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Lowell 12s beat Crown
Point 7-5,
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A
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 |
| CROWN POINT (3-2) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | 5 | 8 | 2 |
| LOWELL (5-0) | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 7 | 9 | 0 |
Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - Little League 12s - District II quarterfinals at MUNSTER, IN
WP - Spencer Kersey (2-0) 3K, 1
walk - 2 2/3 innings (40 pitches)
LP - Kramer Keilman (1-1) 4K, 1
walk - 2 innings (51 pitches)
CROWN POINT (3-2)
Kramer Keilman (P) HR. HBP, RBI
Sam Toporski (LF) 3 singles, RBI
Jordan Tromp (CF-P) Double, single, RBI
Cameron Fisher (3B) Walk, RBI
LOWELL (5-0)
Danny DeBoer (P-SS) HR, 2 singles, RBI, 2
stolen bases
Bryan Thomas (SS) Single, RBI
Jordan Hansen (P-1B) 2 singles, 2 RBIs
Grant Weinman (2B) Double, walk
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) 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 (4-0) vs. Robertsdale
(4-1) 6 p.m.; 7-12 (Thu) DYER (4-0 vs.
LOWELL (5-0) 8 p.m.
7-13 (F) District II championship - 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 p.m.
MUNSTER (7-11-2007) -
Somebody was going to prove something in the second quarterfinal game of the
Little League 12-and under District finals Wednesday night at the Munster
Little League complex.
Crown Point had reached the finals with what was referred to as their 'No. 2' 12-year-old squad. The top team was playing in the state finals of the Cal Ripken state tournament in Kokomo. The CP 12s wanted to prove that they were good, too.
Lowell swept pool play at Highland, but that was in the first round. No one knows for sure, but most from Lowell believed that Lowell had never won so mach as one game at the District finals, certainly none under the present format. The Lowell 12s had to prove they were good, too.
Both teams got the job done, in a way. Crown Point (3-2) took it to the
last batter, putting the tying runs on base with one out in the sixth and
final inning, but Lowell advanced to the District II semifinals for the
first time, getting the final two outs in a 7-5 victory. Lowell moved
on to face undefeated Dyer in Thursday night's semifinals.
The game was altered by the new Little League pitch count rules.
Lowell manager Roland Thomas warmed up his top pitcher Danny DeBoer and
right-hander Spencer Kersey. When DeBoer, with a 3-1 lead, approached
the 20-pitch mark, Thomas replaced DeBoer with Kersey, who pitched through
the fourth inning. The idea was to be able to bring DeBoer back against
Dyer.
"Our No. 2 guy was hurt," said Lowell manager Roland Thomas. "I had to do
that (with DeBoer). Will we start him? I don't know. We've got
to talk about it."
Crown Point saw their all star run come to an end, but they were not unhappy. The CP 12s rallied from a 7-2 deficit and leadoff man Matt Anderson smacked a line drive to left center, which was caught on the run by Lowell left fielder Michael Finigan, who was playing shallow.
"I thought that ball was in the gap," said CP manager Jim Wendrickx, who told his team he felt good about the comeback. "There were times tonight when you could have quit and you didn't. I thought you played well."
Lowell took
a 3-0 lead on singles by Jacob Fontanez, Aaron Hamm, DeBoer and Hansen,
whose hit scored two runs. Keilman hit a second inning homer off DeBoer to
cut the lead to 3-1, but a home run by DeBoer sparked a three-run rally that
upped the Lowell lead to 6-1 in the third.
But Lowell left nine runners on base in five innings and when Lowell went to
Hansen, a third pitcher after taking a 7-2 lead, the game turned. Cameron
Fisher's RBI cut the lead to 7-3 in the fifth and CP mounted a potential
wining rally in the sixth. Keilman was hit by a pitch to start the
inning and Jordan Tromp's RBI double to left center made it 7-4 with nobody
out. CP's Sam Toporski lined an RBI base hit to left center to make it
7-5 and Luke Lambert's one-out single and a wild pitch put the tying runs at
second and third.
Lowell catcher Aaron Hamm made a quick turnaround catch on a short pop foul for the second out, and when Anderson lined what looked like the game tying hit to left center, Finigan grabbed it to end the two-hour game.
Hendricks was aware that many considered the team that the Crown Point Little League sent to the Cal Ripken state tournament to be the superior 12-year-old squad out of CP this summer.
"Yeah, except for the two top pitchers they have," he said. "I think this team is just as good. Except for the first Munster game, we were in every game. And we gave away a couple of runs tonight or we could have won here, too."
LITTLE NOTES: The confusion about the new pitch count rules continued at the District II quarterfinals. At the 12-and-under level, pitchers who throw 21 or more pitches are ineligible for a day and a game. Those who throw 46 or more pitches are ineligible for two days and two games. The limit for pitchers is 85 pitches.
Wednesday's game was close because Lowell pulled ace pitcher Danny DeBoer with a 3-1 lead after he had thrown 18 pitches because they wanted him to face Dyer in the semifinals Thursday night. Lowell manager Roland Thomas then pulled pitcher Spencer Kersey after four innings with a 7-2 lead because he had thrown 40 pitches and he wanted Kersey to pitch a potential district championship game on Friday.
Crown Point rallied against third pitcher Jordan Hansen and almost won the
game, a game that probably isn't close if DeBoer, who is the top pitcher in
the Lowell Little League, pitches the entire six innings. But had
DeBoer pitched all six innings against Lowell, he would have been ineligible
for both the semifinals and the finals.
Munster officials also said the number of pitches a pitcher throws in the
final pool play game does not matter because the district finals is another
level of play. Officials in Cedar Lake at the 10s playoffs said the exact
opposite. The first results indicate that the pitch count rules may be
backfiring. The idea is to save young arms from overuse. But the
rules encourage managers to pitch hurlers 15-20 pitches every day or 40-45
pitches every two days instead of having starters pitch the entire game.
Crown Point all-star Jimmy Wendrickx, who was the starting pitcher in the CP
12s' 22-0 loss to Munster, was not on the roster for the Lowell game. He
had missed most of the season with a back injury and was used against
Munster to save the other pitchers. Wendrickx' best sport is not
baseball, according to his dad, 12's manager Jim Hendrickx.
"He can throw a 40 yard spiral on a line," said his father. "Last year he won the punt, pass and kick competition. And he can run over people. You should see him. He's a small kid, you wouldn't think he could do that. But he's a football player."
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Revised: July 15, 2007.