Lowell Senior Little League all-stars whip Indy-Eagledale 12-0 in 5-innings, state semifinals next goal

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

(7-29-2005)

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
LOWELL (5-0)	4	2	0	3	3	-	-	12	8	1
(Indianapolis) Eagledale (4-2)	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	0	5	3

Thursday, July 28, 2005 - 75 degrees, sunny at Senior Little League (age 16 and under)

State Quarterfinals at Portage Little League

WP - Kevin Donovan (1-0) 2K, 2 walks (3 innings)
(Starter) Jon Cap (L) 0K, 0 walks (1 inn.)
LP (Starter) William Hatcher (0-1) 1K, 3 walks (2.7 inn.)

LOWELL (5-0)

Nate Korth (LOWELL) Triple, double, walk

Jon Harker (L) Single, walk, RBI

Matt Kay (CF) Sac Fly, HBP, 2 walks, 2 RBIs

Aaron Corns (RF) Single, 2 walks, RBI

Jon Stoner (2B) Single, HBP, walk

(Indianapolis) Eagledale

Stephen Mills (CF) 2 singles

David Henning (Catcher) 2 singles

PORTAGE (7-28-2005) - You usually don't get any breaks in respect to the competition you face at the state finals. But Lowell got a break Thursday and they made the most of it.

Lowell just massacred the Eagledale all-stars of Indianapolis 12-0 in five innings on the opening day of the Senior Little League Indiana state finals Thursday. It was 4-0 after one inning, 6-0 after two innings and the Marion County boys never got started.

The Lowell 16s expected a tougher battle, but the only thing they had to fight as the game went on was overconfidence. The winners took game one of three pool play games and needed a win either Friday or Saturday to qualify for Sunday's four-team state semifinals.

But here's the rest of the story.

One of Eagledale's best hitters left with his family on vacation after the Indianapolis all-star team won the state finals. Eagledale's best pitcher came up with a sore elbow and spent Thursday at the doctor getting an MRI. Lowell's foe showed up with only 10 players.

Lowell manager Paul Hoffman felt sorry for Eagledale... after the game.

“One of his players went on a cruise and another hurt his arm,” said Hoffman, who imagined being without his top pitcher Jon Cap and cleanup batter Nate Korth. “That would really hurt us.”

Korth continued to spark the attack with two hits and three runs scored. But the Lowell shortstop struck out with one out and two men on in the first inning of a then 0-0 game.

Lowell's Kyle O'Keefe then smacked a hard grounder that Eagledale third baseman Sean Steorts simply missed for a crucial error, giving Lowell a 2-0 lead on a perfect 75-degree day.

After Josh Kuiper walked, Eagledale pitcher William Hatcher fired to first to pick Kuiper off base. But the Lowell runner raced to second and the throw from Eagledale's Jeremy Reagin sailed past shortstop Eric Lane into left field, allowing the 3-0 run to score. After Matt Kay walked, Nick Bolda's single to left made it 4-0 after half an inning.

“We got off to a good start,” said Hoffman. “We hit the ball well and they made some errors and some walks. Our guys didn't have any expectations. We're pretty loose. These guys really don't care who they're playing.”

Lowell's coaches watched their side score two more runs in the top of the second inning to make it 6-0. They then gambled by removing starting pitcher Jon Cap, the 16s top hurler. According to Little League rules, if you pitch more than one inning in any game, you are ineligible for the next game. Manager Hoffman and coaches Tom Stoner and Tom Kay figured that Lowell would hold a 6-0 lead without Cap and removing him allowed him the Lowell varsity right-hander to be available in the bullpen for Friday's game against the Petersburg Little League. If Lowell defeated the Petersburg all-stars, they would almost certainly advance to the state semifinals no matter what happened to them in Saturday's 2 p.m. game against the Indianapolis-based Franklin Township all-stars .

The gamble worked as third baseman Kevin Donovan moved to the mound and shut out Eagledale for three innings while Lowell built the lead. Donovan, the only 15-year-old on Lowell's Senior all-stars, allowed two fourth inning singles but retired the next three hitters.

When Lowell scored three more runs to make it 12-0 after 4 ½ innings, first baseman Zak Hoffman took over and recorded a scoreless inning when Stephen Mills' line drive to shortstop Nate Korth was turned into a game-ending double-play.

“Kevin did a good job for us,” said manager Hoffman. “Just what we wanted. I was glad we came out and scored in the first inning. We've had some slow starts and we can't do that here.”

The early runs led to the removal of Cap as a pitcher and the possibility that he would not be used as a starter in the preliminary round.

“I think I'll stay with what we did at the district. I'll use (Nick) Bolda tomorrow (against Petersburg) and then Jon Harker. I won't use Cap unless we get into serious trouble.”

The best case scenario would be to have Cap's next start be in Saturday's 12 noon state quarterfinal game.

“That's what we'd like ,” said Hoffman.

POOL A --- LOWELL, (Indianapolis) Eagledale, Petersburg, (Indianapolis) Franklin Township

POOL B --- HOBART, (South Bend) Southeast, (Jeffersonville) George Rogers Clark, (Fort Wayne) Georgetown.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Hobart 3, (South Bend) Southeast 0

LOWELL 12, (Indianapolis) Eagledale 0 (5 innings)

(Fort Wayne) Georgetown 00, (Jeffersonville) George Rogers Clark 00

(Pike County) Petersburg 00, (Indianapolis) Franklin Twsp. 00 (late)

Friday, July 29

Petersburg vs. LOWELL - 12 noon

South Bend Southeast vs. George Rogers Clark - 2 p.m.

Eagledale vs. Franklin Township - 4 p.m.

Hobart vs. Georgetown – 6 p.m.

Saturday, July 30

South Bend Southeast vs. Georgetown - 12 noon

Franklin Township vs. LOWELL - 2 p.,m.

Hobart vs. George Rogers Clark - 4 p.m,

Eagledale vs. Petersburg - 6 p.m.

Sunday, July 31

POOL A winner vs. POOL B runner-up – 1 p.m.

POOL B winner vs. POOL A runner-up – 3 p.m.

Senior Little League state title game – 6 p.m.

STATE (16s) FINALS NOTES: Petersburg is in southwestern Indiana's Pike County and they are the District 13 representative. Hobart defeated South Bend Southeast 3-0 in the tournament's opening game Thursday.

Locals at Portage Thursday were understandably projecting a Lowell-Hobart championship game. Hobart and Lowell are major high school football rivals.

I bet they would like that,” said Lowell manager Paul Hoffman. “There'd be about 500 people here.”

Near-perfect weather was predicted for the entire tournament. The only problem might be upper-80s heat for Sunday afternoon's 6 p.m. state championship game.

One tangible advantage to being in Pool 'A' is that the Pool 'A' champion plays at one p.m. Sunday while the Pool 'B' champion plays a 3 p.m. semifinal game. The one p.m. winner will be able to get out of the sun for a few hours before the title game.

Sunday's 6 p.m. winner at Portage plays the Minnesota state champion at 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 6 at Washington Field in Peru, Illinois in the eight-team, Pool play Central States Regional. The Indiana champion plays the Ohio state champ at 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 7 and the the Missouri state champ at 2:30 Monday afternoon, Aug.8.

There will be 12 teams at Peru in three four-team pools. The top two from each pool will be seeded for quarterfinals (Aug. 9), semifinals (Aug. 10) and finals (Aug.11).

The Senior Little League World Series begins August 14 in Bangor, Maine.