Lady Cats start slow, split double header at Bishop Noll

A USA-365 special report by Mark Smith

4-9-2006

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

Game (1) One - Saturday, 4-8-2006 - 41 degrees in Hammond

WP - Kristen Chico (2-2) CG, 5K, 1 walk
LP - Danielle Hill (1-3) 2K, 3 walks (5 innings)

HANOVER CENTRAL (1-3)
Jill Sjoerdsma (C) 2 singles, walk

Bishop Noll (2-4)
Lilliana Cruz (2B) 2 singles, sac bunt, RBI
Jessica Miles (CF) Single, walk
Kristen Chico (P) Double, RBI

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

Game (2) Two - Saturday, 4-8-2006 - 41 degrees in Hammond

WP - Molly Fairhurst (1-0) 1K, 7 walks (4 innings)
SAVE - Danielle Hill #1 1K, 3 walks (3 innings)
LP - Ramona Delgado (0-3) 5k, 0 walks, HBP, 0 earned runs

HANOVER CENTRAL (2-3)
Heather Rebenack (C) 2 singles
Kara Gilbert (SS) 2 singles, run scored

Bishop Noll (2-4)
Allison Rokosz (1B) 2 walks
Courtney Banske (2B) 3 walks
Julianna Esquivel (LF) Single, walk

HAMMOND (4-8-2006) - When Hanover Central lost back-to-back 11-1 and 12-1 to Chesterton and Munster on April 1-2, there was a feeling that the 2006 softball season was going to get ugly quickly. Hanover graduated both starting pitchers off the 2005 Porter County Conference and 2A sectional champions. The replacements, senior right-hander Danielle Hill and junior left-hander Molly Fairhurst had never started so much as one varsity game. Losing twice by 10 runs and then getting a week off had to work on the minds of HC's new players. And a 5-0 loss first-game loss Saturday at Bishop Noll made things look even darker.

But the mood turned around in game two. Freshman leadoff batter Kara Gilbert had two base hits and scored the game's only run. Fairhurst, making her first varsity pitching start, tossed four shut out innings and Hill, who was the losing pitcher in game one, pitched three shutout innings for her first career save in a 1-0 second game victory that revived the possibility that HC can continue to be a winning team.

While the Lady Cats (2-3) were shaky in the outfield, the infield defense was strong and Fairhurst and Hill showed they could win against a quality team, the same team HC defeated in the 2005 sectional championship game.

"I've got nothing to complain about," said long time HC coach Larry McMillen. "Except that we didn't score much. Our pitchers are going to get better. They're going to be pitching quite a bit and their control will get better. They haven't pitched much. I'm happy with them."

"And Danielle looked a lot better in the second game than she did in the first. A lot better. She had more zip on the ball."

Hanover, which started four freshmen in game two of the double-header, has only scored nine runs in five games and that's got to improve. But the 2006 season boils down to Hill and Fairhurst. The Lady Cats, at present, don't have any other pitchers. If the pitchers can hold the opposition to two or three runs, Hanover should eventually get the offense to the point where they win more than half the time. That's why the second game shutout was encouraging. Fairhurst, who pitched a scoreless inning in game one, stranded base runners in Noll's first four at-bats. When the fluffy-haired left-hander walked the first two batters in the Noll fifth inning, McMillen replaced her with Hill, who retired nine of the last 12 batters to record her first save.

"We were trying too hard," said Noll coach Ralph Laramie, who watched his team get shut out for the third time in seven games. "We kept popping everything up. We're just trying too hard to get that one run."

Hanover scored the only run of the game when new leadoff batter Kara Gilbert singled to start the game and moved up a wild pitch. Senior Heather Rebenack lined a single to center to score what turned out to be the only run of the game. Hill allowed only a single to Julianna Esquivel while Fairhurst gave up just a single to Kristen Chico. Fairhurst walked seven, but she is wild enough to cause hitters problems the first time they see her. Hill doesn't have anything special pitch-wise, but she has good control and nice composure even when she's giving up some base hits.

In the first game, Hanover made two outfield errors in the first inning to give the Warriors a 2-0 lead. HC made three infield errors after that, but two of them were throwing errors by Gilbert at third base, which is a new position for her. Of the four freshman, Gilbert, second baseman Lindsey Thompson, first basemen Vicky Wigsmoen and outfielder Jordan Kramer, Gilbert is the most advanced. Thompson and Gilbert clearly have played together for some time, but with senior Andria Trock at shortstop, Gilbert will play third base this season. She was 2-for-6 Saturday but pulled the ball all six times. Thompson, a left-handed hitter, was 1-for-5 with a sacrifice bunt and she made a tag-and-throw double-play that was a key to the second game win.

Freshman basketball point guard Jordan Kramer plays the outfield and is used as a pinch runner. Kramer should improve dramatically as she reportedly has not played youth softball in the past four years. Wigsmoen was 0-for-2 with a sacrifice bunt against Chico, but she was errorless in the field.

The quartet of Hanover seniors Hill, Rebenack, Trock and catcher Jill Sjoerdsma all play crucial roles. Hill will pitch at least half the games and the other three girls bat 3-4-5 in the order. But it's the pitchers who will make or break 2006. And they aren't yet what they will be by playoff time.

"Danielle's doing pretty well for just now being thrown in there," said Sjoerdsma. "Right now, we're working on her consistency. That's the big thing with her. Right now, she's throwing some rises and some curves and a change up and a screwball. She'll be throwing them all by the end of the year."

"Actually, that's the first time I've even caught Molly. She throws everything but a drop. But, with her, it's just building up consistency. I think we'll be fine by the end of the year."

After Saturday, that again seems a possibility.

LADY CAT NOTES: Most double-headers are split. HC traditionally splits the early-season double-header with Bishop Noll. The 2003 state finals' team split a double-header with Noll. The 2004 state championship team lost to Noll and the 2005 team split two games with Noll in April. April games don't mean much. Lake Central beat McCutcheon 7-0 in April of 2005 and lost to the same team at the state finals.

Larry McMillen says that he worries about the catching position for the future.

"We've got two catchers, but they're both seniors. We've got younger catchers but you never know when they're going to eligible."

Noll coach Ralph Laramie, whose girls have already lost to Munster and Andrean, says the schedule will be hard on the team.

"With the double round robin, we play Andrean and Munster again," he explains of the new Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) format. "They took Wheeler off our schedule and they took Whiting off our schedule. Hanover's the smallest team we play now. Of course, our conference breaks up next year and we move into that little city conference. I don't know how that's going to go."

Noll plays in the "Bishop's Cup" Tournament at the end of the season with Andrean, St. Joseph's, Marian, Bishop Luers and Bishop Dwenger.

"I told my AD that we already had Andrean twice and now we may see them three times. Frank (Andrean coach Frank Podkul) is an old Noll guy, but there's no love lost there."

HC coach Larry McMillen and assistant coach Mike Granger, who daughter Amy pitched at Hanover in the early-90s, confirm that Molly Fairhurst is the first left-handed pitcher ever to get into a varsity game for Hanover Central.

Junior Hanover outfielder Samantha Plant, who had March knee surgery after a basketball injury, hopes to be back by the end of the softball season.

"It wasn't the ACL," she said. "It was the meniscus. The recovery time is less. I thought I would gain weight but I lost eight pounds. You lose muscle very quickly. You have to re-learn how to walk."

"I talked to Christie Wick (who had ACL surgery in 2005). When this first happened, she sent me paperwork about what they do during the surgery. Then, when I got in there, I woke up in the operating room and someone was saying, "It wasn't your ACL, it was the meniscus. And I wasn't sure they were even talking about me. I went to sleep thinking it was the ACL. The fist thing I said was, "Could you go get my mom?"

Plant is a coach on one of Hanover's seventh grade boys and girls basketball teams.

"There's so many things you don't know about that's going on while you're playing. I like it. It's fun. The boys are 12 or 13 years old. I think they like me."

HC senior catcher Jill Sjoerdsma, is all but certain to be heading to South Dakota State this fall.

It's in Aberdeen, South Dakota," she said. "I can play softball and they have a department for what I'm going for. Marketing. I may switch into elementary education. It's not official yet. Prairie State offered me a full ride and Calumet College offered to pay half my tuition. But I think I want to get out of here."