Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
HANOVER CENTRAL (7-5)	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	4	6
BEECHER (20-2)	3	5	2	0	0	0	-	8	7	0

BEECHER, ILL (4-18-2012) Last Wednesday was a very good day for Hanover Central. The Lady Cats improved to 7-4 on the season. They topped Lowell 5-0 to win their fourth game in a row and they looked good doing it. Then came Thursday. And it wasn't good. Hanover committed five errors in the first two innings and gave up eight runs, losing a 90-minute quickie to Illinois small school power Beecher 8-1.

Freshman Hanover right-hander Jessica Whittemore (2-1) pitched a complete game and allowed just seven hits and a walk. But she had no chance to win as Hanover's defense broke down early and often.

Beecher, the 2004 and 2007 Illinois Class A state champ, scored in the first inning when first baseman Taylor Hurst could not hold the throw to first on Meg Gliva's leadoff bunt. One out later, Beecher's Savannah Soppet smacked a hard ground ball that got though HC second baseman Tina Zykowski, putting runners at first and third. Clean up batter Sarah Crews then fouled off three pitches before she hit a long three-run homer to left center.

The Beecher second inning was highlighted by a two-run double from Crews, who also pitched a complete game victory. The Bobcats didn't score after the second inning, but they didn't have to. Hanover wasn't going to get eight runs off this pitcher.

When the score was 8-0, Hanover warmed up sophomore Ashley Yoways, the top Hanover pitcher. But HC coach Larry McMillen didn't want to use her and he didn't.

"We've got four more games this week," McMillen explained. "This should have been a 3-1 or 4-1 ball game. Jessica (Whittemore) didn't pitch badly. But we didn't do anything to win against a team like this."

Hanover (7-5) was coming off a 10-1 win over Boone Grove and a 5-0 shutout of Lowell. Yoways (5-4) pitched both of those games, but Whittemore had won her last game against Bishop Noll.

"We've played very well for a while now," said McMillen. "But not today. Some of the girls acted like they didn't want to be here. I don't know why."

Hanover's only run scored in the fifth on a homerun by sophomore shortstop Ivy Dawson, but HC could not string together consecutive base hits all day. They seemed quiet and tired.

McMillen, who had a long talk with his team in the outfield after the very short game added,"Maybe I should have yelled at them before the game started."

LADY CAT NOTES: The reason Beecher (20-2) has already played 22 games in late April is that you can play 35 games in Illinois. Indiana schools can play 28 games at the most. It's a similar situation to basketball where Illinois teams can play 28 games and Indiana teams are limited to 22. There is no real explanation except that Indiana, as a state, has always been (and been proud of being) about 20 years behind the rest of the nation when it comes to, among a lot of other things, high school sports.

The class sports debate many want to have again now in Indiana was decided over a generation ago in the rest of the country.

Beecher grad Jenna Grim, who played on their 2007 state title team and is now an assistant coach, will again play for the Chicago bandits professional softball team this summer.
Grim, who was a rookie catcher with the Bandits last season, graduated from Loyola of Chicago as their No. 2 all-time (31 homers in four years) leading homerun hitter. She batted .292 in 2011 as a rookie for the Bandits, who won last year's National Pro Fastpitch playoffs and championship series over the Florida-based USSAA Pride.

Hanover Central's Blayr Poston, who missed six games with a hip problem, will be back this week. She was with the team in Beecher and is OK to play. Junior outfielder Tiphani Ward was to see a doctor last Friday about her back problem and it isn't certain when she'll return. Hanover again played with just nine players Thursday.

Hanover coach Larry McMillen was still unhappy with the draw at the Twin Lakes Invitational, which matched his team immediately (in a Friday night game on May 4) against sectional rival Andrean, a team they already meet during the regular season.

"We already play Andrean in the first game at Crown Point (the Crown Point Invitational) and they are in our sectional," said McMillen. "Twin Lakes did that because they didn't want Andrean in their pool at their tournament. I'm going to say something about that when we get there."

Copyright © 2012 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp.  All rights reserved.
Revised: May 02, 2012.