Lady Wildcats shut out South Central 1-0 for 7th straight win

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

5-5-2004

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
South Central (12-3)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
HANOVER CENTRAL (12-5)	0	0	0	0	0	1	-	1	7	0

May 4, 2004 - 59 degrees, partly cloudy in Cedar Lake, IN

WP - Amanda Wendlinger (8-2) CG No. 9, 10K, 0 walks
LP - Chantal Gross (9-3) CG No. 12, 3K, 1 walk

Angela Ward (SC) single
Chantal Gross SC) single
Amy Bolakowski (SC) single
Trisha Sheehy (HC) Single, walk
Rachel Williams (HC) 2 singles
Bess Copak (HC) Double, run scored
Christie Wick (HC) Single, RBI

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Rensselaer (4-9)	2	0	1	0	0	-	-	4	6	2
HANOVER CENTRAL (11-5)	0	0	6	0	9	-	-	1	6	2

May 3, 2004, 51 degrees, sunny in Cedar Lake, IN

WP - Kelly Lapota (4-3) 3K, 0 walks (4 inn.)
LP - Carol McElroy (2-6) 1K, 5 walks (3 inn.)

Amber Justice (R) Double run scored
Trisha Sheehy (HC) Triple, 3 RBIs
Bess Copak (HC) Double, 2 singles

CEDAR LAKE, IN (5-4-2004) - This was the 1-0 game with the largest virtual margin of victory in recent memory. It's not that Hanover Central was so much the better team in their first-ever meeting with South Central. The Lady Cats (12-5) were not. Satellite junior right-hander Chantal Gross allowed just seven hits and one walk. This game, which was played in chilly mid-50s winds, was scoreless until the sixth inning.

But lets be clear about one thing. Bess Copak's double and Christie Wick's RBI single off the glove of SC third baseman Chelsea Wakeman made what could have been a very long evening very short.

South Central did not come close to scoring against Hanover's junior right-hander Amanda Wendlinger. They never got a runner to second base. Eight of the first 11 Satellite batters struck out and nobody walked. Wendlinger threw just 69 pitches. This game could have gone 15 innings without South Central scoring a run.

HC catcher Megan Meyers had that same feeling. "We were thinking. It's the sixth inning now. We don't want another 16-inning game, like we had last year."

"I know," said Wick later. "We were talking about that. I was telling myself, not to drop my hands. Get a good swing. It was right there. I just hit it."

Wick's RBI single gave Hanover Central their biggest win of the 2004 season. Not only did they defeat the No. 6 (Class 1A) small school in the state, Hanover also replaced South Central as the first place team in the Porter County Conference. HC needs only to defeat Boone Grove and Washington Township to clinch their fourth consecutive PCC regular season title. On top of that, it was Hanover's seventh win in a row. A team that was at the .500 mark two weeks ago, carried a seven-game winning streak into Wednesday's game against Griffith. And a lot of positive feelings.

"This was a make-or-break game," said Meyers said. "We really have to finally decide to play. We had to win this game."

Wick expressed a concern about the unknown. "Oh yeah," she said. "We'd never played them. We didn't know what to expect."

Wendlinger added, "We were looking at stats all week, looking at how many RBIs they had and how many stolen bases they had."

The tone for the game may have been set immediately when South Central leadoff batter Angela Ward, who had 20 stolen bases in 12 games, singled. On the first pitch, Ward tried to steal. Meyers' throw was low but strong. Copak, HC's shortstop, grabbed it on one hop and tagged Ward out.

The game didn't start well for Hanover on offense, either. Senior Lady cat leadoff man Trisha Sheehy smacked a would-be double down the first base line but she stopped running, thinking the ball was foul. Trisha had to settle for a single.

Rachel Williams chopped a base hit down the third base line that Wakeman fielded as she fell down. Wendlinger then laid down a well-placed first pitch bunt down the third base line and HC had their three fastest runners on base with nobody out.

But South Central's Chantal Gross (9-3), who was 14-4 last season, struck out Bess Copak on a 2-2 pitch, struck out Kelly Lapota on a 1-2 pitch and got Wick to pop to shortstop.

"I probably should have squeezed (bunted) to get the run home," HC coach Larry McMillen said later. "But we had our two best hitters (Copak and Lapota) up there. We should have broken the game open in the first inning."

Both pitchers retired 10 batters in a row in the middle innings but there was a difference. Wendlinger had a lot of strikeouts while Gross relied on her defense, especially shortstop Chelsea Rowe, who made six putouts and turned a line drive into a double play.
South Central, which has lost only to John Glenn and New Prairie, got singles from Angela Ward, Amy Bolakowski and Gross, none of which were hit solidly. Wendlinger faced just 23 batters in pitching her fourth consecutive shutout. In those four games, the HC all-state candidate has struck out 41 batters in 26 scoreless innings. It appeared as if South Central had not seen a pitcher of her caliber this year. They got few good swings.

"That's the best she's pitched since she was hurt," said McMillen. "I really thought they hit better than they showed but a lot of that may have been Amanda. They had three hits and two of them landed right (pointing to a spot just outside the infield) back there."

One hit that did carry was Bess Copak's leadoff double, carrying over the head of the left fielder in the sixth inning. Bess makes a fashion statement, wearing a ski cap in the field and, as that might hint, she wasn't visibly upset by striking out with the bases full in the first inning.

"No, I can't let the other girls see that," she said. "Of course I was upset but I can't let it show." Gross, who had made good use of an ample outside corner given her and Wendlinger by the home plate umpire, let an 0-1 pitch to Copak, who batted .489 last year, drift over the plate.

"I don't know what happened," Bess said. "It was right down the middle. I know that was a mistake."

And Hanover Central went away still trailing teams like South Central and Whiting in local polls and still nowhere to be found in the state 2A top-10. That's what a 5-5 start will do to you at a school that isn't exactly in a media hub.

Meyers, one of seven seniors on the two-time defending 2A sectional champions, isn't unhappy with the way the season has gone. More than one Hanover player was uncomfortable with being highly rated and expected to win big in the preseason. The Lady Cats' start and HC's 'always out of the spotlight' profile, solved that problem.

"It feels good to be back where we are right now," Megan said. "I told you at the start of the year, I'd pay you to make us the underdog again. Now that's happened. We like it better this way."

LADY CAT NOTES: Hanover will play at 8 p.m. Friday night in Pioneer but they will still come home to Cedar Lake after the game. Saturday's game against Lewis Cass begins at 10:30 a.m.

"If we stay there," explained McMillen, "the girls will be up all night in their rooms. They'll get more sleep if they come home."

Temperatures are expected to soar into the mid-80s Saturday and northwest Indiana girls are not ready for that after a cold spring.
McCutcheon (17-5), Saturday's 1:30 foe for Hanover, crushed Westfield 11-0 Tuesday night. Amy Bowman pitched a three-hit shutout and hit a home run. Alicia Garza, who was hitting .545 after 19 games, was 3-for-4 Tuesday night.

Among other Twin Lakes Invitational participants, Benton Central (14-3) beat West Lafayette (12-5) 4-3 Tuesday.

South Central coach Bill Fryar is very happy with his school's move to the Porter County Conference (PCC) this year. "Oh yeah," he said. "The competition is so much better than the other league (the Northland Conference) we were in. I enjoy playing these teams."
"Like coming over here and playing this team (Hanover Central). We want to do that."

Amanda Wendlinger notes that all of Hanover's players have not been been present all season. Coming off knee surgery, the HC junior has not pitched as much as she did in 2003.

"I came in to pitch one game yesterday," Amanda said, "and I stayed after the game with Megan (catcher Megan Meyers) so we could work together because I haven't pitched to her that much this year." Wendlinger clearly intimidated South Central, which had never faced her.

"I was surprised at how much they bunted," said Wendlinger. "I thought they'd be this huge hitting team but they tried to bunt a lot."

HC has outscored the opposition 76-33 this year and they have now won 37 of their last 49 games. Hanover was 25-7 last year, 24-5 in 2002 and 28-3 in 2001.

This was Hanover's first 1-0 game of the season. South Central, which had a 10-game winning streak broken, also lost 1-0 to John Glenn on April 7.

South Central was coming into the Hanover game off the championship of the LaPorte Invitational. The Satellites, from far west LaPorte County, had defeated New Prairie 11-2 and (South Bend) Adams 6-5. South Central was 20-9 in 2003 and 26-5 in 2002. The suburban LaPorte school has never had a losing season in eight years as a softball program.

2004 HANOVER CENTRAL (5-5, 3-0 PCC)
Coach: Larry McMillen, 25-8 in 2003, 24-5 in 2002, 116-27-1 (last 5 years)
All games at 4:30 p.m. unless otherwise indicated

4-1-4 (W) 13-3 (5 innings) River Forest (5-11)
4-2-4 (L) 5-6 at Chesterton (16-4)
4-3-4 (L) 0-5 Munster (15-2)
4-10 (L) 1-3 at Bishop Noll (12-10)
4-14 (W) 10-0 at MORGAN TOWNSHIP (3-4)
4-13 (W) 13-0 (5) North Newton (2-6)
4-17 (W) 9-0 HEBRON (12-3)
4-19 (W) 2-1 (8 inn.) Wheeler (7-4)
4-21 (L) 1-4 Lowell (9-4)
4-22 (L) 1-5 at Beecher, Ill. (20-2)
4-24 (W) 11-0 (5)at LaCROSSE (4-5)
4-26 (W) 7-4 at Clark (2-8-2)
4-28 (W) 6-0 at Morton (10-7)
4-29 (W) 4-0 South Newton (6-9)
4-30 (W) 3-0 KOUTS (4-8)
5-3 (W) 15-3 (5) Rensselaer (4-8)
5-4 (W) 1-0 SOUTH CENTRAL (11-3)

5-5-4 (W) Griffith   (10-7)   4:30 p.m.
5-6-4 (Th) BOONE GROVE (5-12)

Twin Lakes Invitational   (in Monticello)
5-7-4 (F) Pioneer (8-5) 8 p.m.
5-8-4 (S) Lewis Cass (10-0) 10:30 a.m.
5-8-4 (S) McCutcheon (16-5) 1:30 p.m.

5-11-4 (Tu) WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP (5-9)

Porter County Conference (PCC) Tournament
5-14-4 (F) Boone Grove (5-12)
5-15-4 (S)   semifinals (11 a.m.)
5-15-4 (S)   championship (3 p.m.)

5-19-4 (W) at Gavit
5-21-4 (F) at Whiting (10-3) 5 p.m.

Wheeler (2A) Sectional
5-24-4 (Tu) quarterfinals
5-28-4 (F)   semifinals
5-29-4 (S) championship

LaVille (2A) Sectional
6-5-4 (S)   semifinals
6-5-4 (S) championship

State 2A Finals
6-11-4 (F)   semifinals at North Central - 6:30 p.m.
6-12-4 (S) 2A State championship at Carmel - 1 p.m.