Lowell pummels DeMotte 13-3 in 5-innings in Senior Little League (age 15-16); Cedar Lake-Hebron all-stars bow out of tourney

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E
DEMOTTE (2-1)	0	0	1	0	2	-	3	6	5
LOWELL (3-0)	4	0	1	7	1	-	13	10	2

7-11-2003   - 68 degrees, sunny (Senior Little League - age 15-16)
at Creek Side Little League - Lowell
WP -    Brendan Langen (2-0) CG, 4Ks, 3 walks
LP -   Tony Milbourn (1-1) CG, 4Ks, 3 walks

DeMotte (6 singles, 5 stolen bases)
Corey Morse (D) 2 singles, 2 stolen bases
Kyle Jansma (D) 2 singles, 2 stolen bases

LOWELL (7 singles, 3 doubles, 4 stolen bases)
Mike Beier (L) Double, 2 singles, 2 stolen bases
Kyle Metz (L) Double, 2 RBIs
Nick DeVries (L) 2 singles, 4 RBIs
Clayton Miller (L) Single, 2 walks, 2 RBIs
Mike Smith (L) Double, walk, 2 stolen bases

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Roselawn (1-1)	0	0	1	0	1	2	1	5	8	3
Cedar Lake-Hebron (0-2)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	4

7-11-2003 - 71 degrees, sunny (Senior Little League - age 15-16)
at Creek Side Little League - Lowell
WP - Tobin Watson (1-1) CG, 7Ks, 4 walks
LP - Andrew Stalbaum (0-2) CG, 5Ks, 3 walks

Roselawn (6 singles, 2 doubles, 3 HBPs)
Drew Gruber (R) 2 singles
Dane Oxley (R) Single, 2 HBPs
Billy Sudulack (R) Single, Sac. Fly, RBI

CEDAR LAKE-HEBRON (3 singles, 3 HBPs)
Andrew Stalbaum (Hebron) 2 walks, HBP
Ben Green (Hebron) Single, HBP

LOWELL (7-11-2003) - Lowell's Senior all-stars might have had problems on the second game in two nights after several days of rainouts. DeMotte's all-stars might have jumped on them quickly and forced the home team into a tough game in the District II playoffs.

It didn't happen.

Lowell scored four times in the first inning and coasted, rolling by DeMotte 13-3 in five innings in the winner's bracket finale of the five-team double-elimination playoffs. The victory meant that Lowell could start looking ahead towards the sectional playoffs on July 17-19 against the District I champion (Hobart or Valparaiso) at the South Haven Little League.

The Lowell 16s would have to lose Monday night and Tuesday night in the championship round not to take the district crown. While that was possible, Friday night's game appeared highly unlikely.
"We're really loose," said manager John Phillips. "When we get to the next level, if we win one more, that's when you're going to see them tighten up a little bit. Everybody was comfortable tonight. Everybody produced."

Lowell plays with a lot of confidence and clearly has a lot of fun at the Creek Side Little League at the north end of town. Most of their visitors do not. The 16s took an early lead on this night when DeMotte's Mike Nikolas misplayed Kevin Gilbert's high flyball, allowing Mike Beier to score. Beier's double was Lowell's first base hit. Two walks and two stolen bases set up Nick DeVries for a two-run single. Clayton Miller's bases-loaded walk completed a four-run inning against DeMotte right-hander Tony Milbourn.

Leading 5-1 in the fourth inning of a game that started about 8:30 p.m. on a Friday night, Lowell scored seven more. Langen had a two-run single after hits by Beier and Smith. Clayton Miller posted another RBI hit and DeVries got another RBI when DeMotte shortstop Adam Vandermolen made a wild throw on a ground ball, allowing two more runs to score.

Phillips wanted to split up the seven innings of pitching between Langen and Kyle Metz, two Lowell high sophomore right-handers, but the game wasn't going to go seven innings.

"I was going to go three with Langen and come in with Metz," said the manager. "But he (Langen) said let me go, let me go. We've got some depth in pitching but I want to get Metz in there. He pitched on Lowell's junior varsity this year and he did very well."

"We play with a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of confidence. We're very loud. This group hasn't had a lot of success as 10s, 12s and 14s (junior Little League) and they think this is their time. Sometimes I question their desire to win. Their focus. But they keep rolling. It was easy tonight. I actually pulled Metz and (John) Butor, two of our best players."

Phillips went to scout Sectional I Saturday, trying not to get ahead of himself but trying to be prepared as well.

"There's nothing for us to do here (Saturday)," he said. "I want to see them again. Hobart (the team that beat Lowell's 16s last year) looks like the best team. I would really like to play them again."

16s NOTES: Rain postponed play on Sunday (July 6), Tuesday and Wednesday. The winner in Lowell will have to turn around quickly as the playoffs begin at 5:30 on Thursday, July 17. The South Haven Little League (a mile or so east of Portage high school and just south of Route 6) does not have lights so all three (best of 3) sectional playoff games will be in the twilight.

Metz, a basketball and baseball player is only 15 years old but he's playing his final year in Lowell's Little League.

"I'll turn 16 the 27th of July so I don't get another year," he explained. "It's matter of where my birthday falls. So this is it for me. Monday could be my last game. I remember coming here the first year of juniors and this field seemed so big."

The right-hander played on Lowell's junior varsity along with Mike Smith, who pitched over 70 innings. "We did pretty well. I think we were 17-8. I know there's a lot of positions open on the varsity next year."

Cedar Lake and Hebron's 's 16s fell out of the tournament with a second consecutive 5-0 loss. The Cedar Lake Little League combined players with the Hebron Little League to have a senior all-star team. The smaller leagues simply did not have enough players in the age 15-16 bracket to field separate squads. If it was an experiment, it went well.

"We didn't have any problems," said manger Dan Vukobratovich, who is from Cedar Lake. "The idea was that everybody get to play. Everybody pays. The parents all pay for their kid to play. He should play. And not just the mandatory one inning."

"Sometimes, one kid thinks he's great and he starts picking on another kid. If you establish that tone at the start, you don't have any problems. We had all good kids. The better players were actually from Hebron but everybody seemed to get along."

Vukobratovich, whose boys will be 16 and 17 next year, said, "I'm retiring. I've been out there almost 20 years. One of the reasons I think it's time (for him to retire as a coach) is that I think my boys need to play for someone else. It's not because I don't want to do it. It's time for them to experience someone else."

Vukobratovich's wife Kim heard her husbands comments and said, "No, No," she said. "You've got to come back one more year. They'll talk him into it."

Cedar Lake catcher Michael Wendlinger, a Hanover Central sophomore, returned to play. He threw out a base stealer and went 0-for-2 with a hard line drive to left field. Wendlinger was in a minor car accident and had been unable to play for a couple of weeks. Ironically, Wendlinger's older sister Beth, an HC graduate also survived a car accident recently, the four car chain-reaction accident that killed HC graduate Todd Szayni in June.

The CL-Hebron double play team was brothers Scott and Joe Sharpe, who played well defensively and reached base three times in eight combined trips.

SENIORS (ages 15-16)
double-elimination in LOWELL
At LOWELL   - July 5
LOWELL 11, Roselawn 7

At LOWELL   -   July 10
DeMotte 5, HEBRON-CEDAR LAKE 0
LOWELL 5, Wheatfield 3

At LOWELL   - July 11
Roselawn 5, HEBRON-CEDAR LAKE - 0
LOWELL 13, DeMotte 3

At LOWELL   - July 12
Roselawn vs. DeMotte - 5 p.m.

At LOWELL   - July 13
Roselawn or DeMotte vs. Wheatfield

At LOWELL   (Monday)   July 14
LOWELL vs. DeMotte or Roselawn - 8 p.m.

At LOWELL   (Tuesday) July 15
LOWELL vs. DeMotte or Roselawn - 5:30 or 8 p.m.
(Winner faces the District I champion in a three-game
series July 17-19 at the South Haven Little League)