21st Indiana State Softball Playoffs

2005 Class 2A & 1A Regionals Preview

(6-2-2005)

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

2005 IHSAA Softball Regionals

Date: June 4, 2005; Semifinal games at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.; Championship game at 7 p.m., where possible.

Home Team: Second team listed in each game.

Class 1A

Caston (1A) Regional

HEBRON (21-8) vs. SOUTH CENTRAL (20-10)

Lakewood Park Christian vs. Pioneer (20-8)

Barr-Reeve (1A) Regional

Barr-Reeve (24-4) vs. Shakamak

Turkey Run vs. Tecumseh (13-12)

Caston 1A Regional

CASTON, IN (6-4-2005) The newcomer in regional play is Hebron and they will have an impact. Right-hander Maggie Riggs (19-7, 0.36 ERA) has been the anchor around which the Hawks have built a winning team.

Riggs is one of a top class of Porter County Conference pitchers, all three of whom (Hanover Central's Amanda Wendlinger and South Central's Chantal Gross) won sectional championship games last week.

The problem for Hebron is that they drew South Central and Gross (15-7, 0.85 ERA) in the regional semifinals Saturday at Caston.

South Central (20-10), which beat the Hawks 14-0 on April 4, is a significantly more experienced team in the field than Hebron is so SC wins, right? Not necessarily. Riggs, at times, is over the top. She no-hit Whiting two weeks ago, no-hit Washington Township in the PCC quarterfinals and struck out 25 in 12 innings against Kouts on April 26.

The junior can dominate the situation and put a lot of pressure on the opposition not to make a defensive mistake.

Gross, who will attend Division II power Shippensburg in Pennsylvania, has been the anchor of South Central's team for four years. Not overpowering, she is still rarely hit hard and, with good defense, will win far more than she loses.

SC has a very productive offense led by senior 1-2 hitters Angela Ward (33-89, .371. 14 steals) and Stella Meyers (21-55, .382, 14 steals). Hebron has to get to the lead here. they will not be able to contain South Central if they fall behind. South Central has played a tougher schedule including 4As LaPorte, South Bend Washington and Michigan City, 3A Culver Academy and New Prairie. I don't know if Hebron played a school larger than 3A Calumet and it does matter.

Pioneer plays a very difficult schedule and it almost always leads to them winning the sectional. Lakewood Park won a game 5-4 in nine innings in the state tournament and usually, that means you'll last about as long as a turkey on Thanksgiving.

If you win softball playoff games with both teams scoring more than three runs, you were very lucky. Luck is fickle. It'll be gone by next week if you don't play a lot better.

South Central had a skid in the middle of the year but they rebounded in the late going. They began the season 5-0, ended it with a 10-2 run, have earned the right to be here and played the schedule to win here. Pioneer is young and down and Lakewood Park may not be that good, although they could simply be underrated.

The discussion of whether LaPorte County is Northwest Indiana is going to rise again next week because South Central is going to the state finals and some will want to jump on the bandwagon, especially if some of the Lake County favorites get beat. Look for the tiny LaPorte County school to get some media attention like they did during the girls basketball tournament run to the semistate which ended in a 49-47 loss to eventual champ Tri-Central.

South Central got three shutouts from Gross last week and they will probably get two more Saturday at Caston. Look for the Satellites to play Turkey Run in the state finals after they win the Caston Regional Saturday.

LaVille (2A) Regional (at Newton Park – Lakeville)

Rochester (9-17) vs. Bremen (22-9)

HANOVER CENTRAL (25-4-3) vs. Clinton Central (12-13)

Garrett (2A) Regional

Eastside (26-5) vs. Lewis Cass (24-4)

Heritage (16-10) vs. Eastern (Greentown) (27-3)

Shenandoah (2A) Regional

Lincoln (18-4) vs. Frankton (21-5)

Southwestern (17-10) vs. Indianapolis Scecina (22-6)

Lakeville 2A Regional

LAKEVILLE, IN (6-4-2005) Northwest Indiana's eternal underdog tries to reach the state finals for the third year in a row and they have gotten a few breaks.

Hanover's opponent is sub-.500 Clinton Central, which has never had a winning season in the history of their program. CC is on a roll with 10 wins in their last 14 games including a 2-1 upset of Seeger (21-7) in the North Montgomery 2A sectional title game.

Second baseman Chelsea Crawford was the big hitter with an RBI single and an RBI double against Seeger. Several strong defensive plays keyed the upset and the CC defense has done a turnaround from earlier in the year when they were a liability.

Chelsea Quick is not a strikeout pitcher and that's going to make it tough to beat Hanover, which simply puts the ball in play and runs the bases.

The 25 total games played tells you what you need to know about the level of Clinton Central's program. Clearly they are on the rise but when you only play 23 regular season games and you've never won more than 12 in any season, you are not ready for three teams who are two-time sectional champions, much less a defending state champ.

I would not be shocked to see Kelly Lapota (10-0) pitch the game against Clinton Central, which is expected to be played in 80-degree heat. Lapota walks very few batters and has a 1-0 win over Bishop Noll, a better team than Clinton Central. To start Lapota would keep senior Amanda Wendlinger (15-4) out of the heat in the mid-afternoon and give her a fresh start in the title game against Bremen or Rochester.

Rochester is an interesting story. The losing record is largely because junior pitcher Ashley Lowe (4-2), missed most of the season after knee surgery. With Lowe back pitching, Rochester is a winning team again.

This team lost six players from last year when they lost 8-7 in 12 innings to Hanover in the LaVille Regional title game. Bremen lost much of their team from 2004 but they did not lose pitcher Val Bollenbacher, who lost 1-0 to Hanover in the 2004 LaVille Regional semifinals. Bollenbacher smoked John Glenn 9-0 on a five-hit shutout on May 23 and she put the smack on Westview 3-0 with a one-hit shutout on May 24. Bollenbacher then blanked Jimtown (19-12) in the sectional finals, 1-0 giving the strong right-hander a 21-inning scoreless streak.

Bremen, a perennial small school power, won 21 games and is always a solid squad. The Lions are not ranked but they could be. Rochester is in the regional for only the second time ever but they upset 22-game winner Winamac 4-3 in eight innings to win the sectional title. Lowe is coming off an injury and HC would like to catch her in her second game of a hot summer day.

Bremen (22-9) is the more formidable opponent ands has played the tougher schedule. They should down Rochester in the LaVille regional semifinals and advance to play Hanover.

here's where Hanover Central will need their best game of the playoffs. Bremen was ranked ahead of HC last season when Hanover defeated them 1-0 on an RBI hit by Megan Meyers in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Bollenbacher will have to pitch all the way against Rochester and that is a disadvantage. I would maximize Hanover's strength which is pitching depth. That means Kelly Lapota pitches against Clinton Central, keeping Wendlinger out of sight of Bremen and out of the midday sun.

Some of the Bremen players reportedly didn't think Wendlinger was that good when she faced them last year. They may have changed their minds after Wendlinger's perfect game in the state title contest. But the HC right-hander was not 100% last season after pre-season knee surgery.

Bremen has reportedly been scouting Hanover Central in May and Hanover has definitely scouted Bremen. These schools are not close to each other and you don't drive an hour to scout a team unless you most definitely expect to see them. Both teams lack some offense but HC may see a slower pitcher in CC's Chelsea Quick and then a faster hurler in Bremen's Bollenbacher.

This will be a close game and Bremen fans will outnumber Hanover people in the stands as Bremen is LaVille's next door neighbor, sitting less than 10 miles form Lakeville. The long-awaited (for them) rematch with a state champion will lure anyone and everyone who cares down the road. I'm sure some Bremen baseball and football players will be in the stands to back their girls. This is a game Bremen has waited an en tire year to play.

One year ago, Hanover beat Rochester 8-7 in three hours and 12 innings, perhaps the wildest game in their history.

This game will not be that high scoring but it could easily be just as long. HC's bunt and slap style will push across a run in the late going. I like Hanover to win 1-0 in 10 innings and advance to play Scecina in the state semifinals.

STATE FINALS

Date: June 10-11, 2005

Admission: $8.00 per session; $12.00 both sessions.

Home Team: Second team listed in each game.

Class 2A

Semifinals at North Central

June 10, 2005

6:30 p.m. – Winner at Shenandoah vs. Winner at LaVille.

8:30 p.m. – Winner at Forest Park vs. Winner at Garrett.

Championship Game at Ben Davis,

June 11, 2005

1:30 p.m. – Friday winners.

Class A

Semifinals at Hamilton Southeastern

June 10, 2005

6:30 p.m. – Winner at Clinton Prairie vs. Winner at Lanesville.

8:30 p.m. – Winner at Barr-Reeve vs. Winner at Caston.

Championship Game at Ben Davis,

June 11, 2005

10:30 a.m. – Friday winners.