Lady Wildcats settle for 3-3 time against 2A No. 1 Eastern at Twin Lakes Invitational Tournament

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

5-8-2005

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
(Howard County) Eastern (13-1-1)	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	3	1	2
HANOVER CENTRAL (14-3-2)	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	5	3

Friday, 5-6-5, Twin Lakes Invitational pool play

Amanda Wendlinger (HC) 12Ks, 4 walks, CG, 0 earned runs

Breanna Howell (Eastern) 8Ks, 1 walk, CG, 2 earned runs

Class 2A No. 1 Eastern

Breanna Howell (P) Single, HBP, walk, run scored

Cassie Harvey (LF) Walk, run scored

Erika Schmid (RF) Sac. Fly, RBI

Class 2A No. 4 Hanover Central

Kelly Lapota (1B) Sac. Fly, RBI

Heather Rebenack (RF) Single, Walk, run scored

Amanda Wendlinger (P) Single, run scored

Rachel Williams (CF) Single, run scored

Samantha Plant (LF) Single, RBI

3A No. 3 ANDREAN 8, Benton Central 1

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
ANDREAN (20-2)	2	2	0	3	0	0	1	8	10	3
Benton Central (9-10)	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	3	1

Friday, 5-6-5, Twin Lakes Invitational pool play

WP – Katie Ivancich (7-2) CG, 12Ks, 1 walk

LP – Britt Minier (3-6) CG, 4Ks, 4 walks

Class 3A No. 3 ANDREAN

Trisha Hriskocy (SS) HR, Sac. Fly, walk, 2 RBIs

Kara Kristoff (LF) Double, walk, RBI

Chanel Brandt (RF) 2 singles

Beki Rosenow (2B) 2 singles, walk, RBI

Benton Central

Sabrina Cupp (RF) HBP, walk, run scored

MONTICELLO (5-6-2005) Some were happier with the outcome than others and it does take some explanation. But the first major showdown of the 16-team Twin Lakes Invitational, the matchup of Class 2A No. 1 Eastern and defending 2A state champion Hanover Central saw both fighters get knocked to the canvas before the bout was ruled a draw.

Hanover and Eastern headed for home with a 3-3 tie after seven innings in what was probably the first tie game ever in the 12-year old tournament.

“I didn't know the game would stop after seven innings,” said HC coach Larry McMillen, who did know that the 90-minute time limit and 'international tiebreaker, staples of this elite pool play tournament, had been outlawed by the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA). “We're 14-3-2 and the ties are kinda hard to explain.”

Eastern coach Jerry Haines was warned of the change, not that he approved.

“The IHSAA said that the limits and the tiebreaker are not approved rules” said the Eastern coach, who said that the issue will be discussed in the off-season. “And they wouldn't listen to any arguments about it. For this year, we (the tourney teams) are going to have tiebreakers on runs allowed and runs scored. Things like that.”

“ But I don't know how they can have a tournament like this without time limits on games.”

In this case the tie works out because Hanover Central wasn't going to win the tournament anyway. Because the HC school prom was scheduled on Saturday night (May 7), the Lady Cats had decided they were not going to play any more than the three pool play games. Had HC won their pool (which included Eastern, Frontier and Boone Grove) they would have allowed the second place team to advance. Barring a major upset Saturday, Eastern and HC were on line to tie in their pool and Eastern would advance to the semifinals.

“I'm happy with that,” said Haines, whose team reached the Twin Lakes title game last year before losing to McCutcheon. “The girls are happy with it and I think they (Hanover's girls) are okay with it.

The Lady Cats, who faced a top-10 team for the fifth time (Munster, Chesterton, Beecher, Ill and South Central) this season weren't totally OK with the outcome because they led 2-0 most of the night.

Hanover scored two in the first inning against Eastern star right-hander Breanna Howell. Amanda Wendlinger easily beat out a bunt down the third base line and Rachel Williams barely beat out another bunt dropped right in front of the plate.”

Andria Trock's sacrifice bunt, Kelly Lapota's sacrifice fly ball to right field and an Eastern error on Heather Rebenack's swinging bunt made it 2-0 Hanover after one inning.

“Hanover is the best bunting team we've seen,” said Holmes. “We've got a new third baseman and I didn't get everybody ready for what they do. They jumped on us right at the start.”

Wendlinger, who had won her last five starts, struck out seven of the first nine batters she faced. Eastern got more competitive at the plate the second time through the order and the Panthers (13-1-1) broke through in the sixth inning. Howell walked and, after Kayleigh Harvey struck out, twin sister Cassie Harvey fouled off four pitches and drew another walk.

Then, a chain reaction play. Clean up hitter Kasey Kemp hit a ground ball to the left of the pitcher that second baseman Brittany Rybicki knocked down and flipped to second base. But HC shortstop Andria Trick, who was playing shaded toward third base against the pull-hitting Kemp, missed the toss as she crossed over the second base bag. Howell scored and on the throw home, and Eastern runners moved up to second and third. Junior Ericka Schmid hit a soft line drive into right field where HC soph Samantha Plant, after a late start, dived for the ball and had it deflect off her glove. The tying run would have scored even if Plant had made the catch but the error allowed Schmid to reach second base with the lead run.

Next batter Tracie Lamb then grounded out to second base, scoring the 3-2 run.

“Samantha got a glove on it,” said McMillen. “She missed it but at the start of the year, she would have let it drop and played it on the hop. Rybicki wouldn't have dived for that ball at the start of the year. They're all playing better.”

Hanover tied the game in the bottom of the seventh inning. Rebenack walked on four pitches and went to second on a wild pitch. HC's Jill Sjoerdsma bunted the runner to third base before a bizarre play tied the game.

Plant hit a roller to second base against a pulled in infield. Eastern's Kayleigh Harvey 'looked' the base runner back to third and then threw to first for the second out. Rebenack, noticing that Eastern catcher Alicia Welcher had wandered away from home plate, raced down the third base line as the throw sailed past the unguarded plate.

“I was about to kill Heather for breaking off third base,” said McMillen. “I didn't know what she was doing. But then I saw that no one was at home.”

The idea that everyone was happy with the outcome of this game is not totally accurate. A few Eastern parents had unkind words for the home plate umpire concerning Wendlinger's strikeout total (12) and the four pitch walk to Rebenack in the seventh. But the Hanover pitcher was unhappy with her season-high four walks, including two key passes in the sixth inning.

“There's no reason we should have lost that game,” said Wendlinger. “It's okay to lose. But I thought I out pitched her (Howell) and I thought we outplayed them. We're all going to strike out. We're all going to make errors. But it was taken away from us. I don't know what they (Eastern's parents) are upset about. They got more (ball-strike) calls than we did.”

Despite the neutral outcome, this game reinforced the opinion that Hanover is on the rise. The Lady Cats were two days removed from an 8-2 win at 1A No. 7 South Central. The earlier tie, a 0-0 seven-inning home game with 4A No. 9 Chesterton, was an exercise in futility. It might have been the 15^th inning before Hanover scored. You felt that had Eastern and HC played to a conclusion Friday, the Lady Cats would have won.

“This was a good game for us,” said McMillen. “In the past we would have come back from that (three-run sixth) inning. We put the bat on ball. We're a better hitting team than we were last year.”

And they have a lot more ties.

LADY CAT NOTES: Apparently, the Twin Lakes Invitational did not blow the cover on the 90-minute time limit and 'international tie-breaker'. Twin Lakes had used those rules for years. But when other tournaments began using the softball tie-breaking gimmicks, the IHSAA got wind of it and virtually ordered Twin Lakes athletic director Larry Crabbe to stop using those rules.

But the IHSAA needs to face a reality here. The Twin Lakes Invitational jams 35 softball games into two days. To limit all games to seven innings will not get it done. Without the 90-minute time limit, you're not going to be able to play this tournament in two days.

HC grad (2004) and Ball State freshman Bess Copak was in Monticello to watch her old team Friday. Andrean bombed Benton Central 8-1 behind junior Katie Ivancich (7-2), who was pitching for the first time in two weeks after a sprained ankle. Ivancich struck out 12 and was backed up by an inside-the-park home run from Trisha Hruskocy. The 59ers reached the 20-win mark for the eighth consecutive season.

“I'm happy to win,” said coach Frank Podkul, “but I wish we had made all the routine plays. We're going to be without seven juniors to start Saturday. I hope we have enough left.”

McCutcheon shortstop Alicia Garza played her first game in two weeks as the Mavericks (15-4) beat 2A No. 6 Lewis Cass 3-1. Garza is the defending Lafayette batting champion, hitting .514 in 2004. The junior has been missing time due to a thigh injury.

2005 TWIN LAKES INVITATIONAL

Friday, May 6, 2005

POOL ONE (1) Twin Lakes 3, MERRILLVILLE 0

LOWELL 8, Jefferson 0

POOL TWO (2) Frontier 5, BOONE GROVE 1

Eastern 3, HANOVER CENTRAL 3

POOL THREE (3) ANDREAN 8, Benton Central 1

Culver Academy 7, Pioneer 0

POOL FOUR (4) McCutcheon 3, Lewis Cass 1

Munster 11, Wheeler 1