Crown Point Little League all star Minors (ages 9 & 10) fall to Dyer 8-5

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

(7-23-2004)

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

Thursday, July 22, 2004 at the Crown Point Little League

WP – Jimmy McNamara (2-0) 2k, 0 walks (one inn.)

SAVE – Ryan Burvan = 1K, 0 walks (one inn.)

LP – Adam Mosier (1-1) 2K, 6 walks ( 3.7 inn.)

Zac Bostian (CP) Single, walk, stolen base

Nick Brun (CP) Double, single, 2 RBIs

Jimmy McNamara (Dyer) 2 singles, walk

Nick Bollenbacher (Dyer) Triple, 2 RBIs, walk

Cody Moskovsky (Dyer) 2 walks

CROWN POINT (7-22-2004) - The field was a little wet and the crowd wasn't as large as it usually is and a handful of good players were missing, but the Little League matchup between Dyer and Crown Point in the District II semifinals had all the usual spirit.

Crown Point played with twins Zach and Ronnie Plesac plus key player Dan Hopman while Dyer went without their best player, Stephan Belmonte, who broke his arm before the playoffs. With both sides doing their best with what they had left, Dyer won a two hour battle 8-5, moving within one game of the District II title.

“This wasn't two hours of fun,” said manager Mike Burvan, who made a couple of timely but tense substitutions. “This is not what I call fun.”

“We did all we could,” said CP manager Joe Plesac. “We made all the plays. We only made one error and that was on an overthrow."

Burvan made two pitching moves that decided the game. The first was bold, but obvious. The second was an against-the-grain gamble. Trailing 2-0, CP scored three times in the top of the fourth inning with the help of a two-run double by Dan Stefanovic. With nobody out, Burvan brought in ace left-handed pitcher Jimmy McNamara, who struck out Nolan Bish, got Jacob Gasaway on a tap to the mound and struck out Danny Aultman to keep Dyer in the game. After Dyer scored three times in the bottom of the fourth to take a 5-3 lead, manager Burvan pulled McNamara off the mound. If a Little League pitcher throws more than one inning, he is ineligible to pitch the next day. Burvan thought that McNamara was the only pitcher he had who could beat Highland or Munster the next night in the single-elimination championship game. Dyer gambled that Will Sasaki and Burvan's son Ryan could hold off CP's rallies. Fortunately for Dyer, that's exactly what happened.

“I didn't want to look up into the crowd,” manager Burvan said. “Because some of the parents probably didn't like what I did. My coaches kept saying, 'You've got to win today.' But the truth is, if I left him (McNamara) in, we didn't have anybody for tomorrow.” “You cannot burn all your pitching in the semifinals. In double-elimination you don't worry about that stuff. But single-elimination is a killer.”

Without the Plesac twins and Hopman, CP was without three of their top four pitchers. Adam Mosier allowed just three base hits but he threw 57 pitches in the first three innings and wore down in the fourth. Relief pitcher Jake Gasaway came within one pitch of a scoreless fifth inning with the score 5-4. But Nick Bollenbacher drilled a two-run triple into the right field corner, scoring on an overthrow and icing the game.

“I had him down in my book as a kid who hit the other way,” said Plesac. “We tried to pitch him inside and he (Gasaway) got the pitch where we wanted it.”

In the top of the sixth and final inning, CP filled the bases on singles by Zac Bostian and Nolan Bish plus a six-pitch walk to Jacob Gasaway. But Ryan Burvan struck out Adam Mosier on a 1-2 pitch to end the game. Dyer-Crown Point Little League games have a tradition of being hotly contested and this one was no different. When Dyer scored the go-ahead run on a one-out, fourth inning wild pitch, CP's Mosier appeared to tag out the Dyer baserunner McNamara at home plate after the ball caromed off the backstop. The home plate umpire initiated what looked like the out call and then changed his mind and called McNamara safe, putting Dyer ahead 4-3. In the dispute of the call, CP coach Dave Hanaway was ejected from the game and had to leave the dugout. Both sides had problems with the ball-strike calls but all complaints on this night were between the teams and the umps. Dyer and CP folks mingled afterwards. With the emergence of Highland and Munster as powers in recent years, the CP-Dyer rivalry has seemed a tad more friendly. At least for this year. It was odd to see Dyer playing with their pitching, almost looking past Crown Point by pulling out their ace McNamara with only a two-run lead and six outs left.

“It was a gamble,” said Burvan. “But we think we'll see Munster and he's never lost to Munster. There's no point in winning the semifinals if you have no one left for the finals.”

LITTLE NOTES: For the record, Joe and Ron Plesac are brothers of former major league pitcher Dan Plesac, a Crown Point high school graduate. Joey Plesac is Joe Plesac's son while twins Zach and Ronnie are Ron Plesac's son. Andrean graduate and Post 20 baseball all-star Ryne Pishkur was at the Little League watching the CP 10s Thursday because the Pishkurs, including 25-year varsity coach Dave Piskkur, are related to the Plesacs. Former Andrean and present day Valparaiso University basketball star Jamie Gutowski was also there because the Gutowskis are also related to the Plesacs. Joe Plesac is Jamie Gutowski's uncle. Zach and Ronnie Plesac, as well as right fielder Danny Aultman are only nine years old so they could be 10-year-old all-stars for CP again next season as well.

Dyer manager Mike Burvan says that injured right-handed pitcher Stephan Belmonte is the premier 10-year-old player in this area.

“If we'd have had him this year, we'd have a very good chance of winning the state title,” he said. “He throws about 66, 67 miles an hour and he's 10. It's unbelievable. I've coached these kids as eight year olds and nine year olds. We've played 70 games in 2 ½ seasons and we're 66-4. And Stephan has never lost. He's something like 20-0. We played in 13 tournaments. We've won 11 and we finished second in two of them.”

Joe Plesac predicted future success for his group of 9-10 year-olds if they can plug one hole.

“They've got to get some more pitching. Without Ronnie and Zach tonight, we were a lot short. But with them, this group has to find one more pitcher."

The family vacation schedules that took the all-star twins and Hopman out of town during the week of the district finals was something that manager Plesac could only laugh about. Hopson aside, Plesac couldn't be too upset at the dad of his two twin starters since it was his own brother Ron.

“Nobody really knew what week it would be,” Joe Pleasc admitted. “They (his brother's family) had already planned their vacation. What are you going to do? That's the way it goes.”

The district finals were postponed for two days due to the death of CP 2004 tournament director and former league president Jim McNiece, who died of a heart attack last Thursday. McNiece's funeral was Tuesday. Longtime friend Dave Hanaway said the ceremony went well and that McNiece's wife MaryAnn and three sons were as well as could be expected. Flags at the Little League were lowered to half staff in McNiece's honor. Many at the CP Little League were pleased that the Times' newspaper ran a feature on McNiece in last Wednesday's edition.

2004 Indiana Little League
all-star state tournament
District II Finals - MINORS (ages 9-10) at CP
Single-elimination

7-17 - CEDAR LAKE 12, Griffith 6
7-17 - CP (I) 13, Hessville 2
7-18 - DYER (I) 13, CP (I) 0
7-18 - CP (II) 11, Munster (II) 3
7-18 - Highland 10, CEDAR LAKE 0
7-18 - Munster (I) 10, Whiting 00
7-21 - Dyer 8, Crown Point 5
7-21 (W) Highland (4-0) vs. Munster (4-0)
7-22 (Th) District II championship - 7 p.m.

2004 Little League All-Star Playoffs
MAJORS (ages 11-12) Pool play -POOL A (at Whiting)
7-5-4: Whiting 3, Hebron 0,   DeMotte 19, Irving 0
7-6-4: DeMotte 7, Hebron 1;   Whiting 17, Irving 0
7-7-4: DeMotte 5, Whiting 4 (7 inn.), Hebron 9, Irving 6
POOL B (at DYER)
7-5-4: CP 10, Cedar Lake 2 ,     Highland 3,   Dyer 2
7-6-4: Highland 4, CP 1,         Dyer 11, CEDAR   LAKE 0 (4 inn.)
7-7-4: Highland 12, CEDAR   LAKE 1,     Dyer 4, CP 1
POOL C (at Munster)
7-1-4: LOWELL 11, Hobart Township 0,   Munster 13, Griffith 2
7-2-4: Griffith 6, Hessville 1, Hobart Township 8, Robertsdale 3
7-5-4: LOWELL 2, Robertsdale 0, Munster , Hessville 3
7-6-4: LOWELL 5, Griffith 2,   Munster 13, Hobart Township 0
7-7-4: Hessville 10, Robertsdale 6

District II Finals - MAJORS (ages 11-12) at DYER -Single-elimination
7-10-4 - Munster 17, DYER 2 (4 inn.)
7-10-4 - Whiting 2, DeMotte 0
7-10-4 - Highland 13, Griffith 2
7-11-4 - Munster 6, LOWELL 0
7-11-4 - Highland 10, Whiting 1
7-12-4 - Highland 3, Munster 1 (title)

Sectional playoff series - Best of 3 games - at East Chicago
7-16-4: (F) Highland 5, Valparaiso 1
7-17-4 (Sat)Highland 10, Valparaiso 1 (title)

Majors State Finals - Ages 11-12 - 8 teams
July 22-26 - pool play
- (at Southport Little League - Indianapolis)

District II Finals - MINORS (ages 9-10) at CP -   Single-elimination
7-17 (Sat) CEDAR LAKE 12, Griffith 6
7-17 (Sat) CP (I) 13, Hessville 2
7-18 (Sun) DYER (I) 13, CP (I) 0
7-18 (Sun) CP (II) 11, Munster (II) 3
7-18 (Sun) Highland 10, CEDAR LAKE 0
7-18 (Sun) Munster (I) 10, Whiting 00
7-23 (Th.) DYER 8, CROWN POINT 5
7-23 (Th.) Highland (4-0) vs. Munster (4-0)
7-24 (Fri) DYER (5-0) vs. Munster (5-0) or Highland (5-0)

Sectional playoffs (age 10) Best of 3 games
at Kenny Lofton Complex - Indiana Harbor
7-30 (Friday) District II vs. District I   (6 p.m.)
7-31 (Sat) District II vs. District I ( 6 p.m.)
8-1 (Sun) District II vs. District 1 (6 p.m.) if necessary

Minors State Finals -   Ages 10-and-under - 8 teams
Aug. 5-8 - pool play - (at Concord Little League – Elkhart)

District II Finals at Munster - AGE-11 - Single-elimination
7-14 (W) DYER 10, CROWN POINT 0      7-14 (W) Highland 5, Munster 1
7-15 (Th) DYER 4, Highland 2 (title)

Sectional playoff series - Best of 3 games   at Gary West Side
7-23 (F) Valparaiso (6-1) vs. DYER (5-0) 6 p.m.
7-24 (Sat) Valparaiso (6-1) vs. DYER (5-0) ( 6 p.m.)
7-25 (Sun) Valparaiso (6-1) vs. DYER (5-0) (6 p.m.) if necessary

Age-11 State Finals - Pool play - 8 teams
July 31 - Aug. 3   (at Greenwood Little League)