Lowell 14s defeat DeMotte 11-6, Advance to Junior Little League State Finals
	A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith 7-10-2010

The Lowell 14s won the Little League District 2 Championship, 7-09-2010.   (All Photos by Mark Smith)

Junior Little League (14s) District Finals

Junior Little League (14s) all-stars
at Lowell Creek Side Little League

7-5 (Mon) LOWELL 16, HEBRON 3 (6 innings)
7-5 (Mon) DeMotte 14, Roselawn 3

7-6 (Tues) LOWELL 10, Wheatfield 0
7-6 (Tues) HEBRON 12, Roselawn 2

7-7 (W) LOWELL 9, DeMotte 0
7-7 (W) Wheatfield 8, HEBRON 7

7-8 (Thurs.) DeMotte 18, Wheatfield 12

7-9 (Fri.) LOWELL 11, DeMotte 6 (title)

* LOWELL (4-0) advances to the eight-team Junior Little League state finals in Lowell at 12 noon on Thursday, July 29.


Senior Little League (16s) All-Stars
at Lowell Creek Side Little League - Best of 3 game series
7-14 (Wed.) Wheatfield vs. LOWELL - 5:30 p.m.
7-14 (Wed.) Wheatfield vs. LOWELL - 8 p.m.
7-15 (Thurs) Wheatfield vs. LOWELL - 5:30 p.m.*

* winner advances to Sectional best-of=3 playoffs vs. District 1 champ
7-24 (Sat) game one - 12 noon
7-25 (Sun) game two - 12 noon
7-25 (Sun) game three - 2:30 p.m.
 

Junior Little League (14s)
Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
DeMOTTE (3-2)	1	1	0	0	2	2	0	6	10	4
LOWELL (4-0)	4	1	4	2	0	0	-	11	7	4

Friday, July 9, 2010 - 85 degrees, Age 14 and under at Lowell Creek Side Little League, LOWELL, IN

WP - Billy Barker (1-0) 2K, 0 walks (3 inn.)
LP - Matt Myers (1-1) 0K 2 walks (0 in.)

DeMotte (3-2)
Jerzy Dunlap (CF) 1-for-4
Anthony Clendenon (S) 0-for-4
Zach Fox (3B) 2-for-4
Matt Myers (P) 3-for-4, 2 doubles, 3 RBIs
Dan Higginbotham (1B) 0-for-4
Nate Smith (LF) 0-for-4
Tim Schoonveld (C) 2-for-3, walk
Eric Davis (2B) 0-for-4
James Allen (RF) 1-for-1, HBP, walk

LOWELL (4-0)
Alec Shurman (2B) 1-for-3, walk
Logan Schiessle (SS) 1-for-2, Sac. Fly, walk, 2 RBIs
Mitch Finnigan (CF) 1-for-3, HBP, 2 RBIs
Aaron Hamm (C) 1-for-2, 2 walks, RBI
Mick Kopka (3B) 0-for-1, 3 walks, RBI
Jordan Hansen (1B) 0-for-2, 2 walks
Billy Barker (P) 0-for-3, walk, RBI
Seth Anderson (RF) 1-for-3, Sac. Fly, RBI
Jared Koczur (LF) 1-for-4, 2 RBIs

Junior Little League (14s)
Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
LOWELL	0	0	6	3	1	6	-	16	20	3
HEBRON	0	1	0	2	0	0	-	3	5	6

Monday, July 5, 2010 - 92 degrees, Age 14 and under at Lowell Creek Side Little League, LOWELL, INU

WP - Alec Shurman (1-0) 0K, 0 walks (3 innings)
LP - Billy Weaver (0-1) 2K, 3 walks (2.7 inn.)

LOWELL (1-0)
Alec Shurman (P) 5-for-5, 3 runs scored, 2 stolen bases
Logan Schiessle (SS) 3-for-5, 3 RBIs
Michael Finnigan (CF) 2-for-5, double 3 RBIs
Jordan Hansen (1B) 3-for-5, double, RBI
Aaron Hamm (C) 4-for-4, HR, walk, 3 RBIs
Nick Kopka (3B) 3-for-5, double, RBI
Seth Anderson (RF) 0-for-2
Jared Koczur (LF) 0-for-2
Joey Nowacin (2B) 0-for-1, walk

HEBRON (0-1)
Blake Wallace (C) 0-for-2
Drake Early (2B) 0-for-3
Jason Reick (1B) 2-for-3
Jon Hogg (SS) 1-for-3
Billy Weaver ()P) 2-for-3, 2 doubles RBI
Cole Ryder (LF) 0-for-3
Mike MacNeill (RF) 0-for-1, RBI
Austin Riese (CF) 0-for-1
Johnny Weaver (3B) 0-for-1

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LOWELL (7-09-2009) The Lowell Junior all-stars weren't as good as I'd hoped they'd be Friday night, but they were good enough.  The Lowell 14s jumped to an 11-2 lead and they coasted home for an 11-6 win and a four-game sweep of the District II Junior Little League playoffs at the Creek Side Little League.

But it wasn't great.

"We've got to get a lot sharper," said coach Jerry Koczur.  "They went to sleep a little.  They did the opposite of what I thought.  I thought we'd start slow and finish fast."

Trailing 1-0, the Lowell 14s got a break as DeMotte starting pitcher Matt Myers threw his first 10 pitches out of the strike zone, with the 10th toss hitting Lowell's Mitch Finigan to fill the bases.  Relief pitcher Jerzy Dunlap then walked three of the next four batters to give Lowell a 3-0 lead in the late afternoon 5:00 p.m. game.  Seth Anderson's sacrifice fly made the score 4-1.

Leading 5-2, Lowell scored four more times in the third on run-scoring singles by Alec Shurman and Logan Schiessle in front of a two-run double by Finigan.  When Jared Koczur grounded a two-run fourth inning single to center the score was 11-2 and DeMotte seemed all burned out on another 80-degree sun-drenched day.

But Lowell stopped scoring and three errors helped the visitors scored two in the fifth and two in the sixth.  Lowell was never in danger of losing, but they advance to the state finals in two weeks and they won't beat anybody playing the way they did Friday.

"No," said Koczur. "We're in deep trouble if we continue to play like this.  We've got to step up our game.  When Jeffersonville and Brownsburg show up (for the finals), we can beat them, but we've got to step it up big time."

Lowell rolled to wins of 16-3 over Hebron, 10-0 over Wheatfield and 9-0 over DeMotte to reach the title round.  But they won't be playing Hebron and Wheatfield in the state finals.

"We've got two weeks to get together and that's good," Koczur said.  "We had two weeks off before this tournament and the regular season and we can refocus.  I was manager of the 13-year-olds last year, so we know what to expect."

"We got swept.  We got whipped.  But we didn't have half of this team last year.  They were travel ball players.  The 13-year-old tournament is a tough tournament to get ready for, because there was so much time off from the end of the season to the tournament.  But I think we can get just enough practices before our first game.  We know what to expect."

It should not be overlooked that Lowell dominated this tournament.  Marc Shurman had five hits in the 16-3 win.  Hamm and Kopka had home runs in the week's play.  Finigan and Hamm, who bat third and fourth, are the keys.  But this team shouldn't be embarrassed when the top 14-year-old teams in the state get to South Lake County.

"Mitch Finigan is an all-around player," Koczur began. "He gives 120% all the time.  A little quiet but a great kid.  Austin Hamm.  The older he gets, the more mature he's getting.  He does all kinds of sports so he has to manage his time.  Logan Schiessle is solid.  Alec Shurman, too.  We don't have a superstar.  Just a bunch of good kids."

A bunch of good kids who face a golden opportunity next week.  Lowell can qualify for the state finals any year.  But they can't play in on their home field every year.

"It's nice to sweep," said Koczur.  "DeMotte's a good team.  I'm glad we were able to gel all our egos together.  But now, it's back to work."

LITTLE NOTES:  Lowell will play Thursday, July 29 at 12:00 noon, Friday, July 30 at 2:00 p.m. and Saturday, July 30 at 5:30 p.m.  They are guaranteed those three "pool play games."

The July 30 games will be against the District 1 champion, a league from Lake or Porter County.  Lowell has a definite style of play.  They try to take advantage of the opposing catcher as much as possible.  In the opening game, Lowell rolled up 20 base hits, stole six bases, forced some of the six Hebron errors and definitely set out a blueprint on how they hope to win a lot of games this month.  In the 11-6 win over DeMotte Friday, they stole five base and "forced" four errors.

"We're going to run until someone stops us," said coach Scott Koczur.  "I'm sure eventually someone will.  But we know the teams we're going to see here (in the five-team District 2 finals) and we're pretty sure what we can do against them."

Billy Barker is the younger brother of Jeff Barker, who was a football star for Lowell and Played at Ball State.  His older sister Gretchen was a varsity basketball player for Lowell.  Logan Schiessle's cousin is 2010 graduate Jessica Schiessle who played volleyball, basketball and softball for Lowell.

There are only two Senior Little League (age 16 and under) all-star teams in District II so they will decide who advances to sectional play with a best-of-three game series the weekend of July 24-25.