Lady Wildcats end season with 2-1 loss to Lady Bearcats at Wheeler Sectional
A USA-365 special report by Mark Smith
5-26-2007 

Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 89 degrees, very windy at Wheeler Sectional Championship at UNION TOWNSHIP, IN

Wednesday, May 23, 2007 - 91 degrees at Wheeler Sectional Semifinals at UNION TOWNSHIP, IN

WP - Kelsey Jankowski (8-4) CG, 10K, 1 walk
LP - Robin Tarnowski (6-20) CG, 6K, 9 walks

HANOVER CENTRAL (19-10)
Kara Gilbert (SS) 2 singles, 2 runs scored
Kelsey Jankowski (P) Double, 3 RBIs
Morgan Austgen (3B) 2 singles, 2 runs scored
Lindsay Thompson (2B) Double, 2 RBIs

Wheeler senior Ashley Marino came through with a long two-run double in the fifth inning and the Bearcats (24-3) held on through a final inning meltdown to give Wheeler the first sectional softball championship in the history of the Porter County school.

"Hanover's a great team," said Wheeler coach Tracy Kirsch.  "There's a little more pressure than when we played them before (a 2-0 Wheeler win on April 17).  There were a lot of nerves today.  We just played our hearts out.  Getting the bunt down.  Making the diving catch.  One through 14.  It was a team effort."

Hanover, which had played a testing schedule that featured six Class 4A schools, including three of the top-10, played a poor game defensively.  Four HC errors, including two prior to Marino's run-scoring double, sabotaged a decent effort by Hanover pitcher Jessica Toth (11-6), who did not have an outstanding pitching day, but deserved a better fate.

In the critical fifth inning, Wheeler's Jenny Simatovich slapped a single to right field.  HC had a play at first base, but right-fielder Jordan Kramer, who had thrown out a runner at third early in the game, threw low to first base.  The next batter freshman Kylie Planck, hit a bouncing ball up the middle.  Second baseman Lindsay Thompson grabbed the ball near the bag as Simatovich crossed in front of her.  The umpire ruled that Thompson did not step on second base and, even though the HC sophomore appeared to tag Simatovic, the Wheeler runner was ruled to be safe.

Shelisa Bolles struck out, but Moreno, who had tripled down the left field line in the first inning, lined a double to the left center field fence to score two runs.

Wheeler did what they had to do to win.  In perhaps the key at-bat of the game, Hanover's Jessica Toth, who has home run power, stepped up in the first inning after Kelsey Jankowski and Morgan Austgen had reached base with infield singles.  Parks, who has over 250 strikeouts for the year, struck out Toth, Lindsay Thompson and Samantha Plant to end the inning.

"I really thought about having Jessica bunt there," said McMillen later, "so we could get one run."

The Hanover coach should not dwell on that decision.  Toth, who hit three home runs on the season, had the 25 mile-an-hour wind at her back.  If she gets a fly ball in the air, the game is probably over in the first inning.  Toth later hit a ball about 225 feet out of the ballpark foul down the left field line.  Wheeler should have scored in the third inning when Simatovic singled to right and HC third baseman Shannon Kiraly threw a bouncing ball to first base on Planck's sacrifice bunt.  But Kramer backed up the play, grabbed the wild throw and threw out Simatovich at third base.  Hanover got back-to-back singles by Plant and Kiraly in the fourth inning, but Kramer was called out on strikes to end that inning.

Wheeler made some memorable defensive plays.  Moreno, Wheeler's catcher, made a diving catch of Austgen's foul pop up leading off the sixth inning.  With two out in that inning, Thompson and Plant both singled.  Kiraly hit a two-out line drive that might have tied the game, but Planck, Wheeler's third baseman, made a leaping catch to end the inning.

In the Hanover seventh inning, Alisha Janes reached base when Moreno fumbled her swinging bunt with one out.  Senior Brittany Ribicki bunted and Planck, the third baseman, threw the ball past first base, putting runners at second and third.  Jankowski hit a ground ball to third base, scoring one run.  But Austgen hit a 2-1 pitch hard on one hop to the pitcher Parks and the 5-foot-10 freshman fired to first to clinch Wheeler's school record 25th win of the season.  Parks struck out seven Hanover batters in the first four innings, but none in the final three.  The Bearcat defense was largely untested during the year as Parks struck out every other batter.  On this day, her defense was the difference in the game.

"We just kept telling her (pitcher Lanay Parks) that Hanover's a good hitting team," said Kirsch.  "They're going to hit the ball.  You have to trust your defense.  She did.  It was a team effort.  And your big hitters have to hit in big games.  That's what we told them.  You have to be at your best when your best is needed."

McMillen was unhappy, but he thought his side was outplayed.

"Wheeler's a good ball team and they deserved to win," he said.  "They did everything right and we certainly did not do what we had to do to win the game.  A couple of balls we hit could have fallen in.  We had a good year.  Wheeler had a better one and they're still having one."

The winner of the Northwest Indiana Class 2A softball sectional has reached the state finals in three of the last four years.  Wheeler didn't seem to realize how close they were to the state championships.

"I am," said Kirsch with a laugh.  "That's what I just told them."

SECTIONAL NOTES:  No Wheeler team has ever reached the state finals in any team sport.

"The closest we came was the volleyball team (that reached the regional final) last year," said Wheeler athletic director Randy Stelter.  "Nobody else has really been that close."

Hanover was shorthanded before the game when Kara Gilbert, a two-year starter at shortstop became ill in school and had to be taken to the hospital.  Gilbert was not at the game and while Morgan Austgen did a fine job defensively at shortstop (she did make one error), Gilbert's bat was missed.  Most at the game thought that Gilbert was not seriously ill and there was word that she may have been released before the 90-minute game ended.

HC played all year without sophomore first baseman Victoria Wigsmoen, who broke her hand in early April.  Had HC defeated Wheeler, Wigsmoen had been cleared by her doctor and would have been able to play at the LaVille Regional on June 2.

Kelsey Jankowski (8-4) pitched a five-inning shutout in the sectional semifinals, a 10-0 win over out-manned Lake Station.  Jankowski also drove in three runs.  Hanover finished the season with 19 victories and 10 losses out of freshman pitchers Jankowski and Jessica Toth (11-6), the most since Beth Wendlinger went 19-2 in 1999.

(2A) HANOVER CENTRAL (20-10, 7-0 PCC)
Varsity Coach Larry McMillem, PCC games in CAPS

 3-29 (W) 22-1 at River Forest (7-14) 5 innings
3-30 (L) 0-7 Chesterton (21-5)
3-31 (L)  1-2 at Munster (22-5)
4-10 (W) 2-0 at North Newton  (7-14)
4-11 - MORGAN TOWNSHIP (cold) to be rescheduled (See 5-16 date below)
4-13 - at Bishop Noll  (cold)
4-14 (W) 2-0 at HEBRON (13-6)
4-17 (L) 0-2 at Wheeler  (25-3)
4-18 (L) 1-6 at Lowell (27-6)
4-19 (L) 1-5 Beecher, Ill. (28-4)

LaVille Invitational  (at Lakeville, In)
4-21 (W) 7-3 Eastside (12-15)
4-21 (W) 6-3 Winamac (20-8)
4-21 (W) 3-1 Eastside (12-15) championship

4-25 -  Morton (10-17) cancelled
4-27 (W) 12-0 at KOUTS (7-12)
4-30 (W) 10-0 at Rensselaer (5-15)
5-1  (W) 10-0 LaCROSSE (4-17)
5-2  (W) 4-1 at SOUTH CENTRAL (15-10)
5-3  (W) 7-0 at BOONE GROVE  (15-11)

Twin Lakes Invitational  (at Monticello)
5-4 (L) 1-2 (Howard Co.) Eastern (20-4)
5-5 (L) 0-4 McCutcheon (26-6)
5-5 (W) 5-4 Western (15-12)
5-7 (W) 3-0  at Bishop Noll (9-19)
5-8  (W) 10-0 Washington Township (14-12)

Porter County Conference (PCC) Finals 
5-11 (W) 10-0 (5 innings) LaCrosse (4-16)
5-12 (W) 1-0 Hebron (15-8)
5-12 (W) 4-0 Boone Grove (15-11)

5-14 (L) 1-2 at Portage (21-8) 
5-16 (W) 3-1 MORGAN TOWNSHIP (16-5)
5-18 (L) 3-4 Whiting (25-3)
5-19 (W) 3-1 Crown Point (16-14)

2A Wheeler Sectional 
5-22 (W) 10-0 Lake Station (3-18)
5-24 (L) 1-2 Wheeler (25-3) semifinal