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Dyer 12s beat Lowell 13-0,
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USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
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| Team (Record) / Inning | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| DYER (5-0) | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | - | - | 13 | 9 | 0 |
| LOWELL (5-1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 4 | 0 |
Thursday, July 12, 2007 - Little League 12s - District II semifinals at MUNSTER, IN
Matt Ruberry (2-0) CG, 6K, 0 walks (49 pitches)WP -
LP - Danny DeBoer (2-1) 2K, 0 walks, one inning (17 pitches)
DYER (5-0)
Alec Pickett (PH) HR, 2 RBIs
TJ Lorich (RF) HR, double, 2 walks, 2 RBIs
Matt Ruberry (P) Single, 2 walks
Danny Starcevich (2B) Double, Sac. Fly, 2 RBIs
Nick Kellems (CF) Double, 2 RBIs
Jason Gasser (SS) Double, single
LOWELL (5-1)
Bryan Thomas (SS) 2 singles
12-year-old all-stars (12s) Pool A at Munster Little League - pool play
7-5 (Thu) Munster 22, CP 0; 7-5 (Thu) DeMotte 6, Lake Village 2
7-6 (Fri) Munster 24, Hebron 0; 7-6 (Fri) CP 19, Lake Village 2
7-7 (Sa) Munster 15, DeMotte 0; 7-7 (Sa) CP 11, Hebron 0
7-8 (Su) Hebron 4,. DeMotte 3; 7-8 (Su) Munster 29, Lake Village 0
7-9 (M) CP 13, DeMotte 3; 7-9 (M) Hebron 9, Lake Village 5
12-year-old all-stars (12s) Pool B at DYER Little League - pool play
Wheatfield 18, Whiting 10; Dyer 11, Hessville 0 (4 innings)
Robertsdale 13, Whiting 3 (5 innings); Hessville 9, Wheatfield 4
Dyer 24, Whiting 0; Robertsdale 12, Wheatfield 1
Dyer 10, Robertsdale 0; Hessville 18, Whiting 1
Dyer 14, Wheatfield 2; Robertsdale 1, Hessville 0
12-year-old all-stars (12s) Pool C at Highland Little League - pool play
Roselawn 3, Hobart Township 0; Lowell 11, Irving 0 (4 innings)
Highland 12, Roselawn 0 (4 innings); Irving 8, Hobart Township 7
Lowell 6, Roselawn 2; Highland 30, Hobart Township 0 (4 innings)
Lowell 1, Highland 0; Irving 8, Roselawn 2
Lowell 20, Hobart Township 1; Highland 20, Irving 0
12-year-old all-stars (12s) District II
finals at the - Munster Little League -
single-elimination
7-11 (W) Robertsdale 4, Highland
0; 7-11 (W) LOWELL 7,
CROWN POINT 5
7-12 (Thu) Munster 18, Robertsdale 2 (4
innings); DYER 13, LOWELL 0 (5 innings)
7-13 (F) DYER (5-0) at Munster (5-0) 7:00 p.m.
*Winner advances to the Best-of-3 Sectional
playoff series against the District I
champion on Monday, July 15 or Tuesday,
July 16
at the home of District II champ.
State Finals begin July 26 against the Sectional 3 champion at the FOP Field
in West Lafayette at 6:00 p.m.
MUNSTER (7-12-2007) -
The semifinals were a disappointing and anticlimactic. But the final
won't be.
Munster's 18-2 win over Robertsdale and Dyer's 13-0 victory over Lowell set up the District II championship matching the two favorites. But the two games that created the matchup of undefeated 12-year-old all-star powers were ugly, to say the least.
Lowell's state tournament run came to a sudden end in the single-elimination round of the District II finals late Thursday as Dyer scored early and often for a 13-run romp, ending one of the best-ever post-season runs for the Lowell Little League in the 12-year-old bracket.
"We played five excellent games," manager Roland Thomas told his team.
"I'm not counting this one. You've come as far as any Lowell team has
ever come. We're building the program. The 10s are playing their
butts off. And you guys did a great job. I'm proud of you."
Lowell might have reached the final district game if top pitcher Danny
DeBoer had been 100% healthy. It appeared that Thomas pulled DeBoer
out of a 1-0 game in the second inning because of the new Little League
pitch count rules. But after the game, Thomas said that he couldn't go
any further with DeBoer.
"He came in after the first inning and told me he didn't now how much further he could go," said Thomas. "When he gave up that home run in the second inning, I got him out of there."
Thomas pulled DeBoer out after just 18 pitches. The new pitch count rules say that a pitcher who throws less than 21, can come back the next game. But the line drive home run by Dyer cleanup batter TJ Lorich indicated that DeBoer might not be right. Dyer (5-0) went on to score two more runs in the second inning and 10 more the rest of the way in what turned into a romp.
Lowell didn't have any other pitchers who could handle Dyer batters, who
outscored four pool play foes 59-2. The Lowell 12s would have to settle for
being the third best (Munster outscored four pool play opponents 80-0)
all-star team in the district.
There was a feeling all along that the final 12s game in District II would
come down to Munster and Dyer, but nobody was sure when DeBoer, who had
previously shutout Highland 1-0 in pool play, retired Dyer in order in the
first inning. Lowell had a chance to take an early lead when Bryan
Thomas singled off Dyer pitcher Matt Ruberry with two out in the bottom of
the first inning. But DeBoer, who hit a home run in Lowell's 7-5
quarterfinal win over Crown Point the night before, struck out on a 3-2
curve ball. Ruberry didn't throw hard, but he did have a legitimate
curveball that had the Lowell hitters off balance all night.
"We don't see a lot of curve balls like that," manager Thomas said. "I
thought we actually hit the ball fairly well off him, but they made some
nice plays. He spotted his pitches nicely.
Dyer manager Bill McDermott said that Ruberry was his fourth best pitcher.
"We're pitching Antonio (Mostorov) against Munster," he said. "Lorich
is probably No. 2. But Matt has probably pitched the best lately. I
really don't know these boys. I keep getting called back to manage the
team. This is something like my third run now. I don't know
what's going to happen. But when we pitch Antonio, we have our best
defensive team out there. Ruberry is really our shortstop and our shortstop
tonight (Jason Gasser) is really our center fielder. But I don't know
how these boys are. They've never been behind. I don't know how
they'll respond."
Lowell, with five 11-year-olds on the 12-and-under team, would've needed
quite a two-day span to beat Dyer and Munster on back-to-back nights. But
they still finish with a 5-1 all-star mark.
"When Danny told me his shoulder hurt," Thomas explained. "I got him out of there. I may have pulled him a little too quickly, but I was more concerned about him than I was about the game. This game got away from us tonight, but we played five pretty good games before that. Hopefully the 11-year-olds can combine with the five 11 year olds on this team and go one step further."
LITTLE NOTES: Dyer defeated Munster 7-3 to win the District II championship in 2006, but Munster defeated Dyer for the 2006 11-year-old District II crown. The Dyer 12s were eliminated in pool play at the state finals in Merrillville. Dyer has 10 District II titles in the last 20 years.
With Lowell's winning the 10-and-under District II quarterfinals in Cedar Lake Thursday, this marks the first year that Lowell has ever advanced to the District semifinals in both the 10 and 12-year old bracket.
A light rain fell briefly during the Munster-Robertsdale game, but the Lowell-Dyer contest was not interrupted.
Dyer right fielder TJ Lorich was 2-for-2 with two walks.
"He might be 14 for 15 in the state tournament," said manager Bill McDermott. "He's got five home runs so far."
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Revised: July 15, 2007.