20th Indiana State Softball Playoffs

Regionals Preview

(6-3-2004)

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Class 1A - at Whiting
Pioneer (17-12) vs. Whiting (26-5)
Hamilton (22-7) vs. (Michigan City) Marquette (22-6)

WHITING - The 'yellow brick road' is out for defending 1A regional champion Whiting, but they must defeat a perennial power and a new force to reach the state finals for the second straight season. Whiting right-hander Maria Martinez (21-5, 185 strikeouts) must contend with Pioneer, a traditional running, slapping team that plays an elite schedule.

Pioneer has played 2A No. 9 Hanover, 2A No. 5 Lewis Cass and 4A No. 6 McCutcheon (27-6). Some called this a lesser Pioneer team than the state-rated groups of the past but the Panthers did win their sectional for the 5th time in six years. While Whiting played in the Pioneer Classic at Royal Center, they did not meet Pioneer. Hanover Central won easily 4-0 over Pioneer on a two-hitter by Amanda Wendlinger. Martinez is not quite at the level of Wendlinger, but Whiting lost 1-0 to Indianapolis Lutheran while Pioneer lost to Lutheran 5-0.

Maria Martinez (37-95, .389) and catcher Leann Martinez (30-81, .370) are the key players offensively and defensively although Laura Simunic has 33 RBIs. The Oilers have a 1-0 win over 3A No. 1 Andrean and a 1-0, 11-inning win over 2A No. 9 Hanover as their claims to fame, but they struck out 25 times and got three hits total in those games. The Oilers have not come from behind after the fourth inning to win at any time this year so they need to score first. There is a major chance of an upset here because Whiting is expected to beat Pioneer.

Sophomore Sarah Grams (18-6) leads Marquette but there isn't any way of knowing what they can do against Hamilton, a tiny school in extreme northeast Indiana's Steuben County. Marquette lost 1-0 to Whiting on April 17 in nine innings and here's the problem for Whiting. Grams, who struck out every single batter in a five-inning 13-0 win over Westville, struck out 19 against Whiting in April. Wendlinger pitched a perfect game against Whiting for eight innings before the Oilers won 1-0. The Oilers seemed to be lucky to survive both games.

But what appears to be a woefully weak attack hasn't crippled Whiting. The Oilers have won three games over state-ranked teams by the score of 1-0. That's how you get to the state finals. There aren't any good offensive teams here by a long shot. If Whiting loses at the regional level it will be because of a defensive breakdown and the game won't be close. That could happen because the pressure is all on Whiting, the more experienced team and the home team.

But, more likely the weak offenses of Pioneer and Marquette will stay soft and Whiting's Martinez sisters will drive the bus to the state finals again winning 1-0 or 2-0.

Class 3A - at Twin Lakes
Hammond (16-13) vs. West Lafayette (23-6)
Marian (20-10) vs. ANDREAN (28-4)

MONTICELLO - The idea that Hammond high, a sectional winner largely due to a chain reaction of upsets in a weak sectional, will rise up and shut down 20-game winner Brittany Stanley (20-6) and two-time sectional champion West Lafayette is highly unrealistic.

Some people thought Minnesota would beat the LA Lakers, too.

Stanley has shut out Benton Central in the sectional championship game two years in a row. West Lafayette has played at Twin Lakes many times and Hammond has never played there. Marian upset favored Culver Academy (22-6) 2-0 in 11 innings by pitching around Culver's top hitters, namely catcher Alexia Clay. Marian pitcher Leila Charmat (12-7) blanked Culver for 11 innings and the key was... no walks. But you're going to have to strike out a lot of 59ers to beat them. They have too much speed for you to let them put the ball into play.

Barring a major upset, West Lafayette faces Andrean in the regional championship game. The 59ers must understand what's on the other side. West Lafayette took Hanover Central into the 13th inning on June 7, 2003 before losing 3-2. Brittany Stanley pitched the final eight innings in relief in that matchup, a game where West Lafayette left 13 runners on base. WL feels they should have reached the state final last season.

West Lafayette has won 46 of their last 60 games and they led Andrean 2-1 in the fourth inning of the 59ers 4-2 win at Twin Lakes on May 8. Lori Knopf pitched in that contest, so expect the 59ers to use Katie Ivancich (13-1) in his one. This is what the 59ers have prepared for. They have played at Twin Lakes. They have played West Lafayette. That's what's called playing a 'state finals' schedule.

Targeting all the teams you have to face to get to the finals. Andrean 'targeted' Culver Academy by scheduling them in April but CMA was upset. Andrean sought out the Twin Lakes tournament years ago to see potential regional rivals like Benton Central, Twin Lakes and West Lafayette. The 59ers play only eight home games because they know they won't be at home for the regional like Whiting and Merrillville can be.

Andrean is the top-ranked team in the state for a reason. They have too much offense and pitching to be taken down here. The 59ers beat Marian 6-2 and West Lafayette 3-1 to reach the state finals for the first time in five years.

Class 4A - at MERRILLVILLE
Portage (27-3-2) vs. Lake Central (25-3)
Riley (16-9) vs. Penn (20-10)

MERRILLVILLE - Penn isn't at all unhappy with this draw. Two Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) superpowers go head-to-head in the first game while Penn plays a Riley team they know they can beat. The Kingsmen leaned on injured senior pitcher Tiffany Krcelich (15-4) to beat favored Mishawaka (23-8) 2-0 in the Mishawaka Sectional title game. Penn was 3-0 at the sectional and they were errorless in three games. Riley won a 1-0, 11-inning victory over favored Washington (22-9) in the South Bend Sectional title game.
Bottom line. The two best teams in the South Bend-Elkhart area (probably Mishawaka, Memorial and Washington) are not here.

Portage and LC has intrigue because LC has defeated Portage 6-5 and 6-2 and they are the only team to hit Portage freshman Meagan Gutierrez (19-1). Gutierrez, a control pitcher, backed by a solid senior-laden defense, gave up nine hits in seven innings in the 6-5 loss to LC on April 14. To put that in perspective, Gutierrez shut out three different teams at the sectional and she did not give up more than two runs in any start all season. Lake Central was 14-0 in the big school DAC and they are confident they can hit anybody. LC left-hander Beth Toyias (15-0) struck out 11 in a 6-2 win over Portage on May 5.

Penn has not lost to Riley in several years and they will win Saturday if they aren't overconfident against Riley slow-baller Tori Campbell (14-7). Here's what you need to know about Riley's 1-0 win over Washington. Washington freshman right-hander Katie Boocher struck out 20 Riley hitters. That's twenty. In 14 innings. Riley is a three-time sectional champ but they are champs of a weak sectional. It's like being governor of Maine. Nothing to write home about.

I don't believe that LC's Beth Toyias has pitched two games in one day although that's a technicality. The 6-foot lefty pitched a late afternoon game and a morning game (same thing) at the LC Sectional last week and she wasn't hit very hard. On the other hand Penn's Krcelich has a leg injury and she will be hard pressed to pitch two complete games. But she has to. A backup pitcher will be bombed against Lake Central worse than Sergio Mitre. Pitchers underestimate how hard it is to pitch a morning or afternoon game and still have 100% smoke for the nighttime match.

Lake Central is too good for this field. Portage faced two sub-.500 teams at the sectional while LC KO'd 20-game winners. Both of these teams play elite schedules but Portage has to find a way to score. They only pushed nine runs across the plate in their final five games. Lake Central is better than Portage and they are better than Penn. They're headed to the finals for the fourth year in a row. I don't know how close this game is going to be. Freshman pitchers traditionally do poorly in the state tournament. That's when the pressure is really on. LC has been to the state finals for three years in a row and they have a much better offensive team. I think Lake Central beats Penn 5-2 or 6-3.

Class 2A - at LaVille
Bremen (24-5) vs. Hanover Central (23-7)
Rochester (21-5) vs. Delphi (15-13)

LAKEVILLE - The biggest drama of softball's post-season in northwest Indiana surrounds the return of Hanover Central to the big stage. Last year's run to the state finals, a first for the school that began varsity sports in 1969, included an improbable 1-0, eight-inning victory over top-ranked Andrean at the Andrean Sectional and a roller coaster 4-3, 13-inning win over West Lafayette in the 2A Twin Lakes Regional. The team went through an incredible high-low emotion swing as hours after they won the regional, making school history, the thrill of it all vanished in the aftermath of the car accident that killed classmate Todd Szayni and injured and scared many of Hanover's best and brightest kids, including softball third baseman Cathy Holmoka, who came through it OK and has now completed her first year at Marquette University.

Hanover is a school that's largely ignored by northwest Indiana media. It's unfair to critique all-star teams because you can never know all the circumstances, but I believe Amanda Wendlinger is (and probably will always be) the only northwest Indiana softball player to ever pitch her team to an undefeated league season and the state finals and NOT be named even as a first-team all-area player. So, it is obvious that Hanover, which has now won 139-33-1 in six seasons will always stay 'under the radar' no matter how many games they win. But it was sad that a rare moment of athletic joy was immediately dwarfed by what still seems an incredibly unfair tragedy.

It is now 12 months later and the window of opportunity is still open. Hanover has assembled one of their best teams on paper. The IHSAA reclassification has removed Andrean and West Lafayette from the playoff path. On the field, HC dominated the Porter County Conference but appeared to be waiting for the money to be on the table to show what they are capable of. New roadblocks have arisen like Bremen, which recently had a 100-game conference winning streak broken, and Eastern, the defending 1A state champ and the 2004 Class 2A No. 1 team every single day of the 2004 regular season. Oddly Eastern eliminated Hanover's greatest basketball team, the 1999 Lady Cats who won PCC, Sectional and Regional titles.

So quite a stage has been set. Hanover will be a top-10 2A team again next year. But quietly, more than one will tell you that this mix of juniors and seniors has the best chance of winning it all. Hanover's Lady Cats stand four wins away from some local immortality. In Indiana, the state championship team at the high school goes up on a billboard or on a water tower and stays there 20 years. I believe the entire school has only won six sectionals in 34 years. No HC team has even reached any state championship game in any sport.

But look at the bracket. Hanover is going to have to defeat four consecutive top-10 teams to win the title. And No. 6 Bremen is loaded up. The Lions, who were rated No. 7 in the preseason, have won eight sectionals and are paced by a senior class that has now won sectionals in volleyball, basketball and softball in the same school year. Bremen senior Kelsey Lakins (12-3) splits time as pitcher with shortstop and leadoff batter Val Bollenbacher (12-2). Bremen lost 1-0 and 3-2 to New Prairie and split a double-header with South Central, a team Hanover defeated twice. The Lions clearly are not a big offensive team and neither is Hanover so this is a 50-50 game. Both sides fully expect to win.

I think the week off helps HC junior Amanda Wendlinger who is not 100% after offseason knee surgery. Expect Bremen to use the senior Lakins because Val Bollenbacher is the shortstop and you don't want to to start your No. 2 shortstop against a top-10 team. Hanover hasn't really hit the ball since the Twin Lakes Invitational in early May, but Lakins is not a strikeout pitcher and I think HC finds their bats here in the late going. HC is a team that had 4A No.6 McCutcheon beaten with two outs to go and easily defeated 2A No. 5 Lewis Cass. They won at Andrean in each of the last two years when they truthfully were overmatched. While this is a point where Hanover could get knocked out because they may not be better than Bremen, with Wendlinger strong in the first game, I like the Lady Cats to survive the opener 3-2 or 2-1.

Rochester will easily kick out Delphi, which was .500 after the regular season. Rochester, the state 2A basketball champion, was not rated in the preseason and came on late to win 20. Soph pitcher Ashley Lowe (18-5) sounds like the big strikeout pitcher who could defeat HC. But, with just one game to go before the state finals, the senior-laded Hanover team may come up with their best game. Rochester does not have the experience of Bremen and they have not advanced to this point in the state tournament before.

Rochester may choke up under the pressure of the regional final the way Hanover did at the plate two years ago in the regional championship game against Lewis Cass. Now, the Lady Cats, who have played in this game two years in a row, will see this as the time to step up, not back. The first game is the tough one as Hanover advances to the state finals for the second year in a row, winning 5-2 or 6-3.

SOFT NOTES: The 4A Center Grove Regional will feature the state's best matchup as No. 1 defending state champ Center Grove and pitcher Darcy Wood (19-1, 334 strikeouts) faces No. 3 Noblesville and senior Jessica Mardini (21-1, 0.83).

In Class 2A, nine of the top-10 teams won sectionals and are still playing, an almost impossible total. If Hanover survives No. 6 Bremen and No. 9 Rochester at the LaVille Regional, they will almost certainly see No. 3 Indianapolis Scecina in the 2A state semifinals.

Lake Central cannot meet No. 1 Center Grove until the state championship game. Those two schools have met in each of the last two seasons at the state finals. Harrison (18-9), the West Lafayette school that has beaten LC, Highland, Portage, Chesterton and McCutcheon, is a regional host but they will have to defeat No. 5 DeKalb to be a regional winner.

In Class 1A, No. 4 Whiting would meet No. 1 Indianapolis Lutheran in the state semifinals on June 11. In an earlier meeting Lutheran's Nikki Nofzinger struck out 19 as Whiting lost 1-0. Seven of the top-10 Class 1A schools were sectional winners.

In Class 3A, Andrean cannot see No. 3 Booneville until the state championship game but they might just get that done. Only four of the top-10 3A schools are still alive. The unranked team for the 59ers to watch is Bishop Chatard, a name that bugs Andrean. Not only has Chatard beaten Andrean three times in the state football title game. Indianapolis city private schools have defeated Andrean five times total in football, softball and basketball in the last 10 years in state title games.