith field, thought to be a huge advantage for the bigger Dyer stars, worked in CP's favor.

Crown Point's boys rushed the field for a wild celebration as the shocked Dyer team stood by and watched after their first loss of the all-star playoffs. Dyer had allowed only five runs in five tournament games. In two plays, they'd give up five runs in five minutes and were facing their first elimination game of the state tournament.

"We made some bad choices in pitch location," said Dyer manager Jimmy Wanda. "Then the second baseman flipped the ball too high. We outplayed them for five innings but this is a rivalry. It's the same for us. This is the big matchup. We talked about how we still only have to win one game. We'll be back tomorrow."

Coach Dave Hanaway, who was on the CP Little League all-star staff for the 1995 state title run and the 2001 run to the state finals, said the game swung in the late going on the error.
"If you make mistakes in the infield," he said. "It comes back to haunt you. That's how we got behind."

This matchup felt like a championship game. It was played carefully and slowly, almost two hours for a six inning game. Both teams loaded the bases in the first inning and failed to score.

Dyer (4-1) took a 3-0 lead in the third inning on Tim Shanks' bases-loaded RBI hit to deep shortstop, an infield error by starting pitcher Kyle Qualizza on a high hopping bouncer by Mike Schneider, and an RBI base hit to right by Kyle Scheffel.

The lead went to 5-0 in the top of the fifth when Scheffel chopped an RBI double over the head of Atherton, the CP third baseman. Joey Smotar brought home the fifth run on a Dyer staple, a bunt with a runner at third base. No one covered first base and Tim Shanks scored the 5-0 run.

Crown Point scored in the fifth inning but even that rally ended with Dyer smiling. Walks to CP's Atherton and Qualizza put a runner at third base, when he scored on a wild pitch. CP's Jeremy Kooi singled to put runner on base again but Paul Aulwurm grounded out to end the inning.

Dyer made a rare defensive play to end the fourth inning. With two on and one out, Nate Svhilik grounded to third base. Mike Schneider threw home where Scheffel, the Dyer catcher, tagged out CP's Paul Aulwurm. Svhilik rounded first and raced to second, beating Scheffel's throw. As the play went to second, Nick Bruno rounded third and tried to score. Dyer's Jimmy Wanda fired to home plate and Scheffel tagged out Bruno as well, although CP hotly debated the call. It is almost unheard of for a catcher to tag two runner s out on the same play.

"The rally took me off the hook," said Hanaway, who coaches third base. "I sent him in. We hadn't been scoring. We needed a run. It's funny. In that last inning, everybody hit. Miles (Atherton) bailed me out.

We won the district on a similar kind of thing. A walk off home run. John Wilson did it in about 1990 or 1991."

Kvachkoff praised Thomas Polus for strong relief pitching keeping CP in the game and he maintained his never wavering belief that CP would eventually win the district, even though they lost the first game in the finals.

"I'm a prognosticator," he smiled. "I thought we would do this. I thought Miles would hit it out. I predicted it. Absolutely. I said he was going to hit the scoreboard. It was gone immediately. That's the most exciting game I think I've ever seen."

LITTLE NOTES: Kvachkoff said that this was the ultimate finish. "I told the boys that they may go on to win titles in Babe Ruth or high school but it will never be like this again," he said. "The Little League is different. The people are so close. It's so exciting. There's nothing like this."

Little League baseball is a different animal and you do things that other baseball teams don't do at succeeding levels. Little League all-stars games start with a coin flip. You can choose to bat first in every inning and be the 'home' team or you can bat last and be the home team. Many managers, especially if they feel they have a superior offensive team, choose to bat first because they can score early and demoralize the opposition and put pressure on the other side's hitter in a short (six inning) game.

Dyer won the toss Saturday night and chose to be the visiting team, giving Crown Point the final at-bat. It was just one of the things that Little League pitchers often do (like changing pitchers with an inning left) that simply turned out to be the wrong decision on this night.

CP's Nate Svhilik pitched a two-hit shutout as CP beat Munster National (3-2) by a 2-0 score to get CP to the final round. They needed a complete game to save pitching for the final round.

Dyer's Neil Koricanic, who had been sick, was a last-minute replacement as starting pitcher as Dyer also beat Munster 2-0 a day earlier. Koricanic struck out eight as Dyer got their second shutout in four games.

MAJORS (ages 11-12)
District II finals at GRIFFITH - July 5
DYER 6, CROWN POINT 2
Munster National 2, Highland National 0

District II finals at GRIFFITH - July 6
Hessville 5, Munster American 3
Griffith 11, CEDAR LAKE 1

District II finals at GRIFFITH - July 7
Hessville 6, Highland National 3
CROWN POINT 8, Griffith 2

District II FINALS in GRIFFITH -   July 8
DYER 2, Munster National 0
CROWN POINT 9, Hessville 5

District II FINALS in GRIFFITH - July 11
CROWN POINT 2, Munster National 0

District II FINALS in GRIFFITH - July 12
CROWN POINT 6, DYER 5

District II FINALS in GRIFFITH - July 13
CROWN POINT (6-1) vs. DYER (4-1)

SECTIONAL ONE Playoff series in GRIFFITH    Friday, July 18
GAME ONE - 7 p.m.

SECTIONAL ONE Playoff series in GRIFFITH Saturday, July 19
GAME TWO - 7 p.m.

SECTIONAL ONE Playoff series in GRIFFITH    Sunday, July 20
GAME THREE - TBA
(The Sectional one champion goes to the 56th Indiana state finals and will enter pool play
on Thursday, July 24 at the Wabash, Ind. Little League)

District 2 Little League (age 11-12) Champions
2002 - Munster American
2001 - CROWN POINT
2000 - Robertsdale
1999 - DYER
1998 - DYER
1997 - DYER (state champion)
1996 - DYER
1995 - CROWN POINT (state champion)
1994 - Highland National
1993 - DYER (state champion)
1992 - CROWN POINT National
1991 - DYER
1990 - DYER
1989 - DYER
1988 - CROWN POINT
1987 - CROWN POINT
1986 - CROWN POINT
1985 - Highland American
1984 - Whiting
1983 - Robertsdale
1982 - Griffith (state champion)
1981 - East Chicago Ki-Yowga
1980 - CROWN POINT
1979 - CROWN POINT
1978 - Hammond Edison
1977 - Hammond Hessville
1976 - Whiting
1975 - Highland American (state champion)
1974 - Griffith American
1973 - Hammond Edison
1972 - Hammond Edison (state champion)
1971 - State Park (Chesterton)
1970 - Highland South (state champion)
1969 - Hammond Hessville
1968 - CROWN POINT
1967 - Hammond Maywood
(Chesterton)
1970 - Highland South (state champion)
1969 - Hammond Hessville
1968 - CROWN POINT
1967 - Hammond Maywood