Lady Devils' errors allow Lake Central to win sectional semifinal, 5-4 in extra innings

5-24-2006

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Lake Central (22-7)	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	2	5	5	2
LOWELL (23-7)	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	4	11	5

Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 4A LC Sectional semifinal, 71 degrees, sunny in St. John

WP - Angie Funston (14-3) 6k, 0 walks (4 inn.)
Katie Golden (SP - 2K, 1 walk - 5 inn.)
LP - Ryssa Nord (8-5) 4K, 0 walks (8.3 inn.)

LAKE CENTRAL (22-7)
Katie Golden (P) Single, RBI
Ashley Michalski (1B) Single, RBI
Melissa Shofforth (C) 2 singles

LOWELL (23-7)
Kelly Johnson (SS) 3 singles, RBI
Michelle Johnson (1B) Single, walk
Coutney Austgen (C) Single, RBI
Carrie Shelhart (2B) Single, 2 RBIs

Lake Central Sectional (6 teams)
5-22 -Munster 15, Gary West Side 0.
5-23 - Lake Central 5, Lowell 4.
5-25 (Th) Munster vs. Lake Central.
5-26 (F) Highland vs. East Chicago
5-27 (S) Championship - 10 am CDT

Portage Sectional
5-22 - Chesterton 3, Portage 2.
5-22 – Hobart 9, Valparaiso 4.
5-24 (W) Chesterton vs. Hobart. Wed, 4 pm CDT
5-24 (W) Merrillville vs. Crown Point. Wed, 6 pm CDT
5-26 (F) Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4. Fri, 4:30 pm CDT

South Bend Adams Sectional
5-22 – LaPorte 6, Michigan City 0.
5-22 – South Bend Riley 4, South Bend Washington 0.
5-24 (W) LaPorte vs. South Bend Riley. Wed, 6 pm
5-24 (W) South Bend Adams vs. South Bend Clay. Wed, 8 pm
5-26 (F) Championship -Fri, 7 pm

Penn Sectional
5-22 – Elkhart Central 3, Elkhart Memorial 0.
5-22 – Concord 11, Goshen 0 (6 innings).
5-24 (W) – Elkhart Central vs. Concord. Wed, 5:30 pm
5-24 (W) – Mishawaka vs. Penn. Wed, 7:30 pm
5-26 (F) – Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4. Fri, 7:30 pm

Merrillville (4A) Regional
6-2 (S) – Winner at Portage vs. Winner at (SB) Adams. 10 am CDT
6-2 (S) - Winner at Lake Central vs. Winner at Penn. 11:30 am CDT

6-2 (S) Championship – 6 pm CDT

St. JOHN (5-23-2006) It came down to the infield defense, something that was supposed to be Lowell's strength. The Red Devils could have and probably should have defeated defending 4A regional champ Lake Central in the LC Sectional semifinals late Tuesday. But coach Pete Iussig, ignoring all other factors in the 2 1/2 hour contest, boiled LC's 5-4, nine-inning win over Lowell down to the one that mattered.

"We didn't make five plays that cost us," Iussig said after the game. "This was the game we worked for all year. This was the one we pointed to. Their defense made the plays and ours didn't."

Two chain reaction defensive meltdowns in the fourth and ninth innings negated some strong post-season efforts all over the field for the Devils (23-7), who lost a one-run game in the sectional semifinals for the second year in a row.

In the fourth inning, with Lowell leading 2-0, LC's Melissa Shofferth, Katie Golden and Ashley Michalski hit ground ball singles through the infield to make it 2-1. With two out, Allison Aguilera sliced a ground ball that second baseman Carrie Shelhart bobbled. Shelhart picked up the ball and made a low throw that Red Devil first baseman Michelle Johnson thought she scooped out of the dirt. The umpire ruled she bobbled the ball and Michalski followed pinch runner Nicole Nova to the plate to give LC a 3-2 lead.

Lowell tied the game on four hits including an RBI single by senior Courtney Austgen in the fifth inning, and the game rolled on into extra innings. Lowell pitcher Ryssa Nord (8-5) had retired 13 in a row when Shofferth bounced a ground ball single to left and Michalski bounced a hit to center. Iussig decided that Nord had done enough and he went to sophomore right-hander Alyssa Reed (7-1), an arm who was new to LC hitters. Michalski sliced a ground ball that Shelhart grabbed with a diving stop. Shelhart's throw to first baseman Johnson was in time, but that's where LC got a little lucky.

Pinch runner Melissa Magdos raced to third base while Shelhart was making the play for the second out. Everyone thought she'd stop at third, but Melissa didn't know that.

"I told her to turn and look," LC varsity coach and third base coach Keith Hauber would say later. "She turned and went. She didn't look at all. I didn't send her. I wouldn't be sending her. Not on that play."

Magdos charged to the plate and Lowell first baseman Johnson wheeled and made a very low throw that bounced 20 feet in front of the plate, allowing Magdos to score the 4-3 run. Then, instead of calling time out, Lowell catcher Courtney Austgen tried to throw out LC's Katie Golden, who had rounded third base. That throw was also wild and LC had a fifth run.

"I don't know what happened there," said Iussig. "I thought time was out. Maybe we didn't call time."

The unfortunate thing for Lowell is, they didn't need to attempt a pickoff, even with the score 4-3. LC, which began the season with four losses in seven games, was at the bottom of the batting order and next hitter Aguilera was 0-for-3. She quickly grounded out to end the ninth inning.

Hauber sympathized, "what a terrible way to lose the game."

The Red Devils had a ninth inning rally in them. LC star Angie Funston (14-3), who relieved starter Katie Golden at the start of the sixth inning, had retired nine in a row when Nicole Fletcher drove a leadoff double to the left field fence.

One out later, Shelhart slapped an infield hit to short. Michelle Johnson was called out on a 2-2 pitch, but Kelly Johnson's third hit of the game scored Fletcher to make it 5-4.

Sophomore Becca Nida battled Funston to a 2-2 count, but her attempt at a game-tying hit was popped up to the pitcher Funston to end a very dramatic game. A crowd of about 300 fans stayed almost intact until the final out on the huge back lot behind Lake Central high school.

The pitching changes in this game were intriguing. Iussig had both sophomores Kaitlyn Bolanowski and Alyssa Reed warming up in the ninth inning. After two base hits, with one out, he chose Reed, who stepped up from the junior varsity this year to throw no-hitters against Bishop Noll and Kankakee Valley.

"I thought it was the bottom of the order," Iussig said, "and we thought Alyssa's juice (velocity) could get it by them. It did. We got what we wanted. They didn't have a lot of hard hits. Every hit they had was a ground ball through the infield."

It was a difficult end for the six seniors on Lowell's roster and they were very emotional afterwards. The Devils knew the end could come immediately when they drew Lake Central, a four-time state champion. But the season had gone well and most of the girls were three-year varsity players. It was a tough moment.

"It was a great bunch to work with, said Iussig, of Whitney Magley, Meghan Wilbourn, Courtney Austgen, Krystal Pigg, Nicole Fletcher, Ryssa Nord and Carrie Shelhart. "We didn't have any problems this year. They were mentally into the game. They practice hard. They work hard. It's very sad for me to see it end like this because they deserved better. But life's tough some time."

SECTIONAL NOTES: LC coach Keith Hauber tried to surprise Lowell by pitching junior right-hander Katie Golden, a pitcher who had never faced Lowell, instead of tall right-hander Angie Funston.

"Kate has more pitches than Angie does," said Hauber. "I thought she could keep them off balance and I thought she did. They are excellent hitters. I thought we could throw a number of change-ups on them but one girl (Katherine Allert) hit one to the wall and I said, 'Maybe I'm wrong.'"

The move worked in LC's favor when Funston, who came on in relief in the sixth inning, was still strong in extra innings while Ryssa Nord, Lowell's starter, was over 100 pitches and at the end of the line.

Nicole Jamrose, who rose to singing fame this spring on the USA network TV show 'Nashville Star' when she sang her way to a third place finish, threw out the first softball at the game Tuesday. Jamrose, 33, played third base on Lake Central's first state championship team.

Keith Hauber insists he never sent freshman Melissa Magdos, who rounded third on the one out ground ball to Carrie Shelhart, home in the ninth inning. "She never looked," said Hauber. "She never saw the ball. I wouldn't send her on a play like that."

Hauber said he never considered walking Kelly Johnson with runners at first and third and two out, with the score 5-3 for LC.

"I didn't want to put the tying run at second base," he said. "I would never do that. It's 215 (feet) to the fence here. It's hard to hit one out of here. We haven't hit one out all year.

Lake Central loses Angie Funston to graduation, but her replacement is already on the varsity. Sophomore Rachel Weaver.

"Rachel is a very good pitcher," said Hauber. "Things didn't go well early and that put us all in a panic mode. So, I just went with Funston and Golden. And then mostly Funston. Rachel's going to win a lot of games for us the next two years."

Lowell was eliminated at the sectional level for the fifth year in a row. The Devils last won the then-Merrillville sectional in 2001. Lowell has won just two sectional softball titles in school history.

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