Hanover Lady Wildcats go 1-2 in softball opening weekend, including 7-0 loss to Chesterton

A USA-365 special report by Mark Smith

4-03-2007

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

Friday, March 30, 2007 - 52 degrees & partly sunny at Cedar Lake, IN

WP - Nikki Gamblin (1-0) CG, 3K 1 walk, 72 pitches
LP - Jessica Toth (0-1) CG, 0K, 2 walks, 6 ERs, 97 pitches

Chesterton (3-0)
Julie Farmer (SS) Double, walk
Emma Lawson (1B) 2 singles, RBI
Laura Lange (CF) Double, run scored
Nikki Gamblin (P) 2 singles, 2 RBIs, walk
Lauren Wright (2B) 2 singles, RBI

HANOVER CENTRAL (1-1)
Kara Gilbert (SS) 2 doubles

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

Saturday, March 31, 2007 - 51 degrees & cloudy at Munster, IN

WP - Grace UIspas (1-0) 2K, 3 walks (2 innings)
SAVE - Elanor Kennedy (1-0) 2Ks, 0 walks, one hit (3 innings)
Pheobe Conner (starting pitcher) 2K, 2 walks (2 innngs)
LP - Kelsey Jankowski (0-1) CG, 0K, 2 walks

Munster (2-0)
Megan Paradzinski (CF) 2 singles, stolen base, run scored
Kelly Mashura (2B) Triple, single, RBI

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
HANOVER CENTRAL (1-0)	4	6	0	4	8	-	-	22	19	1
River Forest (0-2)	1	0	0	0	0	-	-	1	1	5

Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 65 degrees & sunny at Hobart Township, IN

WP - Molly Fairhurst (1-0) CG, 5K, 2 walks
LP - Natalie Sovuich (0-2) CG,

HANOVER CENTRAL (1-0)
Kara Gilbert (SS) Double, 3 singles, 4 RBIs, 4 runs scored
Jessica Toth (1B) HR, double, single, 4 RBIs, 4 runs scored
Lindsey Thompson (2B) HR, 2 RBIs

CEDAR LAKE (3-30-2007) - There isn't a level of softball that I know of where you pitch and bat against girls three years older than you are. To oversimplify things, that's why Chesterton pulled away from Hanover Central to win 7-0 in Hanover's home opener late Friday afternoon. Hanover has a lot of girls who clearly will be solid varsity players, but Chesterton has a lot of girls who clearly are solid varsity players right now. That's why the Trojans out-hit Hanover 11-3 and broke open a close game with five runs in the seventh inning.

As sunny skies grew gray and the chilly winds of reality shook a decent home crowd, the Trojans (3-0) completed a sweep of three games in three days with a complete game pitching performance from No. 2 pitcher and first time starter Nikki Gamblin. Hanover, which started three freshmen and three sophomores, was held in check until the seventh inning when Chesterton got five hits in a row to ice the game.

"This game was a lot like our first two," said Chesterton coach Lou Ann Hopson, who had watched her team defeat Gavit 8-0 Lowell 8-4. "We start out slow and then we adjust."

Hanover coach Larry McMillen doesn't like to lose but he understood why this happened.

"We'll get better with age," McMillen said. "We'll grow up quick."

The game was even until the top of the fourth when Laura Lange hit a deep drive to the center field fence with one out. HC center fielder Samantha Plant, who caught three deep Chesterton drives on the day, could not grab this one, which went for a double. Gamblin hit a ground ball single to center and Misty Bottos' sacrifice fly made it 1-0. Lauren Wright's soft line drive barely got out of the infield, but it got down for a single to make it 2-0.

Gamblin, making her first varsity start, only struck out three, but Chesterton played errorless defense behind her.

Hanover's only real threat came in the fourth inning when Kara Gilbert doubled over the head of Amanda Gough in right field. Toth, who bats cleanup, blooped a single to center field to put runners at first and third. But Toth was thrown out trying to steal second base (she misread a sign), Gamblin struck out HC sophomore Vicky Wigsmoen and Molly Fairhurst hit a one hop grounder to Wright, the Trojan second baseman to end the inning. Gilbert doubled with two out in the sixth but Toth popped up to end that inning. Chesterton, which had a 30-game winning streak last season, scored five times in the seventh on consecutive hits by Julie Farmer, Alexis Paz, Emma Lawson, Dawn McClellan and Amanda Gough. All but Lawson's single were hard hit line drives.

"I thought that Samantha could have caught that ball in center," said McMillen, of the hit that started the scoring in the fourth. "But those are the ones that are tougher for a center fielder. The ones hit right at you. It was a line shot."

"But we didn't hit the ball," added McMillen. "I know they didn't have their number one pitcher (Dawn McClellan), but their No. 2 is pretty good. Don't let this one game fool you. These kids can hit. We have to hit the ball with authority and they know that."

Toth, the freshman right-hander, had a much better day than the final numbers would appear. After six innings, she had allowed two runs and five hits. The Trojans did get four very solid hits in the seventh inning, but the HC newcomer had a chance to win going to the final inning against the defending Duneland Conference champs.

"I thought she did very well," said Hopson. "Toth is going to be good. Larry's got some good kids. "

So does Chesterton, and their kids are bigger, older and stronger. Call it the natural order. The truth is that a team made up largely of freshman and sophomores, no matter how talented, isn't supposed to beat a state-ranked team, made up exclusively of juniors and seniors. Fortunately for the Lady Cats, Hanover is 2A and Chesterton is 4A and they won't meet again until 2008.

"I thought we did pretty well," said Molly Fairhurst, one of only three HC seniors. "I was really pumped up to play them. We did well, but then they started to figure us out. The fourth time through they started to get the hang of it."

Another truth is, when HC schedules 4A Chesterton and 4A Munster on back-to-back days in the first weekend of the season, they know they usually won't win those games. The results are supposed to show up later. Let's see how that works out. The Lady Cats have 15 games in April, including 10 in 13 days starting on April 7. Chesterton seems well on their way. Hanover hasn't started yet.

LADY CATS: Hanover lost 2-1 at Munster Saturday afternoon despite a complete-game, six-hitter from freshman right-hander Kelsey Jankowski. Hanover was held to four singles and shut out for the second consecutive game, but Jankowski allowed only two first inning runs. In the 2007 season opener on April 29, Hanover overwhelmed Class 1A River Forest 22-1 in Hobart Township. Molly Fairhurst pitched the five-inning game and Kara Gilbert had four base hits. Lindsey Thompson and Jessica Toth hit Hanover home runs.

Hanover catcher Danielle Sampagnaro hurt her hand in warm ups against Chesterton and re-injured it in the fifth inning. Ashley Warnoff played the final three innings behind the plate. Second baseman Lindsay Thompson was away at a volleyball clinic. Molly Fairhurst and Shannon Kiraly played second base.

Hanover has a week off before they travel to LaVille for the eight-team "Queen of Diamonds' tournament on Saturday, April 7. The top team in the tournament according to the misleading preseason rankings is 2A No. 4 Eastside, a team Hanover Central could not see before the state finals. Also in the field are 2A No. 6 Winamac and 2A No. 10 Delphi. Class 1A No. 9 Clinton Prairie will also be in the house. The third place and championship games begin at 7:30 p.m. LaVille is the high school that serves Lakeville and LaPaz. The school is in Lakeville about 20 miles south of Plymouth.

The pairings have been announced for May's eight team Porter County Conference (PCC) softball championship tournament and Hanover and Boone Grove are in opposite brackets. Hanover hosts LaCrosse in a quarterfinal game on Friday, May 11. Boone will play a May 11 quarterfinal at Kouts. The semifinals and finals will be held May 12 at LaCrosse.

2007 HANOVER CENTRAL (1-2)
PCC games in CAPS
3-29 (W) 22-1 at River Forest (0-2), 5 innings
3-30 (L) 0-7 Chesterton (3-0)
3-31 (L) 1-2 at Munster (2-0)

'Queen of Diamonds' Tournament - at LaVille (3 games)
4-7 (S) vs. (MC) Marquette - 11:30 a.m. - quarterfinals

4-10 (Tu) at North Newton - 4:30 p.m.
4-11 (W) MORGAN TOWNSHIP - 4:45 p.m.
4-13 (F) at Bishop Noll - 4:30 p.m.
4-14 (S) at HEBRON - 11 a.m.
4-17 (Tu) at Wheeler - 4:30 p.m..
4-18 (W) at Lowell - 4:30 p.m.
4-19 (Th) Beecher, Ill. - 4:30 p.m.
4-21 (S) LaCROSSE - 11 a.m.
4-25 (W) Morton - 4:30 p.m.
4-27 (F) at KOUTS - 4:30 p.m.
4-30 (M) at Rensselaer - 5 p.m.

5-1 (Tu) at SOUTH CENTRAL - 5 p.m.
5-3 (Th) at BOONE GROVE - 4:30 p.m.

Twin Lakes Invitational (3-5 games)
5-4 (F) pool play - 5 p.m. or 6:30 p.m.
5-5 (S) pool play - morning
5-5 (S) pool play - afternoon

5-8 (F) at WASHINGTION TOWNSHIP - 4:30 p.m.

Porter County Conference (PCC) Finals
5-11 (F) quarterfinals - 5 p.m.
5-12 (S) semifinals and finals (10 a.m. - 12 noon - 3 p.m.)

5-18 (F) Whiting - 5 p.m.
5-19 (S) Crown Point - 11 a.m.

2A Sectional (HC, Noll, Wheeler, Boone & Lake Station)
5-21 (M) quarterfinals - (TBA)
5-23 (W) semifinals - (TBA)
5-25 (F) championship - (TBA)

2A Regional (at LaVille)
6-2 (S) semifinals - (TBA)
6-2 (S) championship - (TBA)