Lady Ponies win pitching marathon 1-0 in 11-innings

to end softball season for Lowell

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

5-26-2005

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	R	H	E
LOWELL (21-10)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2
Munster (25-2-1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	4	2

Wednesday, May 25, 2005 - Class 4A Highland Sectional semifinal, 62 degrees at Highland

WP – Lori Andjelich (16-2) 10K, 0 walks (8 innings)

Starting pitcher - Jackie Yerga (M) 4K, 0 walks (3 innings)

LP – Ryssa Nord (10-2) CG, 1Ks, one walk

LOWELL (21-10)

Courtney Schuttrow (1B) Single

Michelle Johnson (CF) HBP

Munster (25-2-1)

Lauren Parker (3B) Single, RBI

Holly Ispas (OF) Double

HIGHLAND (5-25-2005) “You want to win,” said coach Pete Iussig. “But every game I coach, We talk about playing the game the way it should be played. There's losses I'm upset with and there's losses I'm okay with.”

This was a loss that Lowell can live with.

The Red Devils battled one of the top 10 teams in the state even for 10- innings before Lauren Parker's base hit to center field scored Chrissy Dominieco with the only run of the game, giving the Mustangs (24-2-1) a 1-0 win in a Highland Class 4A Sectional semifinal.

It was a loss that Lowell can't be upset with very long, ebven though it was an error by their best player, shortstop Kelly Johnson, that led to the game's only run.

Junior pitcher Ryssa Nord, in a crucial matchup for the first time, held off Munster's strong hitting lineup through 10 innings while the Devils' defense made several nice plays to keep the game scoreless.

Lowell can't say they should have won because they didn't score against undefeated starting pitcher Jackie Yerga and reliever Lori Andjelich, the Mustangs' top hurler all season.

“We want to play as many good games as we possibly can,” said Munster coach Beth Vesa. “This was good for us because we made all the plays to keep them from scoring.”

This was a classic 1-0 playoff softball game in the late afternoon sun of Highland's cute little softball complex.

Munster started Yerga, the 5-10 junior, who shut out Lowell through six innings. Nord, a poker-faced right-hander, shut down a Munster offense that had scored 52 runs in the Mustangs' last five games. As 150-200 fans plus players from Highland and Lake Central looked on, the game drifted into the early evening with both sides afraid of the end.

The Mustangs, who lost only two games to Andrean (27-2) and tied Lake Central (28-0-1), the team they will face in Friday's Sectional championship game, could have won the game in the eighth inning.

Holly Ispas smacked a long leadoff double to left center field. But instead of having Yerga bunt, Vesa let her swing away and Nord (10-2), who won her first 10 decisions, struck her out. Nicole Enright bounced an infield hit off Nicole Fletcher's glove at third base and Iussig intentionally walked the bases full. Nord then got Domenico to hit the ball to Fletcher, who fired home for a force play. Parker then hit a slow roller to second base for the third out.

Nord, who did not pitch against the top teams most of the season, has an unusual windmill delivery but Vesa wasn't sure that bothered her girls at the plate.

“I just think she did a really good job of hitting her spots and changing speeds,” said the Mustang coach. “We hit the ball to the shortstop a lot (Kelly Johnson) and she's a great player. She's one of the best around here, that's for sure. Then that little left fielder (Becca Nida) makes a number of good plays.”.

But it was bad play that finally did Lowell in.

With one out in the 11^th, Dominieco grounded to Johnson at shortstop but the Lowell three-sport star threw the ball into the dirt and it bounced past Schuttrow at first, putting the batter at second base.

Parker, who was 0-for-4 until that point, then hit a hard grounder up the middle and Dominieco beat Lowell center fielder Michelle Johnson's throw to the plate.

She had not been swinging well and I told her to stop swinging the bat like a sissy and start swinging like a big girl,” said Vesa. “She's a good player.”

To be honest, Munster hit the ball harder than Lowell did all day. Lowell could barely get it out of the infield against Andjelich and Yerga, both big, strong hard throwers. Nord threw the ball harder than she had in most other games this year and tied up the Mustangs, a big-time offensive team full of free swingers. Absolutely no one would have predicted that Lowell would win 20 regular season games and Nord, their No. 3 pitcher at the start of the season, would win 10 of them.

“She hit her spots all night,” said Iussig, who lost junior pitcher Cristin Just to mononucleosis in mid-May. “She did a great job,” said Iussig of Nord. “We're really proud of her. You always learn from things like this. ”

SECTIONAL NOTES: Lowell beat Gary West Side 11-1 in Monday's sectional quarterfinals, while Munster beat East Chicago 18-0. Munster defeated Lowell 3-1 on May 13.

Fortunately, the game did not swing on a glaring bad call in extra innings. In the top of the 10^th inning, Nicole Fletcher turned her body on an inside pitch by Andjelich, the Munster right-handed pitcher. The ball hit Fletcher's bat and deflected straight back to the screen. There was even an audible clank from the contact. The home plate umpire thought Fletcher was hit by the pitch and sent her to first base. An instant argument from Munster coach Beth Vesa was in vain and the Devils got the lead runner on base. Fletcher reached third with one out but Andjelich struck out Courtney Austgen and Christina Kuzma grounded to third baseman Lauren Parker who threw out Fletcher at the plate.

Munster had the bases loaded in the eighth inning and Dominieco grounded to Fletcher, Lowell's third baseman. Fletcher's throw to catcher Courtney Austgen forced out the winning run at home, even though the vocal Munster crowd did not think so.

Michelle Johnson was thrown out trying to go from first to third base on a bunt in the sixth inning. Dominieco, who was playing left field, raced into third and made the tag, when it appeared Munster had left the base uncovered.

“We'll be back,” said Iussig. “We've got most of our team coming back next year. I just wish that one time I had a big strong pitcher like they have. We've had good pitchers, but never somebody who steps up there and strikes everybody out.”