Lady Wildcats beat Bishop Noll 2-0,

capture 4th straight Sectional Championship

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

5-28-2005

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
BISHOP NOLL (17-12)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	2
HANOVER CENTRAL (26-4-3)	0	0	0	2	0	0	-	2	5	3

Thursday, May 26, 2005 - Sunny & 72 degrees at Noll (2A) Sectional Championship

WP – Amanda Wendlinger (15-4) CG #21, 10K, 1 walk
LP – Kristen Chico (15-6) CG, 8K, 1 walk

BISHOP NOLL (17-12)
Alison Rokosz (1B) Single, steal

HANOVER CENTRAL (25-4-3)
Heather Rebenack (RF) 2 singles, run scored
Andria Trock (SS) 2 singles, run scored

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Lake Station (2-21)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	4
HANOVER CENTRAL (24-4-3)	1	5	0	9	-	-	-	15	9	0

Wednesday, 5-25-2005 - Sunny & 62 degrees at Noll (2A) Sectional Semifinals

WP – Kelly Lapota (10-0) CG #10, 9 K, 0 walk
LP – Robin Tarnowski CG, 2K, 8 walks

HANOVER CENTRAL (24-4-3)

Andria Trock (SS) Triple, double, single, 5 RBIs
Kelly Lapota (P) HR, single, 5 RBIs

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
HANOVER CENTRAL (23-4-3)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	5	1
BOONE GROVE (9-19)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	2

Monday, 5-23-2005 - Partly Cloudy & 62 degrees at Noll (2A) Sectional Quarterfinals

WP – Amanda Wendlinger (14-4) CG #20, 9K, 0 walk
LP – Lauren Denhart (6-15) CG. 8K, 0 walks

BOONE GROVE (9-19)
Becky Keller (SS) Double, single

HANOVER CENTRAL (23-4-3)
Heather Rebenack (RF) Sac Fly, RBI
Kelly Lapota (1B) Triple, Single, Sac. Fly, 2 RBIs
Jill Sjoerdsma (Catcher) 2 singles, RBI

BISHOP NOLL (2A) SECTIONAL

Quarterfinals
HANOVER CENTRAL 2, BOONE GROVE 0

Semifinals
Bishop Noll 8, Wheeler 3
HANOVER CENTRAL 15, Lake Station 0 (5)

Championship
HANOVER CENTRAL 2, Bishop Noll 0

HAMMOND (5-26-2005) It wasn't excellence or execution that won the Bishop Noll Class 2A Sectional for defending state champion Hanover Central on Thursday.

“You win on determination,” said veteran coach Larry McMillan after his fourth consecutive sectional title, “and experience. A lot of them (HC's girls) have been there before.”

As far as the regional is concerned, those Lady Cats who have been there before are going back again.

The fourth-ranked Lady Cats (25-4-3) head back to Lakeville's giant Newton Park athletic complex to take on Clinton Central (12-13) in the second semifinal game of the LaVille 2A Regional on Saturday, June 4 at 12 noon. Clinton Central won the North Montgomery Sectional Championship with a 2-1 win over Seeger (21-7) in 8-innings Thursday, 5-26-2005.

When the week began, HC was a distant seven games from an unprecedented second consecutive Indiana state softball championship. Now, in the middle of an eight-day break in the schedule, the Lady Cats stand just four games away.

“I'm not going to start thinking about that until we get through the regional,” said winning pitcher Amanda Wendlinger. “If we get to Indianapolis, then we'll really be going for it.”

While many of the HC girls celebrated in the 70 degree sunshine after the final out Thursday, a few did not, indicative of a team that's been to the state finals two years in a row. It might also be indicative of how the Lady Cats played at the sectional level. I'd like to tell you that Hanover dominated the Bishop Noll Sectional but that isn't anywhere near the truth.

The Lady Cats had to go nine innings before Lapota's RBI triple sparked a two-run ninth inning and created a 2-0 win over a sub-.500 Boone Grove team in the quarterfinals. Lapota's grand slam homer and five RBIs from junior Andria Trock fueled a 15-0 victory over an over matched Lake Station team in the semifinals. But HC took advantage of some poor Noll defense to squeeze out two runs in the title game.

Trock singled to lead off the fourth inning but Lapota popped up a sacrifice bunt. Heather Rebenack pulled a base hit into left field setting up a bizarre play.

With runners at first and third, Hanover catcher Jill Sjoerdsma hit a line drive directly at Noll second baseman Lillian Cruz, who had plenty of time to double Rebenack off first base and end the inning.

But Cruz dropped the ball and all she could do was pick it up and throw to first baseman Alison Rokosz to retired Sjoerdsma.

When the ball was dropped, Trock tried to score from third base. When Rokosz caught the throw from Cruz, she fired home in a hopeless attempt to retire Trock. The ball sailed over the head of catcher Mandy Miles and went through the gap in the fence next to the Noll dugout. Since Rebenack had rounded second base, she was awarded the base she was heading to and one more. Rebenack's run made it 2-0 and the game was virtually over. Hanover has not lost a game in which they have led all season and the Lady Cats have not allowed more than three runs in any game all season. Wendlinger has given up just one two-run lead (May 2004 vs. McCutcheon) in her entire career.

But she might still be pitching if it wasn't for the one crazy fourth inning play.

“Usually I get a really good lead off,” Heather explained,” because Mrs. Szayni (first base coach Lynda Szayni) tells me too. But then I thought it went past her (Cruz), so I started running. Then I saw the first baseman throw home and I just kept running fast. I've been playing for a long time and I knew that if the ball got away, I'd get an extra base if I rounded second.”

It was ironic that the key play involved Rebenack, who wasn't sure she even wanted to play softball this season. The junior, who batted .373 (28-75) during the regular season, was going to quit the team because she had a lot of other things on her mind.

“Yeah, there was a lot going on. I had lots of reasons not to play this year,” admitted Rebenack, who said that coach McMillen made a phone call to 'encourage' her to come back to the squad. “A few calls,” she laughed. “And a few visits. It was funny. But I'm happy I'm playing.”

Wendlinger is happy to still be playing after HC made three errors against Noll. including two in the fourth inning.

“Not our best game,” agreed the HC pitcher. “But, you know, we had a game like this last year against Boone Grove and we had another one at the regional against Rochester.”

“We just try to get by with what we have. We never look ahead more than one game. We could have lost today. Noll is a good team.”

Wendlinger, who can be emotional off the field, is noticeably unemotional when a teammate makes an error.

“With the team we have now, everybody is looking for the seniors like Kelly and I to lead. Sometimes we just have to talk it out of them and say 'It's okay. It's going to be alright.' Mostly our job is just to settle people back down.”

HC needed settling in the sixth inning when they made two errors to put runners at second and third with two out.

But Wendlinger struck out Noll senior Katie Lauer on a 3-2 pitch to end the fourth inning and HC then scored twice and took over.

Wendlinger retired the final six Noll hitters in order, striking out three of the final four, benefiting from a larger strike zone as the game went on.

“His strike zone changed from the start of the game,” HC catcher Jill Sjoerdsma said of the home plate umpire. “He called me out to end the sixth inning and I knew he was going to call that pitch a strike when I saw it coming in.”

“But I didn't say anything because I knew I'd just make it worse for when Amanda went out there.”

More than one HC person asked about potential regional teams and McMillen reported he had already scouted Bremen, the team Hanover defeated at the 2004 LaVille Regional. “They've already scouted us, too,” he said.

To scout a regional foe before you won the sectional indicates obviously that you truly believe you're going to be playing in the regional. But there was nothing during sectional week that indicated that a regional victory will come easily.

SECTIONAL NOTES: Hanover Central softball becomes the first team in school history to win four consecutive sectional championships in any sport. Boone Grove boys basketball won four consecutive sectional titles from 1997 to 2000. It is believed that no PCC team in any team sport has ever won five sectional titles in a row.

Hanover sophomore second baseman Brittany Rybicki made errors on easy ground balls in consecutive innings against Bishop Noll. Once, between batters, Heather Rebenack ran in from right field to encourage her. McMillen had to console Rybicki after the second error.”

Rybicki was not on the varsity for the state championship run last season (Jaclyn Kienzle and Krystina Davis shared second base in 2004) and HC does not have an experienced option at second base right now.

“She had been making the plays lately,” McMillen said after the game. “We had our awards banquet this week and I talked about what a great job she'd been doing. But this is game 32 of the season. We can't have that.”

Catcher Jill Sjoerdsma added, “She a little scared right now. A couple of the younger players are. It's our (the upperclassmen's) job to calm them down.”

Senior pitcher Amanda Wendlinger struck out 19 in 16 innings at the Bishop Noll Sectional, giving her 254 strikeouts 149 innings. The 5-4 right-hander has given up 13 earned runs in 22 games and she has pitched 14 shutouts. Lapota has 96 strikeouts and only eight walks in 63 innings. Hanover pitching allowed only 76 base hits ands 30 walks during the 29-game regular season. One of the oddest statistics Hanover has involves base-running. HC has 39-of-39 stolen bases during the regular season. It is hard to find a high school team that was never caught stealing bases once during the entire season.

In Lafayette, 4A McCutcheon, 3A West Lafayette and 1A No. 1 Clinton Prairie all won sectional titles. Culver Academy (29-3) also won and will face Andrean (30-2) in the Twin Lakes 3A Regional. The team that Hanover will face in the LaVille Regional is Clinton Central (12-13), who defeated or Seeger (21-7) by a score of 2-1 Thursday night in the North Montgomery sectional final.

HC's Larry McMillen isn't ready to concede that, with the graduation of pitchers Amanda Wendlinger (15-4) and Kelly Lapota (10-0) that Hanover's winning ways will end in 2006.

HC does return six of eight position players and has a talent-laden eighth grade class that will almost certainly produce at least one freshman starter.

“We're going to have a pretty good team coming back,” McMillen said. “Pitching? I'm working on it...”

During the regular season, Rachel Williams (41-88, .466 was HC's leading hitter ahead of Kelly Lapota (39-91, .429) and Andria Trock (30-75, .400). LaPota's home run against Lake Station was HC's first home run of the season.