Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
HANOVER CENTRAL (7-1)	0	0	0	1	0	0	-	1	3	2
ANDREAN (9-2)	0	0	2	1	0	-	-	3	7	2

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

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
ANDREAN (10-3)	0	0	0	0	1	1	-	1	5	1
CROWN POINT (11-2)	3	0	0	0	0	-	-	3	4	1

CROWN POINT (4-25-2009) If the only goal was to play close games against good teams, everybody was the winner at the first Crown Point Softball Invitational.  Of course, that wasn't the only goal.  So host Crown Point (11-2) was the big winner, with victories over St. Joseph's 10-0, over Hanover Central 1-0 and over Andrean 3-1 in the rain and the wind and the sun out behind the new high school at the south end of town.

"This was the reason we have this tournament," said Crown Point coach Brett Crutchfield.  "It's to see the best competition we can.  This is what I was interested in.  It's all about getting us ready for the post-season.  We learned last night (a 6-5 loss at Portage) that we have to respond one way or another.  It can go either way."

After a 10-0 win over St. Joseph's, Crown Point used only three hits to nip Hanover 1-0.  Right-hander Jackie Beilfuss struck out nine to win over HC's Jessica Toth.

"She's on my team in travel ball," Beilfuss said of Toth.  She also goes to my pitching coach Michelle Powers.  "I didn't want to hit her or anything.  We're friends."

The Bulldogs scored three times in the first inning against Andrean (10-3) after 59er second baseman Sammy Serrato dropped Gabby Raspopovich's popup.  Winning pitcher Taylor Perry lined a two-out RBI double to left and catcher Katrina Klingberg smacked an RBI single.  A third run scored on a throwing error by Serrato.  Alyssa Moseley shut out CP for the rest of the day, but Andrean could not score against Perry until Kelly Ryan's sixth inning home run, the first earned run off Perry this season in 30 innings.  Crutchfield brought Beilfuss on in relief and she got the final out with the tying run at the plate.

"I just thought they needed a different look there and Jackie got the job done," said Crutchfield, who complimented his junior catcher Klingberg.

"We have a freshman backup," said the coach.  "But she doesn't have a lot of experience, so Katrina's going to play most of the time.  I don't think playing three games is a big deal.  She has always had all the tolls behind the plate and she's worked very hard on her hitting.  These were close games and that's exactly what we thought it would be."

And while Hanover Central (7-3) was in every game all day, they definitely rode home on the loser's bus after losing three games by scores of 3-1, 2-1 and 1-0.

"What did we get?" asked longtime Hanover coach Larry McMillen, who watched his team lose their first three games of 2009.  "Nine hits the whole day.  Not good.  We popped up way too much.  Tried to hit home runs.  We've got to do better than that.  Back to the drawing board."

Hanover should have defeated Andean.  The Lady Cats led 1-0 in the bottom of the fourth when a two-out walk to Nicole Steinbach and a two-out bunt single by Allison Emmitt (the 8th and 9th place hitters) filled the bases against Hanover right-hander Kelsey Jankowski (2-1).  Andrean's Alyssa Moseley then lined a two-run two base hit down the left field line.  Many on the HC side thought the ball was foul, but truthfully, Moseley should never have batted in that inning.

Hanover should also have defeated Crown Point.  In the fifth inning against CP right-hander Jackie Beilfuss (4-2), Jankowski singled and Jessica Toth walked with one out.  Tiffany Gibson singled to right.  Pinch runner Abby Stewart was thrown out at the plate and Gibson was thrown out trying to take second on the throw.  It was an aggressive play in a scoreless game, but had Gibson held at third base, senior Lindsay Thompson would have bated with the bases loaded.

"We ran ourselves out of that inning," said McMillen.  "The play at the plate was not close and you and try to go to second there.  That took us right out of the inning."

Crown Point won on a fifth-inning run when little (5-foot tall) Allison Amodeo doubled over the head of new left fielder Abby Schweitzer in the windy conditions.

"I had just moved her in," admitted McMillen.

Hanover has some depth problems.  Projected third baseman Vanessa Rainwater has had serious arm problems and is no longer with the team. Last week junior outfielder Danielle Nowak was injured warming up a pitcher and she's out for the season.

"We don't have anybody on the JV who can play at this level," said McMillen.  "We had some girls up on the varsity today, but that was just to pinch run and because I needed a backup catcher."

Hanover's starters could make the bench irrelevant if they scored a few more runs.  HC had scored just 37 runs in 10 games and that's very low for a state-ranked team.  The Lady Cats have not scored 10 runs in any game and with two four-year starters and three three-year starters, it's hard to understand why.

"I may have to change my strategy," admitted McMillen, who took no consolation in the fact that all three Hanover losses were very close, low-scoring games.  "That's the kind of games you have to win.  You have to be able to score a run when you need to.  We aren't scoring any runs.  We may have to bunt more with everybody."

Andrean had to call this a successful day.  The Niners won twice and then held Crown Point scoreless after the Bulldogs had plated three unearned runs in the first inning.  What was not said was that this is the second consecutive Saturday tournament where the 59ers had won two out of three in one day and lost to a ranked school in the final game.

Both the Dowagiac, Michigan Invitational (4-18-2009) and the CP Invitational (4-25-2009) were weekend competitions that were rained out in 2008.  Andrean plays at the LaPorte Invitational next week (May 2) and they head for the Twin Lakes Invitational on May 8-9.

The Andrean 'World Tour' is back on the highway and the 59ers, who started all three pitchers (Nicole Steinbach plus Morgan and Alyssa Moseley) Saturday, have always responded well to being a 'traveling team'.

"Anytime you can play Hanover with coach McMillen," said Serrato, "he's a Hall-of-Fame coach.  That's a good game.  I told the girls before we started.  Look at the Top-10.  We're playing Hanover, Crown Point.  LaPorte next week.  That's one of the reasons this program has been successful over the years.  We don't dodge anybody.  We need to be tested and we were.  Sometimes you lose and the thing then is, 'How do you bounce back the next day?"

"Brett's done a wonderful job here.  I was kidding him on the phone this week.  I'm saying we're short of players and I'm not sure we'll have enough for Saturday.  But I was just messing with him.  We wouldn't miss this tournament for the world."

INVITE NOTES:  All games were played with a 90-minute time limit even though there was no need for that in the final round.  The first two rounds needed to end at the same time so the teams could exchange opponents with relatively equal intermission time.  Play was stopped twice Saturday due to the weather.  Rain and windy conditions stopped the first round games (HC vs. Andrean and St. Joe vs. CP) in the first inning for about 20 minutes.  Late in the third round games, lightning flashed across the western sky and umpires stopped play for 30 minutes even though no rain fell.  The tournament ended at about 4:30 p.m.

Crown Point made a couple of key errors to allow Portage to rally from a 4-1 deficit and win 5-4 in the Duneland Conference Friday (4-24-2009).  The loss dropped CP one game behind Lake Central and surprise league leader LaPorte.

Hanover Central's Kasey Stenger pitched a two-hitter in Friday's 5-1 win over LaCrosse.  Stenger, a junior lefty, started for the first time this year.  McMillen talked very positively about Stenger in the pre-season, but it's hard to use three pitchers unless you play a heavy schedule and HC had not been playing regularly in the first four weeks of the year.  The good news for Hanover is that all three pitchers are juniors who return in 2010.

Andrean coach Russ Serrato says his team has drawn Hanover in the opening pool play game at the Twin Lakes Invitational on Friday, May 8 in Monticello.  The pool is Hanover, Jefferson, Andrean and Lewis Cass.

Andrean is a three-time champion of the 16-team Twin Lakes tourney where you play three pool play games to qualify for the four-team semifinals.  Hanover has never advanced beyond the pool play level (the first three games) in nine years of trying.  Former Andrean coach Frank Podkul was at Saturday's Andrean-Crown Point game.  Podkul, who left Andrean two years ago to take a position at Lake Forest Academy, is back in Northwest Indiana in a management position at Purdue Calumet.

"I haven't thrown a softball in two years," he said.  Podkul's assistant coaches three years ago were present day CP coach Brett Cructhfield and present day Andrean coach Russ Serrato.

---

2009 Crown Point Softball (11-2)
Coach Brett Crutchfield (2 years) 18-11 (2008), 16-14 (2007)
 Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) games in CAPS
4-3 (W) 2-1 at Penn (6-3)
4-8 (L) 6-7 LAKE CENTRAL (13-3)
4-9 (W) 16-0 (5 innings) MERRILLVILLE (1-14)
4-10 (W) 5-0  Munster (6-6)
4-15 (W) 15-2 MICHIGAN CITY (5 innings)
4-16 (W) 6-1  LaPORTE (10-1)
4-17 (W) 3-0 Lowell (8-4)
4-18 (W) 10-0 (6 innings)  Hobart (4-10)

4-20 (M) CHESTERTON (8-8) rain
4-22 (W) 1-0 (10 innings) VALPARAISO (4-10) .
4-24 (L) 4-5 at PORTAGE (3-5) 4:30 p.m.

CROWN POINT Invitational
4-25 (W) 10-0 (5 innings) St. Joseph's (5-5).
4-25 (W) 1-0 (6 innings) Hanover Central (7-3)
4-25 (W) 3-1 (6 innings) Andrean (11-2) 

4-29 (M) CHESTERTON (6-4) 4:30 p.m.
4-28 (Tues) LAKE CENTRAL (13-3)4:30 p.m.
4-30 (Thurs) at MERRILLVILLE (1-14) 4:30 p.m.
5-4 (M) MICHIGAN CITY (3-11) 4:30 p.m.
5-6 (W) at LaPORTE (10-1) 4:30 p.m.
5-7 (Th) at CHESTERTON (8-8) 4:30 p.m.


Twin Lakes Invitational in Monticello, IN
5-8 (Fri) pool play game one ( p.m.)
5-9 (Sat) pool play game two (a.m.)
5-9 (Sat) pool play game three (p.m.)

5-12 (Tues) at VALPARAISO - 4:30 p.m.
5-14 (Thurs) PORTAGE - 4:30 p.m.
5-15 (F) at Griffith - 4:30 p.m.
5-18 (M) at Boone Grove (6-0) 4:30 p.m.
5-22 (F) Highland - 4:30 p.m.

Class 4A Sectional two at Merrillville
5-25 (M) quarterfinals  - 5 or 7 p.m.
5-27 (W) Semifinals - 5 or 7 p.m.
5-29 (F) championship

Class 4A Merrillville Regional
6-6 (Sat)Semifinals - 11 a.m. or 1 p.m.
6-6 (Sat)championship - 7 p.m.

2009 Indiana State Softball Finals
Semifinals - 6:30 p.m.
6-12 (F) 1A at Hamilton Southeastern
6-12 (F) 2A at North Central
6-12 (F) 3A at Pike
6-12 (F) 4A at Ben Davis

2009 Indiana State Softball Finals
Title games  (at Ben Davis)
6-13 (S) 1A championship 10:30 a.m.(EST)
6-13 (S) 2A championship 1:30 p.m. (EST)
6-13 (S) 3A championship 4:30 p.m. (EST)
6-13 (S) 4A championship 7:30 p.m. (EST)
 

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Revised: April 27, 2009.