Class 1A & 2A - 22nd Annual Indiana State H.S. Girls Softball Finals Preview

6-9-2006

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

INDIANAPOLIS (6-9-2006) - The highlight of the state softball season is semifinal night when the top four in each class are on the same field playing deep into the night. This is often the ultimate test of how good you are. Pairings and simply being from certain portions of the state can get you here, but you can't hide from anybody here.

The only two No. 1 teams in the four classes are from NW Indiana as both 4A No. 1 Chesterton (29-1) and 1A No. 1 Whiting (31-0) won a pair of one-run regional games to reach the state finals.

You get the impression that, especially in Class 1A, that Whiting has not faced a strong team yet. The 4-3 win over unranked Lakewood Park (18-8) and a one-run victory over Pioneer (15-12) were not overly impressive, although, at this point, they don't have to be.

In 3A, New Prairie also has gotten by on somewhat of a pass. New Prairie (30-3) did not defeat top-10 Culver Academy (27-2). They defeated sub-.500 St. Joseph's, which upset Culver. New Prairie also did not defeat powerful Andrean (28-4). They beat sub-.500 Kankakee Valley, who upset Andrean. There's some luck involved there, although New Prairie did upset No. 3 West Lafayette (28-4) by a 2-1 score in the regional title game when WL made four glaring errors.

Some would say that by pointing out that a team was lucky or the other side's errors, you are detracting from the winners' achievement. True or not, you are obligated to tell the truth about what happens if you really want to follow the game. Only athletes and coaches with tremendous ego believe they achieved 100% due to their own greatness and there was no good fortune involved. While anyone who reaches the state finals can quite rightfully say they had a great year, in looking at what happened, you must evaluate all factors.

Watch out for the small private schools, Lafayette Catholic and Bishop Noll in 2A. Those two have the worst records of the 16 left in the state finals, but they are near .500 because they have played, by far, the toughest schedules. In 1A, 2A and 3A, you can schedule your way into a top record. Truthfully, in 4A you can't do that because you almost certainly play in a 4A league.

The trick to Indiana sports is that Class 4A has no ceiling and a school of 1500 and schools on 3500 are all 4A. That makes every 4A school formidable and it highlights the achievements of Center Grove which has, far and away, the best record all time in the Indiana state tournament. This still feels like a down year in Indiana softball. There are no dominant teams left and conceivably, although New Palestine vs. New Prairie certainly looks like a mismatch, there seems to be at least 12 teams that could win a state title Saturday.

22nd Indiana State Softball Finals
Semifinals - 6-9-2006
Home Team: The second-named team in each game is designated as the home team.

Semifinal Class A
Hamilton Southeastern (13910 E. 126th Street, Fishers)
Game 1 – Whiting (31-0) vs. Lafayette Catholic (18-9). 6:30 pm
Game 2 – North Central (Farmersburg) (21-4) vs. Lanesville (15-9). 8:30 pm

FISHERS - Whiting will rise and fall on the right arm of pitcher Melanie Dumezich (30-0, 0.41 ERA, 321 Ks, 41 walks, 201 innings) who edged Lakepark Christian 4-3 and Pioneer 1-0 Saturday. You still get the feeling that Whiting has not faced a tough team. Lakepark (18-8) and Pioneer (15-12) truthfully do not fall into that category.

Enter Lafayette Catholic (18-9) which faces Dumezich in the early evening game. You don't want to play the night game against a hard-thrower like Dumezich, who has 18 shutouts. catholic dominated the regional, beating Ritter (8-18) 11-1 and Southern Wells (17-8) 4-2. The key appears to be leadoff man and shortstop Jessica Dunten and senior center fielder Mary Beth Reed. the Lafayette pitcher is lefty Maggie Matthew (14-3), who has faced the top teams in the Lafayette area during the regular season, unlike Whiting, which has not faced any of the top teams in NW Indiana.

Lafayette Catholic is an odd team. All but three of their players are freshman or sophomores. But Matthew, the senior pitcher, is not one of them. She pitched a one-hitter in a 4-2 win over Southern Wells in the Lafayette 1A regional title game. Both Wells' runs were unearned as the Lafayette defense was shaky. But Matthew pitched through the trouble.

Lafayette Catholic defeated No,. 3 Clinton Prairie, the defending 1A state champion, which was supposed to be the top small school in the Lafayette area this season. The key for Lafayette Catholic will be to put the ball in play. Dunten dropped down three bunt singles against Southern Wells and she will certainly immediately try that against Dumezich.

In the other half of the bracket, Lanesville is also a one-girl show with 5-foot-10 senior Allison Horton (15-9, 0.62 ERA 295 strikeouts, 34 walks, 21 complete games and six shutouts in 154 innings). Lanesville has been shut out six times but they have played big schools like Jeffersonville and Evansville North. Horton averages 13 strikeouts a game but softball fans know to severely question the numbers of Class A school players. As there is no ceiling on 4A in Indiana, there is no basement on Class 1A and sometimes you can roll up good stats against puppy league caliber players. In the preseason poll, Lanesville was ranked No. 3 and Lafayette Catholic was No. 7 and the reason was a senior returning stating pitcher. Don't look for any blowouts here. Lafayette Catholic has a 7-5 victory over Class 4A Harrison.

Whiting has advanced to the state semifinals twice and has been shut out both times. Catholic, the state girls basketball champ, has a senior pitcher who relies on a curve ball, rather than pure speed. If Whiting gets the lead early, they can and should win. But Catholic, which will be the home team on the scoreboard (a significant factor in the finals) will simply attempt to foul off pitches and wear out the Whiting freshman. I don't think the Oilers have the experience or have played the schedule to win twice here.

Lanesville has the power pitcher (Allison Horton struck out 274 batters in 2005 as Lanesville got to the state semifinals under the lights and they should reach the finals. But I would never bet against Lafayette Catholic. Matthew (70-21 in three varsity seasons) carried her team over No. 3 Clinton Prairie and she has walked only 21 batters all year. Any of the four schools here could win but you always go with the team that has played the toughest schedule and that's easily Lafayette Catholic.

Semifinal Class 2A
North Central (1801 E. 86th Street, Indianapolis)
Game 1 – Frankton (26-2) vs. Bishop Noll (16-15). 6:30 pm
Game 2 – North Posey (26-9) vs. Lewis Cass (25-2). 8:30 pm

INDIANAPOLIS - The clear cut favorite here is Frankton which has defeated Andrean and 2A No. 1 Scecina. Bishop Noll, which is 16-15, not 15-15 as you may have read, has been shut out 10 times and this could easily be No. 11. As good a schedule as Noll has played (all 3As and 4As), they have not played the schedule Frankton has which included 2a No. 1 Scecina, 1A No. 1 Pendleton Heights, 4A Anderson. This is an unusually experienced 2a school with seven seniors. Noll, with senior right-hander Kristen Chico (13-10, 1.39 ERA), has done a great job to get this far but this is a far as they go. There's just too much on the other side. Frankton absolutely buried the LaVille regional champion, Bremen, 8-2 in last year's state semifinals.

Cass dominated Eastside 3-0 and Eastern 2-0 to win the regional title as Ollmay Wilson pitched her third and fourth consecutive state tournament shutouts. Cass didn't play a great schedule. They were in the Twin Lakes Invitational but they didn't meet Lowell (23-8) or Andrean (26-4) because they left after pool play to go to the prom.

It's hard to judge 2A then schedule that North Posey has played in the southwest corner of the state. But North Posey beat Linton-Stockton 1-0 in 17 innings which tells you that they have little offense and an outstanding pitcher. North Posey has allowed only one run in five games. They are probably stronger than Cass.

But you revert back to the schedule the teams have played and Frankton is superior to everybody there. Frankton, the 2000 Class A champion, was 24-6 last year with 5-foot-9 pitcher Kayla Powell and lost the state title game 4-2 to Eastern. This time, Powell and Frankton are too strong for Noll and too schooled for anyone else.

Semifinal Games - Class 4A
Carmel (Cherry Tree Softball Complex, 13989 Hazel Dell Parkway, Carmel)

Game 1 – Martinsville (24-5) vs. Kokomo (21-6). 6:30 pm
Game 2 – Center Grove (28-5) vs. Chesterton (29-1). 8:30 pm

Semifinal Class 3A
Pike (5401 W. 71st Street, Indianapolis)
Game 1 – New Palestine (27-1) vs. New Prairie (30-3). 6:30 pm
Game 2 – Boonville (30-2) vs. Northridge (28-5). 8:30 pm

State Championship Games
6-10-2006 at Ben Davis, 1200 N. Girls School Road, Indianapolis,
Class A - 10:30 am
Class 2A - 1:30 pm
Class 3A - 4:30 pm
Class 4A - 7 p.m.

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