Dyer Little League advances both majors (age 11-12) and minors (age 9-10) all-stars to state playoffs

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E
Hobart (5-2)	0	0	0	0	-	-	0	1	0
DYER (7-1)	4	0	6	0	-	-	10	10	0

Little League (age 11-12) Sectional 2 playoff series
GAME TWO , 7-19-2003
80 degrees at Griffith Little League
WP- Danny Manick (4-0) CG, 5Ks, 2 walks
LP - Cory Talian (2-1) 0K, 4 walks (2.7 inn.)

Hobart
Single, 2 walks
Bobby James (H) Single, walk, RBI

DYER
3 HR, double, 6 singles
Danny Manick (DYER) HR, 2 singles, 4 RBIs
Matt Philbin (DYER) 2 HRs, 3 RBIs
Kyle Sheffel (DYER) Single, RBI

GRIFFITH (7-19-2003) - Sometimes teams don't play up to their potential. Sometimes outstanding teams are upset by worthy foes. Sometimes nobody's really that good. Then sometimes, the best team comes out and proves they are the best team.

That's what happened Saturday night at the Griffith Little League.

In game two of the best-of-three Section II Little League all-star playoff series, the big team played big. Dyer smoked underdog Hobart for four first inning runs and added on six more in the third inning to win the sectional title with a 10-0 victory over the District I champions.

The Dyer 12-and-under all-stars now open play at the 56th Indiana Little League state finals against the Sectional 5 champion at 7:30 p.m. Thursday night at the Wabash Little League in Wabash, Indiana.

"We got beat by a better team," said Hobart manager Scott Stasil. "That's all there is to it. Those two pitchers. They're so big. They're half way to home when they deliver the pitch."

Stasil was referring to Dyer's tall tandem of 1-2 pitchers Matt Philbin and Danny Manick. After Philbin struck out 11, pitching a three-hit complete-game in game one on Friday night, Manick came back Saturday and tossed a one-hit shutout, giving Hobart little chance. Manick added a grand slam home run and Philbin, who moved to right field in game two, hit two home runs out of the small Griffith Little League field.

"I didn't do anything," said manager Dave Wanda, who adds a 12-year-old sectional title to his 10-year-old title with many of these same boys in 2001. "I just sat and watched tonight. The bats finally came alive."

"We call them (Manick and Philbin) 'Shock and Awe'," Wanda said of his six foot duo. "It's funny. When they first came up, I backed up out of the third base coaches box. The umpire laughed at me. After he (Philbin) hit the ball over the scoreboard, he said, "I see what you're doing. There was some pressure for us to get to the state finals because we did it as 12-year-olds. But really, not with these kids."

Philbin, who hit 13 home runs in the Dyer Little League this season, helped the favorites get it going early. Manick singled to center with one out against Hobart right-hander Cory Talian. Philbin then hit a line drive over the center field scoreboard at Griffith, a drive of at least 250 feet to give Dyer a 2-0 edge.

Three singles including an RBI-hit by Kyle Scheffel made the score 4-0 before Hobart even got to bat.

"To tell you the truth," said Wanda. "When I was the 10-year-old manager, I did that all the time. I thought they (Hobart) threw their best pitcher last night. I wanted to bat against their pitcher right off the bat. I thought we could jump on them."

In the third inning, Dyer filled the bases with two out and Steve Stepnosksi walked to make it 5-0. Then, on a 2-0 pitch, Manick hit a big fly which barely cleared the reach of leaping Hobart center fielder Bobby James for a game-busting grand-slam home run. Philbin followed with a long home run beyond right center field and the 10-run gap started a countdown to a slaughter-rule game.

Manick struck out two in the fourth inning to send Dyer to Wabash.

After the game, the Dyer people drove back to the Dyer Little League and joined in the celebration with the 10-and-under team that beat State Park 8-3 to win their playoff series 2-games-to-none. The site of kids and coaches with different Dyer uniforms, along with little brothers and sisters and parents running around posing and generally acting silly on the tiny green field in the artificial light was a memorable one. Other teams could have won but, frankly, this year, Dyer should have won.
"We won state when I was 11," said Wanda. "I'm 45 years old and I still remember this stuff. I asked them to make their last year (for the 12s) a year to remember in the Little League. We talked about what they had to do to go to the finals and they did it."

LITTLE NOTES: Dyer is guaranteed to play at 7:30 Thursday, 7:30 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday. Realistically, they need to win 2-out-of-3 to advance. The only other time that Dyer advanced to the state finals at the major (age 11-12) and minor (age 9-10) level was in 1997 when both teams won state finals. That was and is unprecedented in Indiana. Munster won both the majors and minors last season but neither team won a state crown. Brownsburg, the four-year defending champ in the 12-and-under bracket, won the opening game of their best-of-three playoff series with Monticello and it appeared they would advance to the state finals again. Brownsburg and Dyer are not in the same pool and could not meet until the state semifinals on Saturday, July 26.

Bill McDermott, the manager of Dyer's 10-and-under team, watched his team complete a 7-0 run through the area playoffs with wins 7-0 and 8-3 over State Park. After beating seven foes by a combined score of 67-7, Dyer's 10s will play three pool play games Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (July 23-25) at the Greenwood Little League in south suburban Indianapolis. Game one is Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Steven Letz was 6-for-6 in the two games and a home run in Saturday's clincher.

"Letz is the best 10-year-old hitter I've ever seen," says McDemott in the victory celebration. "He hit a rocket out of here tonight. I've had all these kids since they were six years old. We've been waiting for this team to get here since they were six years old. I had them all in T-ball. They were upset that the other team stayed within five runs of them tonight. They'd been waiting for this."

"We've got to get everyone packed up and ready to go. We've got a practice schedule for Tuesday night (in Greenwood). People have to get the time off so they can go."

The format for the majors state finals in Wabash has one major flaw. After pool play games for each of the eight teams on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the state semifinals are Saturday afternoon. At no time during the state tournament is a Little League team asked to play more than one game in a day.

"That's tough," said Dyer league president Phil Gerbick, "but the boys do that sometime in the league. They can do it."

Not only does Dyer have Letz moving into the 10-and-under bracket but there is an 11-year-old who is not on either team named Frank Pluscotta, who batted . 516 as a 10-year-old in the all-star playoffs last year.

McDermott said the best hitter in the Dyer Little League is Danny Manick.

"I've never seen him strike out," said the 10s all-star manager. "He hit the roof of the Speedway gas station (about 50 yards beyond left field at the Dyer Little League) across the way there."

The good thing about Manick and Philbin is that they are good to the other kids. If a 10-year-old comes up to them, they'll take the time and talk to them. They'll say to my kid (10s leadoff batter Jeremy McDermott) something like, 'I can't wait until we get to high school so we'll be on the same team. My guy comes home and says, Hey dad, Manick and Philbin told me they're waiting for me to be on their team."

MAJORS (ages 11-12)
District II finals at GRIFFITH - July 5
DYER 6, CROWN POINT 2
Munster National 2, Highland National 0
Hessville 1, Munster American 0
Griffith 11, CEDAR LAKE 1
Hessville 6, Highland National 3
CROWN POINT 8, Griffith 2
DYER 2, Munster National 0
CROWN POINT 9, Hessville 5
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
DYER 9, CROWN POINT 3 title

SECTIONAL ONE Playoff series in GRIFFITH - July 18
DYER 4, Hobart 3
SECTIONAL ONE Playoff series in GRIFFITH - July 19
DYER 10, Hobart 0 (4 innings)

DYER goes to the 56th Indiana state finals at the Wabash, Ind. Little League)

POOL PLAY - State finals (All teams play 3 games)

Round 1 (Thursday, July 24) at Wabash
Game 1 - District 10 Champions vs. Section 7 Champions (5:30 p.m.)
Game 2 - Section 6 (New Albany or Smithsville) vs.
Section 1 (Monticello or Brownsburg) (5:30 p.m.)
Game 3 - Section 5 (Anderson-Brooklyn or Southport)
vs. Section 2 (DYER) (7:30 p.m.)
Game 4 - District 9 Champions vs. Section 3 Champions (7:30 p.m.)

Round 2 (Friday, July 25) at Wabash
Game 5 - District 10 Champions vs. Section 5 (Anderson-Brooklyn or Southport)
(5:30 p.m.)
Game 6 - Section 3 Champions versus Section 1 (Monticello or Brownsburg) (5:30 p.m.)
Game 7 - Section 7 Champions vs. Section 2 (DYER) (7:30 p.m.)
Game 8 - District 9 Champions vs. Section 6 (New Albany or Smithsville) (7:30 p.m.)

Round 3 (Saturday, July 26) at Wabash
Game 9 - District 10 Champions versus Section 2 (DYER) (10:00 a.m.)
Game 10 - Section 6 (New Albany or Smithsville) vs. Section 3 Champions (10:00 a.m.)
Game 11 - Section 5 (Anderson-Brooklyn or Southport)
vs. Section 7 Champions (12:00 p.m.)
Game 12 - District 9 Champions vs. Section 1
(Monticello or Brownsburg) (12:00 p.m.)

Semifinal Round (Saturday, July 26) at Wabash
Game 13 - Pool 'A' Champions versus Pool 'B' Runner-Up (2:30 p.m.)
Game 14 - Pool 'B' Champions versus Pool 'A' Runner-Up (4:30 p.m.)

Indiana State Championship Game (Sunday, July 27) at Wabash
Game 15 - Winner 13 versus Winner 14 (TITLE) (2:00 p.m.)*

* Winner advances to the six-team Great Lakes Regional at the Central States Little League complex in Indianapolis on Thursday, July 31

Indiana State Champions, 1990-present
2003 - To Be Determined
2002 - Brownsburg
2001 - Brownsburg
2000 - Brownsburg
1999 - Brownsburg
1998 - Terre Haute North
1997 - DYER
1996 - Time Corners American (Fort Wayne)
1995 - CROWN POINT
1994 - Anderson Shadyside
1993 - DYER
1992 - South Bend South East
1991 - Time Corners National (Fort Wayne)
1990 - George Rogers Clark National (Jeffersonville)

MINORS (Ages 9-10)

SECTIONAL ONE Playoff series in DYER - July 18
DYER 7, (Chesterton) State Park 0

SECTIONAL ONE Playoff series in DYER - July 19
DYER 8, (Chesterton) State Park 3

DYER goes to the 8-team Indiana state finals at the Greenwood, Ind. Little League)

POOL PLAY - State finals (All teams play 3 games)
Pool A
Round 1 (Wednesday, July 23) in Greenwood
Game 1 - DYER vs. Section 5 champion - 6 p.m.
Game 2 - Section 3 vs. Section 4 champion - 8 p.m.

Round 1 (Thursday, July 24) in Greenwood
Game 3 - 3 vs. Section 5 champion - 6 p.m.
Game 4 - DYER vs. Section 4 champion - 8 p.m.

Round 1 (Friday, July 25) in Greenwood
Game 5 - Section 4 vs. Section 5 champion - 6 p.m.
Game 6 - DYER vs. Section 3 champion - 8 p.m.

Semifinal Round (Saturday, July 26) at Greenwood
Game 13 - Pool 'A' Champions versus Pool 'B' Runner-Up (10 a.m.)
Game 14 - Pool 'B' Champions versus Pool 'A' Runner-Up (12:30 p.m.)

Indiana State Championship Game (Sunday, July 27) at Wabash
Game 15 - semifinal winners meet (TITLE) (1:00 p.m.)