Lady Wildcats shut out Bishop Noll 4-0 to capture Wheeler Sectional Championship, to face LaVille in Regional Semifinal June 5th

A USA-365 special report by Mark Smith

5-29-2004

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Bishop Noll (17-14)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1
HANOVER CENTRAL (23-7)	0	0	2	0	0	2	-	4	5	0

May 28, 2004, 78 degrees, sunny - Wheeler Sectional Championship

WP - Amanda Wendlinger (17-4) CG #16, Shutout #11, 5 K, 0 walks
LP - Karly Hooker (7-5) CG, 0K, 4 walks

Mandy Miles (Noll) Double
Trisha Sheehy (HC) 2 singles, walk
Rachel Williams (HC) 2 bunt sacs
Kelly Lapota (HC) 2 singles, walk

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
HANOVER CENTRAL (22-7)	0	0	2	0	0	0	3	5	2	2
Boone Grove (7-22)	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	3	4	5

May 25, 2004, 68 degrees, sunny - Wheeler Sectional Semifinal

WP - Amanda Wendlinger (16-4) CG #15, 13 K, 0 walks
LP - Emily Odisoff (0-5) 2K, 3 walks (6 inn.)

Marissa Farver (Boone) Single, RBI, 2 stolen bases
Becky Keller (Boone) Single, run scored
Heather Rebeneck (HC) Single, walk
Bess Copak (HC) Sac Fly, RBI

UNION TOWNSHIP (5-28-2004) - The win didn't have the drama of Andrean's sectional championship upsets of superpower Andrean at Andrean in each of the last two seasons. Hanover Central was thankful for a relatively quiet 4-0 win over Bishop Noll Thursday, clinching the Lady Cats' third consecutive sectional softball championship.

They face a LaVille Regional semifinal matchup with 2A No. 6 Bremen on Saturday, June 5. But, after a year of injury and other struggles, to get one of those brown and gold IHSAA trophies was very satisfying.

"It's exciting," said Trisha Sheehy, who stepped onto one of Hanover's two blue minibuses to inform her teammates of her classes' historical claim to fame.

"I think it's great. I had the choice of coming here (HC)," said senior second baseman Kristina Davis, "or going to Lake Central. I came here because I wanted to play softball and I'm glad I did. I love my teammates. We argue sometimes but I still love 'em."

There was no argument who had the better team on this day. Whether Noll (17-14) was worn out from a 14-inning 2-1 semifinal win over Wheeler 24 hours earlier or whether they simply hadn't seen a pitcher the caliber of Hanover junior Amanda Wendlinger (17-4), Noll never challenged after they could not convert on Mandy Miles' one-out double in the second inning.

"This was the easiest win we've had in some time," said longtime coach Larry McMillen. "Not that it was easy, but it was the easiest we've had."

Hanover came into the title game having scored just 17 runs in six previous games. There is a serious concern that if Wendlinger and the HC aren't perfect, the Lady Cats victory train (18 of their last 20) will be derailed.

"We've scored more runs in these last two games than we did (five) in the whole PCC tournament. We're starting to hit a little bit. A little more than we were."

Sheehy in the leadoff spot is the key to the Hanover offense. The HC left fielder reached twice on slap grounder singles to the shortstop and a walk. Sheehy only scored once in this game but she is the biggest problem for the opposition.

"She and I talk about that a lot," said McMillen. "Her job is to get on base. I don't care how she does it. Whatever she has to do. All she has to do is hit the ball to the shortstop. She has to get the ball down and make things happen like she did early in the year. Both of our slappers (Rachel Williams is the other) did a great job today."

On Thursday, the ball was hit to Bess Copak at shortstop five times and she handled all five without an error. "Bess is a good shortstop," he said. "She doesn't miss a whole lot."

Wendlinger (17-6) was more than good enough, but not at her best. Amanda's three-hit shutout with five strikeouts was solid, avenging a 3-1 Hanover loss at Noll in early April. Wendlinger, the 5-5 right-hander, has pitched more innings (194 strikeouts in 138 innings) than it was thought she would this year after double knee surgery in late December. She is clearly tired and the long gap between the the sectional and the regional will benefit her.

"She's about 85-90 percent," said McMillen. "She's not where she was last year. She's a little mechanical in her movements. She was never mechanical before. I know her knees are bothering her. But I'll take it. I think we have an advantage going to the regional. We've been there the last two years and I don't think any of the other teams there have ever been to the regional."

But the regional game seemed a long way off. This was a day for sunshine and smiles. After a year of being the 'defending state finalist' Hanover Central is back as a sectional champ and just two games from the 2004 state finals.

"This one means more," said McMillen. "We were 5-5 at one time this year. We came a long way."

Class 2A at Wheeler
Bishop Noll 10, Lake Station Edison 1
Hanover Central 5, Boone Grove 3
Bishop Noll 2, Wheeler 1 (14 inn.)
HANOVER CENTRAL 4, Bishop Noll 0 (title)

Class 2A at Fairfield
Glenn 2, Jimtown 1
Bremen 1, Westview 0
Bremen 2, Glenn 1
Fairfield 5, LaVille 1
Championship: Fairfield vs. Bremen

Class 2A at Rochester
Rochester 3, Winamac 0
North Newton 2, Rensselaer 1
Rochester 6, North Judson 0
Rochester 11, North Newton 1 (title)

2A at North Montgomery
Fountain Central 8, North Montgomery 4
Seeger 11, Clinton Central 0 (5 inn.)
Seeger 7, Fountain Central 2
Delphi 6, Sheridan 5
Game 5 – Championship: Delphi vs. Seeger

2A REGIONAL at LaVille
June 5 (Sat) Rochester vs. Delphi (14-13) or Seeger (17-11) 11 a.m.
June 5 (Sat) HANOVER vs. Bremen (23-5) or Fairfield (11-15) 1 p.m.

LADY CAT NOTES: The Lady Cats become the first Hanover Central athletic team to win three consecutive sectional championships. The girls basketball team won back-to-back sectional titles in 2000 and 2001. No HC boys team has ever won more than one sectional title.

Hanover survived against Boone Grove when the Wolves made three errors to give Hanover three seventh-inning runs in a 5-3 semifinal win. Hanover had allowed three unearned runs in the firth inning to allow Boone, which had not beaten Hanover in seven years, to take a 3-2 lead.

McMillen said his team didn't need nine days off between the sectional title game and the LaVille Regional. "Three or four days would be perfect," he said. "Because we tend to get bored with what we're doing."

Senior Rachel Rebeneck said that her teammates have almost all grown up with Larry McMillen, the only coach that Hanover softball has ever had. The Lady Cats are a colorful group of mixed nuts that aren't always on the same page. McMillen grumbles at them and they grumble back, but after some time in the program, they understand where he's coming from.

"He can be mean to us but he's a good guy," she smiled, peaking around to see if her coach was nearby. When we were taking pictures, he came up behind us and grabbed all of us. He's a girl just like us."

McMillen, like everyone else connected with Hanover Thursday, expected to win. Hanover's girls poured ice water over McMillen' to celebrate the victory but the coach saw it coming. After his girls got on the bus, the HC coach whipped out a fresh, dry pair of pants to wear home.

"I was ready for them this year," he smiled. "Last year, I had to ride all the way home with the wet pants on."

Laville is the school that serves the tiny towns of LakeVille and Lapaz in Marshal County. McMillen knows where LaVille is and he knows it's a long way from Cedar Lake. The school district is midway between South Bend and Plymouth on Route 31. Bremen, Hanover's probable regional semifinal opponent, is less than 10 miles from LaVille.

"I've been there," he said. "I refereed a wrestling tournament there once. All I know is that my travel money was more than what I got paid to do it."

Rochester qualified for the LaVille Regional with an 11-1 win over North Newton Thursday.

2004 HANOVER CENTRAL (23-7)
Larry McMillen 25-8 in 2003, 24-5 in 2002, 116-27-1 (last 5 years)

4-1-4 (W) 13-3 (5 innings) River Forest (10-14)
4-2-4 (L) 5-6 at Chesterton (20-6)
4-3-4 (L) 0-5 Munster (23-2-1)
4-10 (L) 1-3 at Bishop Noll (17-14)
4-14 (W) 10-0 at MORGAN TOWNSHIP (12-12)
4-13 (W) 13-0 (5) North Newton (4-16)
4-17 (W) 9-0 HEBRON (15-10)
4-19 (W) 2-1 (8 inn.) Wheeler (15-15)
4-21 (L) 1-4 Lowell (20-8)
4-22 (L) 1-5 at (Ill.) Beecher, Ill. (30-3)
4-24 (W) 11-0 (5)at LaCROSSE (6-17)
4-26 (W) 7-4 at Clark (2-15-2)
4-28 (W) 6-0 at Morton (15-8)
4-29 (W) 4-0 South Newton (8-16)
4-30 (W) 3-0 KOUTS (4-10)
5-3 (W) 15-3 (5) Rensselaer (4-12)
5-4 (W) 1-0 SOUTH CENTRAL (22-6)
5-5 (W) 10-0 Griffith (15-15)
5-6 (W) 8-0 BOONE GROVE (7-22)

Twin Lakes Invitational (in Monticello)
5-7-4 (W) 4-0 Pioneer (17-12)
5-8-4 (W) 4-1 Lewis Cass (17-6)
5-8-4 (L) 3-4 McCutcheon (27-5)

5-11-4 (W) 11-1 (6) WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP (6-18)

Porter County Conference (PCC) Tournament
Saturday games at LaCrosse
5-15 (W) 1-0 at Boone Grove (7-18)
5-15 (W) 2-0 LaCrosse (6-17)
5-17 (M) 2-0 South Central (17-4) title

5-19-4 (W) 7-3 at Gavit (4-20)
5-21-4 (L) 0-1 (9 inn.) at Whiting (24-5)

Wheeler (2A) Sectional
5-25-4 (W) 5-3 Boone Grove (7-22)
5-29-4 (W) 4-0 Bishop Noll (17-14)