21st Indiana State Softball Playoffs

2005 Class 4A & 3A Regionals Preview

(6-1-2005)

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 4A

Elkhart Memorial (4A) Regional

LAKE CENTRAL (30-0-1) vs. Penn (25-8)

Chesterton (26-2-1) vs. South Bend Adams (15-14)

DeKalb (4A) Regional

Columbia City (19-6) vs. Fort Wayne Snider

McCutcheon (20-9) vs. Anderson Highland (22-5)

Center Grove (4A) Regional

Brownsburg (27-4) vs. Decatur Central

Indianapolis Cathedral (17-7) vs. Hamilton Southeastern (25-3)

Jeffersonville (4A) Regional

Martinsville (24-1-1) vs. East Central (24-3)

Jennings County (21-5) vs. Castle

Elkhart Memorial (4A) Regional

ELKHART (6-4-2005) People always overrate the defending champion as if that title carries some aura that lasts 365 days. It most definitely does not. But Lake Central has won 30 games with strong pitching and an even stronger attack. The state tournament draw rewarded them with a series of very high hurdles. To win a second consecutive state championship, LC must beat Penn (25-8), Chesterton (26-2-1), McCutcheon (20-9) and Brownsburg (27-4), a series of teams as formidable as any that can be lined up against them. They can't look at it that way and I'm sure they don't.

Penn swept Lowell on the final day of the regular season and won two games at the Elkhart Memorial Sectional. Since Chesterton has recently been a little intimidated by LC, the LC-Penn match could be decisive. Penn will be the home team in the batting sequence (a major playoff advantage) and they will be playing on the same field for the second week in a row. Penn will almost certainly use both senior Katy Westberg (11-5) and Rachel Zirille (13-3). Zirille, a sophomore, is more of a power pitcher than Westberg but neither is a dominant hurler. Both can win with good defense, which has been Penn's key. Penn beat Concord 2-0 for the sectional title, their third win this year over the Minutemen (18-11).

LC, which has not allowed more than two runs in any game this season, has the middle-of-the-order hitter in Katie Mitchell that Penn lacks. The Indians scored only four runs in two sectional games against Highland and Munster and have slumped offensively in the last two weeks. Penn lost just 2-0 to Lake Central last season in the regional title game and they won't be intimidated because of a wide-ranging schedule that saw them traveling to three states. Let's just say that unless Chesterton overlooks Adams, the Trojans will beat the Eagles (15-14), probably by shutout. There's just a difference in the level of play of those two teams and Riley, which was upset by Adams in South Bend Sectional play last week, is a tougher, more experienced team. So you're going to have Lake Central and Chesterton traveling across two counties to meet for a third time. The earlier meetings went to LC 4-0 and 7-2 and I can't see that turning around. Those are not close games and, despite a slight edge in speed, LC also has more confidence than Chesterton when the two teams meet. This is Chesterton's one chance to go to the state finals in the next few years. With pitcher Laura DeLeon, Kayla Vargo (22-59,.373) and Tara Hiteman (24-66, .364) both seniors, they must take advantage of it now. I have no facts or theories to indicate that they'll get it done Saturday night.

SCOREBOARD WATCH: The Hamilton Southeastern matchup with Brownsburg features elite pitchers Ashley Hobbs of Brownsburg and Megan Melloh of Southeastern, who struck out 37 in a 25-inning game 2-1 victory over Avon this year. Frankly, LC needs someone to eliminate Brownsburg, which has Hobbs (20-2), the state's all-time leader (60) in shutouts. Southeastern has the pitcher to get it done.

CLASS 3A

Twin Lakes (3A) Regional

West Lafayette (26-5) vs. Griffith (18-14).

Andrean (30-2) vs. Culver Academies (29-2).

Bellmont (3A) Regional

Bellmont (17-3) vs. Delta.

Whitko vs. Northridge (28-1).

Mt. Vernon (3A) Regional

Rushville (20-7) vs. Lebanon (17-6).

Roncalli vs. Pendleton Heights (27-1).

Boonville (3A) Regional

Edgewood vs. Gibson Southern (25-3-1).

Heritage Hills vs. North Harrison.

Twin Lakes (3A) Regional

Twin Lakes (3A) Regional

MONTICELLO - This is what you want in the regional tournament. Three teams who have been pointing to the state finals all year long. West Lafayette, the defending regional champion, got a great draw here, getting the champion of the relatively weak Hammond Sectional. Griffith (18-16) simply does not have a pitcher to throw against the Indians, who are a strong, experienced team behind junior RHP Brittany Stanley (17-3), coming off a 5-0 victory over rival Twin Lakes.

But the marquee game will be the third meeting this season of one of the state's most consistently dominant teams in Andrean (30-2) the premier battery in the state, Culver's three-time 20-game winner Jackie Lawrence and catcher Alexis Clay, the state's all-time home run champion. Lawrence beat Andrean 2-1 in April on a two-run homer by Clay. Andrean got even 1-0 at the Twin Lakes Invitational when undefeated Lori Knopf (19-0) pitched a three-hit shutout. Knopf usually doesn't have to take a back seat to anyone with 15 shutouts on the year. But there's no way she's the best pitcher in this game. Lawrence is a robot who pitches every inning of every game. An Indianapolis native, the 5-8 right-hander is one of those one-sport child prodigies who has been pitching for almost a decade and won't be intimidated by the 59ers. Lawrence pitched three shutouts in sectional play including a 2-0 win over New Prairie (24-8). She was 22-2 as a freshman and 20-6 as a sophomore.

Clay, a Rochester native, is one of the state's most feared hitters. She has 26 career home runs in three years even though it's reportedly 230 feet to the nearest fence at Culver Academy. There's no pressing need to pitch to her with no one on base and Clay is very hard on base-runners trying to steal. I know of no one in the northern part of the state that has two players of this caliber, both high Division I prospects. Andrean counters with their third 30-win team in history led by Knopf, who will attend Division II power Shipshewana in Pennsylvania (along with South Central star Chantal Gross) and D-1 (Indiana State) catcher Samantha Markowski (29-75, .387, 5 HRs, 20 RBIs) who has 13 extra base hits. I don't honestly see Andrean surviving this day. The 59ers hit Lawrence when she was a freshman and sophomore but she may have advanced to the point where they can't beat her now. West Lafayette pulled out of the Twin Lakes Invitational so the 59ers have not seen them for a year. Two very good teams will be eliminated on this day and it's 50-50 that Andrean is one of them.

SCOREBOARD WATCH: It wouldn't hurt the Niner cause if Roncalli took out Pendleton Heights (27-1) in the regional semifinal game at Mt. Vernon. The Arabians have won 10 sectional titles in 12 years and they are thinking state title with the addition of freshman Whitney Owens (12-0, 0.10 ERA). But Pendleton is a young team with just one senior in the starting lineup and Roncalli, with older players, could jump on them in the morning semifinal contest this week.