Hobart spoils Crown Point Girls Softball 2007 opener with 7-1 win

A USA-365 special report by Mark Smith

3-27-2007

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

Monday, March 26, 2007 - sunny & 80 degrees at Crown Point, IN - season opener

WP - Brittany Spears (1-0) CG, 16 Ks, 5 walks (110 pitches)
LP - Kelsey Rather (0-1) 4Ks, 2 walks (5 innings) 83 pitches

Hobart (1-0)
Alise Richardson (RF) 2 singles, 2 RBIs
Lori Lashenik (SS) Double, 2 runs scored
Brittany Spears (P) Double, RBI
Lisa Nedberg (2B) Double, 2 RBIs
Sarah Adams (PH) Single, RBI
Megan Olson (1B) 2 singles, 2 runs scored

CROWN POINT (0-1)
Amber Pierce (LF) 2 walks
Kara Gulvas (SS) Single, stolen base
Jessica Martinez (2B) 2 walks, stolen base

CROWN POINT (3-26-2007) - "Not much of a debut, huh?" said new Crown Point coach Brett Crutchfield after his side lost to Hobart in the 2007 season and home opener late Monday in perfect 80-degree weather. "But I saw some good things. We're going to talk about some of the bunt situations that got us in trouble tonight. There's nothing here that can't be fixed."

There's a lot to work on. Crown Point trailed 2-0 after three minutes, committed three errors and got only one opposite field single in a 7-1 loss, a very disappointing start. Crown Point, which was 13-14-1 last year, was surprisingly overmatched at the plate.

"They jumped on us at the start and they got the hits when they needed them," Crutchfield said. "We might go with a totally different lineup tomorrow (against state ranked New Prairie) and people might be playing other positions. We can fix this."

Defensively, CP will certainly get better. They didn't drop balls. They were just a little slow on bunts and slaps in the infield. That's easy to fix. On offense, it's a little disturbing that the Bulldog batters were not a factor on this day in warm weather in front of a supportive gathering of parents and friends.

The big Brickie factor on this day was junior pitcher Brittany Spears, who struck out a career-best 16 batters. The right-hander seemed to be throwing a touch harder than she had in past seasons and she struck out six consecutive CP batters at one point. It isn't certain whether Spears was that good or whether CP got over-anxious when they trailed early in the home opener. The Bulldogs got only one ball out of the infield and everybody except leadoff batter Allison Adank and junior pinch hitter Aimee Faiva struck out at least once.

"I have never struck out 16 before," Brittany said. "I've just been working a lot with my pitching coach. I didn't really know how many I struck out. My rise ball is better than it was. I thought we might be okay coming in here today, but we did well."

"She was very smart," said Crutchfield. "The ump was giving her the high strike and she kept it up there. That's good pitching. We had some hitters who were not aggressive. We'll work on that. We were getting behind in the count and we had to swing. Defensively, we're going to talk about those infield situations that we had a problem with today."

One of those situations came up immediately. Hobart's Lori Lashenik, a left-handed batter stepped in and dropped a bunt down the third base line. CP third baseman Lindsey Gernenz threw the ball past first base to put Lashenik at second base. Next batter Megan Olson, another left-handed slap hitter, rolled the ball out of reach of CP sophomore shortstop Kara Gulvas for another soft hit. Lisa Nedberg then got a hard hit, a two-run double to right center. Hobart led 2-0 when they should have only had a runner at second with two out.

In the fourth inning, Amy Polak chopped a swinging bunt in front of the plate and CP catcher Amy Fairchild's throw to first base was high for an error. Polak stole second, and with runners at first and second and two out, Polak broke for third base and scored when pitcher Kelsey Rather threw the ball past third base to make it 3-0.

Rather (0-1), CP's sophomore starting pitcher, deserved a better fate. Two of the first three runs against her were unearned and a bunt single in an obvious bunt situation helped blow the game open in a four-run fifth. Rather only walked two and the Brickies really should have scored only three runs.

"We have to think pitch by pitch," Crutchfield said. "They can do that. We can fix that."

In the fifth, Lashenik doubled and, in a bunt situation, Olson beat out a bunt single. One out later, Richardson pulled a two-run single off the shortstop's glove. RBI hits by Spears and pinch hitter Sarah Adams made it 7-1 and sent some spectators walking towards the parking lot.

Crown Point scored in the first inning when Jessica Martinez walked with two out against Spears and moved up on a dropped third strike with Anna Stephens at the plate. Martinez then scored on a double steal. The only hit allowed by Spears was a 32-pitch single by Kara Gulvas leading off the seventh inning.

"She was doing a good job of keeping them off balance," said Hobart coach Rich Patterson. "She's learning to keep the ball in the strike zone. This should have been a shutout. She made a couple of bad pitches but she was very good tonight. This is just a feel good game. It was a good start, but it doesn't mean much in the long run."

Hopefully for Crown Point, that works both ways.

BULLDOG NOTES: The Bulldog highlight of the game was freshman pitcher Jackie Bielfuss who threw 19 pitches in two shutout innings for CP in relief of Kelsey Rather. The game was out of reach by the time she entered, but Bielfuss, a small right-hander, displayed obvious pitching potential.

"She came in in a clean-up situation," said Crutchfield, "and that was pretty tough. I thought she threw very well. She moved it around. I'd really like to alternate them both."

The new sectional pairings for 2008-2011 were not well received at Crown Point Monday. Baseball, softball, volleyball and basketball all now face an eight team sectional with six other DAC teams.

"I think that to host a sectional now, you are going to have to have lights," said CP athletic director Jerry Caravana of the new baseball and softball pairings. "There's just four schools with lights for baseball."

The new pairings won't affect softball much because the two schools added to the sectional were Michigan City and LaPorte, who are not softball powers. But the addition of LaPorte, winner of eight state titles, to the baseball sectional is a major roadblock. It also means that who ever wins will have to burn three pitchers just to win the sectional.

"This doesn't make any sense," said Strayer. "I don't know why LaPorte is in our sectional and not in South Bend."

The IHSAA put only five teams in sectional five and eight in sectional two. Warsaw seemed to be the swing team. Had they moved east to sectional five, other teams would have slid east and LaPorte and Michigan City would not be in sectional two. But the IHSAA apparently decided Warsaw was too far from Fort Wayne.

"Warsaw's the same distance from Fort Wayne as LaPorte is from Crown Point," said Strayer. "I don't understand what the reasoning was."

2007 CROWN POINT (0-1)
Coach Brett Crutchfield - DAC games in CAPS - all games 4:30 unless otherwise indicated
3-27 (L) 1-7 Hobart
3-27 (Tu) at New Prairie
4-2 (M) at Morton
4-3 (Tu) MICHIGAN CITY
4-5 (Th) PORTAGE
4-7 (S) West Central - 10 a.m.
4-10 (Tu) LAKE CENTRAL
4-12 (Th) at VALPARAISO
4-14 (S) North Newton - 10 a.m.
4-14 (S) Lowell - 12 noon
4-16-7 (M) at CHESTERTON
4-18-7 (W) at MERRILLVILLE
4-20-7 (F) at LaPORTE
4-21-7 (S) at Elkhart Central - 11 a.m.
4-24-7 (Tu) at MICHIGAN CITY
4-26-7 (Th) at PORTAGE
4-28-7 (S) Morgan Township - 10 a.m.
4-30-7 (M) at LAKE CENTRAL

5-2-7 (W) VALPARAISO
5-4-7 (F) CHESTERTON
5-5-7 (S) Morton - 10 a.m.
5-8-7 (Tu) MERRILLVILLE
5-10-7 (Th) LaPORTE
5-14-7 (M) at Boone Grove
5-16-7 (W) at (South Bend) Riley
5-18-7 (F) Highland
5-19-7 (S) at Hanover Central

4A Sectional
5-21-7 (M) quarterfinals (TBA)
5-23-7 (W) semifinals (TBA)
5-25-7 (F) championship (TBA)