Dyer beats Crown Point 10-1 in

Little League Tourney (age 12 and under)

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

(7-11-2005)

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

Little League 12s -Saturday, 7-9-2005 - Pool Play, 90 degrees at Whiting Little League

WP - Nate Huzienga (1-0) 5K. 2 walks (4 inn.)

LP - Nick Gerolimos (0-2) 2K, 1 walk 4 runs (3 inn.)

DYER (4-0)

Cody Dykema (SS) 2 HRs, singles, 5 RBIs

Ed Moldenhaur (2B) 2 singles

Taylor Lehnert (Catcher) 2 singles, RBI

Brandon Cloutier (LF) Single,walk, 2 RBIs

CROWN POINT (2-2)

Michael 'Spike” Albrecht (SS) 2 singles, walk, stolen base

Adam Macksimovich (1B) Single,walk

Alex Doppler (Catcher) 2 walks

Alex Angelich (RF) Single, walk, HBP, RBI

WHITING, IN (7-9-2005) To win the Little League district title, you have to be far and away the best team, or you need to be a little lucky.

Crown Point's 12-and-under all-stars were neither last week. Dyer? We don't know just yet.

Dyer completed a four game run over the 'pool play' District II field at the Whiting Little League Saturday night with a 10-1 win over arch-rival Crown Point in the shadows of the giant BP Amoco oil refinery on Whiting's east side.

We scored 55 runs and we gave up one,” manager William McDermott told his team after they left the field. “That's pretty good. But starting next week, that means nothing.”

'Nothing' was what the Crown Point 12s got out of two major early threats in the early evening Saturday sunset while Dyer rode the bat of shortstop Cody Dykema, who hit a pair of two-run homers for a 4-0 lead.

Crown Point, which left 12 runners on baser in an earlier 8-4 loss to Griffith, left 10 more on base against two Dyer pitchers while the winners cashed in on their chances.

“This team lost the state championship game as 10-year-olds by one run,” said McDermott. “Then they won state last year (2004) as 11 year olds. So we want to come back and get something done this time.”

They certainly have the offense to do 'something'. Dykema, a strong right-handed hitter with a level swing, gave Dyer a 2-0 lead with a high fly ball that cleared the multi-colored advertising signs at the wall in left center with one out in the first inning.

The biggest hit of the game may have been Dykema's long third inning two-run homer on an 0-2 pitch with two out in the top of the third against CP starting pitcher Nick Gerilomos.

“We get a No. 1 seed,” McDermott said. “We don't play Monday night (District quarterfinal night) and we can line up our pitching. We're ready now. We can get rested and be ready to play.”

To be a No. 1 seed in a six team single-elimination playoff is a concrete advantage. The quarterfinal bye means that only two teams will have a chance to beat Dyer at the District II finals in Highland.

First of all, somebody needs to hold them to less than 10 runs. No one at Whiting had a pitcher so overpowering or with enough change of speed to stop the Dyer hitters more than one time through the batting order.

“Steve Letz, our starting pitcher tonight, had five home runs in three games,” said McDermott. “We've been getting on base and hitting with power. Playing good defense.”

Crown Point had the bases loaded in the first inning when a controversial play turned them back. After a force play at home plate, Adam Macksimovich laid down a bunt. Dyer pitcher Steve Letz slipped and fell but third baseman Ed Moldenhuar picked up the ball and threw home creating a close force play. The entire CP side of the field thought that Zach O'Connor had scored but the call went the other way and Dyer maintained a 2-0 lead. Letz then got a called third strike on CP's Mark Pishkur to end the inning.

CP left a total of 10 runners on base after leaving 12 men on in the 8-4 loss to Griffith that began the tournament. “We really can't blame the umpires or the calls,” said manager Randy Rapchak. “We just couldn't get hits when we needed them. I thought if we scored in that first inning, the game might have been different.”

“I tried to bunt. That didn't work. I didn't want to steal base because they have a really good catcher. We weren't afraid of them. We swung the bat. We had runners all over the place.”

Crown Point lost 4-1 to eventual state champion Highland in the first round in 2004 but odds are they'll be back strong in 2006 because they will have both starting pitchers back on the same squad.

“We've got a lot of future ballplayers,” said Rapchak. And we've got three who will come back on this team next year. Because they (the national Little League organization) changed the age limit day, we'll have three players back next year including (AJ Roach) Nick Gerolimios and my son Casey. So we should be pretty good.”

MAJORS (age 12) at Whiting

JULY 5: Hobart Township 12, Whiting 2; Griffith 8, CROWN POINT 4

JULY 6: Griffith 10, Whiting 3; DYER 22, Hobart Township 0

JULY 7: CROWN POINT 9, Hobart Township 1; DYER 13, Whiting 0

JULY 8: DYER 10, Griffith 0; CROWN POINT 10, Whiting 0

JULY 9: DYER 10, CROWN POINT 1; Griffith 7, Hobart Township 5

MAJORS (age 12) at Highland

JULY 5: Highland 10, Robertsdale 0; Hessville 5, Hebron 2

JULY 6: Hebron 1, Robertsdale 0; Highland 3, LOWELL 1

JULY 7: Highland 12, Hessville 5; LOWELL 6, Robertsdale 0

JULY 8: LOWELL 7, Hebron 0; Robertsdale 4, Hessville 3

JULY 9: LOWELL 6, Hessville 1; Highland 10, Hebron 0

MAJORS (age 12) at Munster

JULY 5: Munster 9, CEDAR LAKE 1; DeMotte 10, Irving 2

JULY 6: DeMotte 1, CEDAR LAKE 0 (8 inn.); Munster 10, Roselawn 4

JULY 7: Munster 23, Irving 1; CEDAR LAKE 11, Roselawn 1

JULY 8: DeMotte 8, Roselawn 7; Irving 6, CEDAR LAKE 4

JULY 9: Munster 00, DeMotte 0*; Irving 00, Roselawn 00

The District II finals began Monday night (7-11-5) with Dyer (4-0), Highland (4-0), Munster (3-0)*, Griffith (3-1), LOWELL (3-1) and DeMotte (3-0)*. (Munster and DeMotte were to meet late Saturday but both teams had already advanced to the six-team single-elimination District Finals where Dyer was the No. 1 seed.

DISTRICT II FINALS )7-11-5) at Highland Little League

JULY 11 (Mon) No. 4 seed vs. No. 5 seed – 6 p.m.

JULY 11 (Mon) No. 3 seed vs No. 6 seed – 8 p.m.

JULY 12 (Tues) No. 1 seed (DYER) vs. Monday 6 p.m. winners

JULY 12 (Tues) No. 2 seed (Munster?) vs. Monday 8 p.m. winner

JULY 13: (Wed) Tuesday winners meets for District II title (7 p.m.)

LITTLE NOTES: The Dyer-Crown Point matchup has produced five state finalists in 10 years so members of both leagues have a pretty good idea of what will get to the state title game.

Former CP League president and present day 12s coach Bob Angelich questioned whether the winners were as strong as the scores (a 55-1 spread for Dyer) indicated last week.

“They have a good lineup and they could get to the finals,” Angelich said. “But I don't see the one great pitcher who could win the title.”

With 6 p.m. starts close to Lake Michigan, the consistent 90-degree weather was not a factor for anyone at the Whiting Little League. The small Whiting field did come into play on Cody Dykema's home run, which barely cleared the wall in left center.

“That's a long out at our field,” said Bob Angelich of Crown Point.

Truthfully, many 12-year-old Little League fields were built in another era when boys were smaller and aluminum bats weren't so prevalent. Most fields are now too small for 12 year old players.

Andrean coach Dave Pishkur was in Whiting every night to watch his son Mark play in the 12-and-under all-star tournament. Many joked about how he was looking at future 59ers but the longtime Andrean varsity said he can't evaluate boys in Little League.

“You really can't always tell much at this level,” Pishkur said. “When Dyer went to the World Series (in 1997) they had a pitcher named Randy Hartog. He just dominated. But I don't know if he ever started a game at Lake Central. I think he was in the bullpen his senior year. Adam Summers was on that team and he's pitching in college (at Southern Indiana). Adam and Jeff Mojzik are the only guys off that team still playing.”