Bats come alive for Lady Bulldogs in 8-0 shutout of Merrillville

A USA-365 special report by Mark Smith

4-23-2006

Friday, April 22, 2006 - 76 degrees in Crown Point

WP - Shelly Kurcz (4-5)  CG, 4K 1 walk
LP -  Amy Vargas (2-11) CG, 10Ks, 2 walks   

Merrillville (2-11)
Ashley Thomas (CF) Single, stolen base

CROWN POINT (6-7)
Jessica Martinez (2B) 2 singles, walk
Lauren Stovall (SS) 2 singles, 3 RBIs
Anna Stephens (CF) 2 singles, 2 runs scored
Amy Fairchild (1B) Triple, 3 singles, 4 RBIs

CROWN POINT (4-22-2006) - At the start of the year, Crown Point and Merrillville were considered fairly equal teams.  Both were coming off losing seasons.  Both had promising pitching, but were in need of offense.

Friday afternoon in the sunshine out behind Crown Point high school, the home team found some.  Quite a bit actually.  The Lady Bulldogs (6-7, 3-4 DAC) stroked out 11 hits, including four by clean up hitter Amy Fairchild and senior pitcher Shelly Kurcz had an easy day, winning 8-0 over the arch-rival Pirates.

Fairchild, a sophomore first baseman who had lifted her batting average up near .400 (12-31, .387) with two hits in a 4-3 win over Valparaiso Monday (4-17-2006) soared into the .400 plus bracket with four solid hits to the outfield in the middle of a very good day for the home team, which drifted towards the .500 level.

"We started Amy down near the bottom of the batting order," said coach Jim Inglehart.  "And the best news on her is that she's a very good catcher.  She just doesn't play there because we have (Alicia) Rock back there.  But she'll be our catcher the next two years.  She can be a great player."

Crown Point may be nearing a breakthrough, a possible promotion from a losing team to being a winning squad.  Early on the Bulldogs had some deep dish losses... 12-1 to Hobart, 10-0 to Lake Central and 9-2 to DAC leading Chesterton.  But CP seems to be solidifying their batting order, building pitching depth and making better plays in the field.  CP has four defeats by one or two runs, games they could have won.

"The difference between our wins and our losses in those close games is our younger players," Inglehart said.  "They tend to be a little more up and down because they are young.  I'm really hoping over the next couple of weeks that we have six or seven good hitters going well.  And I think you can tell how much better the defense is."

This game was scoreless until the third inning when CP filled the bases on base hits by Kurcz and Anna Stephens and a walk to Jessica Martinez.  On a 3-1 pitch, Fairchild hit a line drive directly at the center fielder Ashley Thomas.  Thomas took a step towards home plate and then retreated frantically as the ball sailed over her head for a three-run triple.  Lauren Stovall's two-out single made it a five-run inning.

Fairchild's RBI single made it 6-0 in the fourth and another RBI hit by Stovall and a flyball by Aicia Rock pushed the final run across in the sixth.

Meanwhile, Kurcz had few problems with a Merrillville lineup that has had major trouble scoring runs for two years.  The Bulldogs made three errors, but Merrillville had just three singles in seven innings.

BULLDOGS NOTES:  Coach Jim Inglehart agrees that his program displays visible signs of being on the rise.  It's not just having a varsity caliber freshman middle infielder, a soph cleanup hitter batting .400 and a varsity caliber freshman pitcher.

"The other good news is that the JV is playing very well (9-4) and they're 4-0 since (top freshman pitcher) Kelsey Rather came up to the varsity," he said.  "We've got three or four freshmen we shuttle up and down from the varsity because when they're up here they usually sub.  But we're getting much more athletic."

CP has four seniors in the program and while all four are varsity starters, CP has replacements already on the varsity for all four.

Crown Point lost 1-0 to LaPorte (8-4) Wednesday afternoon (4-19-2006) with LaPorte's Lauren Marhanka (4-1) allowing only two hits, one a double by CP's Amber Pierce.  Kelsey Rather pitched 4-1/3 scoreless innings in CP's 4-3 win over Valparaiso on April 17 as the Lady Bulldogs won rallying from a 3-0 deficit.  Rather pitched all 10 innings in the 2-1, 10-inning loss to Lowell on April 15.

"We played an excellent game against Lowell," Inglehart said.  "If we'd have gotten just a couple of clutch hits, we'd have won.  We've still got some girls who are figuring out what to look for when they're at the plate."

Junior center fielder Anna Stephens, who overcame a strange muscle illness to play this year started last week hitting over. 400 (10-24, .417).

CP is in the middle of a five-game home stand and they've been fortunate from a travel standpoint to get home games this year against New Prairie, South Bend Riley and Elkhart Central.  In 2007, the Bulldogs will wear out the bus. 

"Next year, we'll go to New Prairie, over to South Bend Riley and then over to Elkhart Central," Inglehart says.  "We may need to get our own van."

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Revised: April 23, 2006.