Harris Twp beats Crown Point 2-1 to win Babe Ruth (age 15) state tournament area title game

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Crown Point (7-2)	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	4	0
Harris Township (8-1)	1	0	0	0	0	1	-	2	5	1

Babe Ruth age-15 state tournament area title game, 7-14-2003
76 degrees, at Ron Reed Field (Fox Park) in LaPorte
WP - Ben Nehls (3-0) CG 5K, 0 walks
LP- Chris Sarhoff (3-1) CG, 1K, 2 walks

Harris Township
4 singles, double
Garrett Harris (HT) Single, RBI
Mike Huling (HT) Double, run scored

CROWN POINT
3 singles, double
Anthony Pulver (CP) Single, RBI
Jon Sertich (CP) Double, single, run scored

LaPORTE (7-14-2003) - There is a gold standard in Indiana baseball. Even though LaPorte has the most high school state titles, when you talk about youth baseball, it's Harris Township, the large area that feeds Penn high school.

Crown Point boys who go through Little League battling Dyer, then substitute Harris Township during their Babe Ruth years.

That's why when CP roared through the winner's bracket at the area Babe Ruth finals for 15-year-olds last weekend at LaPorte's Ron Reed Field, they knew it wasn't over because Harris Township was winning in the loser's bracket.

The concern was well-founded. In two heated battles, Harris reversed an earlier 2-0 loss to CP, beating Crown Point 5-0 and 2-1 to advance to the 2003 Northern Babe Ruth State finals.

An infield hit by, appropriately enough, Garrett Harris, drove in Mike Huling from third base and gave Harris (8-1) the eventual winning run. CP shortstop Tommy Wise slipped and fell while trying to field the ball and his throw was late. But the story was that after winning 10-0 and 6-0 over Clay and Dyer, CP (7-2) was held to just three runs in the final three games.

"We won the winner's bracket here," said Mark Wise. "Our guys did a great job. They're good. We never got up on them. They're never behind. If we'd have gotten up on them, they'd have started to press. When we got up on them, they started grounding out and popping up. But we didn't get ahead."

Harris manager Frank Shindledecker spoke of why CP didn't get ahead. "I told our boys that we're the only team that could've come through the winner's bracket here and still have a good pitcher at the end."

After CP's Chris Sarhoff had pitched a 2-0 shutout over Harris in the second round of the tournament, Harris Township's Mike Huling pitched a shutout to beat CP in the first game of the championship round.

On Monday night in LaPorte's Fox Park, Harris took an early lead against Sarhoff on Evan Sobecki's first inning single. CP did not get a baserunner against Harris pitcher Ben Nehls until the fourth inning when leadoff man Jon Sertich singled. Sertich immediately tried to steal second base and was thrown out by catcher Garrett Braker.

"That was a missed sign," said Wise later. "My steal sign is to pull on my pants and I put my hands on my belt and he thought it was the steal sign. They're 15 years old. That happens sometimes."
The result was that CP had three base runners in the fourth inning and didn't score. Matt Dobin reached base on an error with one out and Adam Kennedy, who was selected to play in the North-South Babe Ruth all-star game, singled with two out. But Tommy Wise popped up on the first pitch and Harris maintained the lead.

In the sixth inning, CP tied the game when Sertich doubled over the head of centerfielder TJ Shindledecker with one out. Dobin grounded out but Pulver's infield hit to deep short tied the game.
But in the sixth inning, Mike Huling sliced a line drive into right field that bounced past the right fielder for a double. After Sertich got Sobecki and Nehls to fly out, Harris hit the playable grounder to short on which Tommy Wise slipped and couldn't make the play. Nehls, who did not walk a batter, put CP down 1-2-3 in the seventh inning.

"The big difference between this year and last year was our pitching," said Shindledecker. "We have more pitching this time and we know what to expect. We played five games in three days."

"We played the best team in the area," said CP manager Mark Wise. "It was a one-run game and I'll take that again. If you told me we'd have one game (for the title) against Penn and it would be 2-1, I'd take that chance again. "

With the Babe Ruth 15s finishing at 7-2 and the 14s ending up at 7-3, manager Mark Wise saw a bright future for Crown Point baseball. "If you combined the boys who will be juniors next year, a select few, with these sophomores and the freshman group coming in. When these guys are sophomores, juniors and seniors, Crown Point high school is going to be pretty tough. Plus coach (Steve) Strayer who has turned the program around in one year. There's a lot of good times ahead for Crown Point baseball."

RUTH NOTES: Both fans groups were very vocal during the championship games. One LaPorte official said, "We had to call the police yesterday (Sunday) to calm things down. The boys are okay. It's the fans that are getting out of line." Monday's matchup was spicy but the fans weren't any worse than a typical Crown Point-Dyer Little League game back home in Lake County.

Adam Kennedy was selected to go to the Babe Ruth all-star game in Highland this weekend. Kennedy hit a two-run homer for the only runs in last Friday's 2-0 win over Harris. "The Kennedy kid, he's a stud," said Harris manager Frank Shindledecker. "There's no two ways about that."

All of the Harris Township players attend Penn high school. "Except for one who goes to Mishawaka," smiled manager Frank Shindledecker. "And we keep him hidden."

Crown Point may not know that after this same Harris team beat them in 2002 in the 14-year-old championship round in Dyer, Harris advanced to the Babe Ruth League World Series. There is every opportunity that these two have not seen the last of each other. All of CP's squad except Matt Dobin (KV) and Anthony Pulver (Andrean) attend Crown Point high school. Penn and Crown Point can meet every year in the Class 4A baseball regional.

"I didn't get everyone in," said Mark Wise, "and I'm sorry about that. The guys who didn't get to play. All through the tournament, I never heard one of them complaining because they weren't playing. I didn't hear any negative comments. All 13 guys contributed. They were ready when I called on them."

With his son Tommy finishing his time in the Babe Ruth League, Wise's time as league president and all-star manager has also come to an end.

"I'm done," he said. "I'm going to sit back for the next three years and watch from the bleachers. I've never watched from the bleachers. My wife says I'm gong to miss it (coaching) but I don't think so. I've done my part. I'm a little tired and I'm ready to sit beside my wife in the stands."

In the 2002 Babe Ruth World Series, at the 14-year-old level, Harris Township lost two of three games. "We were in every game except against the team that eventually won it, a team from Vancouver, Washington."

The state tournament has been moved to LaPorte but Harris Township has mixed feelings about that. "We liked it at Marion," said Shindledecker. "That was the best field we played on all the way through the World Series. But travel-wise, this is better. Some of us work during the day."

Ron Reed Field is a small portion of Fox Park, a heavily wooded area in LaPorte near Clear Lake, a very shallow, still body of water on LaPorte's northeast side. The state finals will be held at LaPorte high school, which does not have lights. Harris Township was to begin play at 3 p.m. Thursday but other areas of the state reportedly were delayed by rain.

BABE RUTH (15s) All-Stars
double-elimination in LaPorte (Ron Reed Field)
Winner's bracket: DYER 6, LaPorte 4
Harris Township 7, St. John 0
CROWN POINT 10, Clay 0
DYER 14, Griffith 2
CROWN POINT 2, Harris Township 0
CROWN POINT 7, DYER 6

Loser's bracket: Clay 10, ST. JOHN 0
Griffith 3, Clay 0
Harris Township 7, LaPorte 6
Harris Township 13, DYER 3
Harris Township 10, Griffith 1

Championship round: Harris Township 5, CROWN POINT 0
Harris Township 2, CROWN POINT 1 (title)

Harris Township advances to the Northern Babe Ruth state finals series beginning Thursday, July 18 at LaPorte high school.