Lots of good pitching, little hitting leads to split in Lady Wildcats' games with Lowell and Crown Point

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

5-23-2005

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
HANOVER CENTRAL (20-4-3)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3
LOWELL (20-7)	1	0	0	0	0	1	-	2	6	0

Thursday, May 19, 2005 - at Lowell

LP – Amanda Wendlinger (11-4) CG, 5K, 0 walks

WP – Ryssa Nord (10-0) CG, 4K, 2 walks

HANOVER CENTRAL (20-4-3)

Andria Trock (HC) Double, walk

LOWELL (20-7)

Kelly Johnson (L) 2 doubles, 2 RBIs

Carrie Shelhart (L) Double, single 2 runs scored

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
CROWN POINT (11-13)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2
HANOVER CENTRAL (22-4-3)	0	0	0	1	0	0	-	1	5	1

Saturday, May 21, 2005 at Cedar Lake

WP – Amanda Wendlinger (13-4) CG, 11K, 2 walks

LP – Shelly Kurcz (8-4) CG, 5K, 1 walk

HANOVER CENTRAL (22-4-3)

Kelly Lapota (1B) Double, stolen base, run scored

CROWN POINT (11-13)

Lauren Stovall (2B) 2 singles

LOWELL (5-21-2005) The rain began falling seriously a short time after the game ended Thursday with Lowell reaching the 20-win mark by defeating next door nonconference neighbor and 20-game winner Hanover Central 2-0.

In some ways, a little rain had been falling all week.

Hanover didn't seem totally invested in this game, getting just three hits and two walks off Lowell junior right-hander Ryssa Nord.

And Lowell played a lineup they needed to see win because they may need their bench strength in next week's state tournament.

The Red Devils went without third baseman Nicole Fletcher, catcher Courtney Austgen and pitcher Cristin Just.

Fletcher, Lowell's regular cleanup hitter, will definitely be back for the playoffs. Austgen hopes to be back, but Just is out for the season, a tough blow to Lowell's playoff hopes.

“She has mononucleosis,” said Lowell coach Pete Iussig. “We were thinking about using her and Vanessa (senior pitcher Vanessa Esenberg) or Ryssa in the same game because they're different. We still might use Ryssa and Vanessa in a two pitcher thing.”

A couple of region teams have gone to using one pitcher for half the game and a second pitcher for the second half, hoping to get through seven innings before the batters adjusted to either one. Munster rolled up a 25-3 record with a three-pitcher rotating format last season.

“Vanessa has a stretch where she gets hit and then she's fine,” said Iussig. “She gave up eight runs in two innings against West Lafayette and then she shut them out the rest of the way. Ryssa's been pretty good most of the time.”

“She got hit against Lake Central yesterday in a 10-1 loss (Lowell led 1-0 in the fifth inning) but that's Lake Central and they're a little different.”

Lowell's plans are a little different, too, without Just, who started both Lowell games in the playoffs last year.

Esenberg and Nord (10-0) are the stereotypical No. 2 pitchers. Not the hard thrower and with no trick pitches, Nord has pitched largely against the second-tier teams. Nord has earned a promotion to No.1 status which is a good thing, because she is going to have to pitch against Munster or Lake Central next week whether she earned it or not.

Hanover never got started in this game. The Lady Cats, coming off a four day layoff after their PCC championship, never got more than one runner on base in any inning. Andria Trock, Heather Rebenack and Rachel Williams got the HC hits and Williams' hit was a slap bunt to shortstop that she beat out.

“It's not too late to make some changes,” said coach Larry McMillen. “We can't play like this. We didn't seem excited about playing Lowell.”

Lowell scored single runs in the first and sixth innings when junior Carrie Shelhart reached base on one out hits and scored on doubles by Kelly Johnson.

“She's tied our school record for double and she's tied our school record for home runs (4),” said Pete Iussig. “That was set by Jen Bayer (1999).”

This was one of Lowell's better defensive games. Johnson at short, Shelhart at second and center fielder Michelle Johnson all made above average defensive plays.

DEVIL NOTES: Lowell honored their four seniors before the game with presents and balloons in a 'Senior Day' ceremony. Vanessa Esenberg, Sydney Schuttrow, Ashley Cicillian and Hannah Penman are the four seniors. Lowell has nine juniors, the sophomore Johnson twins (Michelle and Kelly) and freshman Becca Nida.

The Devils defeated HC for the third consecutive season and have won five of the last eight games played against their northern neighbor. Lowell reached the 20-win mark for the second year in a row. The Devils won 21 games in 2001, 24 in 2000 and 23 in 1999.

CAT NOTES: Hanover closed the regular season with wins over Whiting 8-1 Friday and Crown Point 1-0 Saturday. Saturday's game was won when Kelly Lapota scored on the front end of double steal in the fourth inning. It was the Lady Cats fourth 1-0 win of the 2005 season and they lost three games by the 1-0 score.

Amanda Wendlinger pitched her 11th shutout of the season, although two of those games (Frontier and Chesterton) ended in scoreless ties. Only two teams scored more than one run (South Central, Morton and Eastern scored three) off Wendlinger all season.

The Lady Cats had as much pitching this season as they could possibly hope for. No team scored more than three runs against Hanover in any game this season.

The 2-0 loss to Lowell was the largest margin of defeat all season and two of the three 1-0 losses were extra-inning games.