Lowell Senior Little League all-stars fall 9-8

to Petersburg in state finals pool play

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

(7-31-2005)

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Petersburg (2-0)	5	0	2	0	0	2	0	9	10	0
LOWELL (5-1)	3	0	0	2	0	3	0	8	8	1

Friday, July 29, 2005 - 80 degrees, sunny at Senior Little League (age 16 and under)

State Quarterfinals at Portage Little League

WP - Colton Wilson (1-0) 6K, 8 walks (5.3 inn.)

Laban King (Save) 0K, 0 walks ( 1 inn.)

Les Osburn (Starter) 9K, 1 walk

LP - Jon Bolda (1-1) 0K, 1 walk (0.7 inn.)

Jon Cap (Starter) 9K, 11 walks (6.3 inn.)

Petersburg (2-0)

Colton Wilson (LF) 2 singles, walk, RBI

Trent Barrett (2B) Triple, double, walk, single

Laban King (RF) Single, 2 walks, RBI

Kyle Hathaway (CF) Single, 2 walks, RBI

Calub Hulfachur (SS) Single, 2 walks, RBI

LOWELL (5-1)

Matt Kay (CF) 2 singles, HBP, walk

Zak Hoffman (1B) HR, walk, 3 RBIs

Jon Stoner (2B) 3 singles, walk, 3 stolen bases

Josh Kuiper (Catcher) Single, 2 walks, RBI

Kyle O'Keefe (LF) Single, walks

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 7, (Jeffersonville) George Rogers Clark 1

(Pike County) Petersburg 0, (Indianapolis) Franklin Twsp. 10

Friday, July 29

Petersburg 9, LOWELL 8

South Bend Southeast vs. George Rogers Clark (late)

Eagledale vs. Franklin Township (late)

Hobart 9, Georgetown 3

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.

State Final 4 (single-elimination) Sunday, Aug. 1
Top 4 teams from pool play reach the semifinals

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.

PORTAGE (7-29-2005) - Lowell still thought they had the best Senior Little League team Friday after losing 9-8 to Pike County's Petersburg all-stars in the 2005 state finals. But beginning Saturday, the Lowell 16s were going to have to walk the walk.

Maybe 'walk' is a bad choice of words.

In a game where a tight strike zone produced a total of 21 walks in a regulation seven-inning game, Lowell fell behind 5-0 and never could catch up, losing their first game of the post-season.

Lowell needed to win three consecutive games in 24 hours beginning Saturday at 2 p.m. to retain their Senior Little League state title. And there is a chance, they'd see Petersburg, a southern Indiana team, in the final game.

“I think we can beat them,” said Lowell's Nate Korth, who went hitless for the first time in five playoff games.

That's probably not the biggest problem. Even if Lowell, which has four players returning off the 2004 Senior Little League state finals, beat Franklin Township Saturday, they would still have a 2-1 record. If rival Hobart goes 3-0 in the opposite bracket (and they were 2-0 after Friday), Lowell would face Hobart and ace lefty Jake Plesac in Sunday's 1:00 p.m. semifinal, a game Lowell (5-1) hoped would be the championship matchup.

“We've just got to win three in a row,” said Lowell manager Paul Hoffman. “We've got to win two games Sunday any way you look at it. We got beat last year (in pool play at the state finals) and we came back and still won.”

Lowell gambled and lost against Petersburg. After winning a first round game with out using ace pitcher Jon Cap for more than an inning, the 16s started right-hander John Bolda, hoping to hold ace pitcher Jon Cap until the semifinals. But Bolda gave up four hits in the first inning and was pulled with the bases loaded and Petersburg leading 2-0.

Cap, the 6-foot-3 right-hander from Lowell high's varsity, came in quickly and walked two batters with the bases loaded before returning the side on a ground ball and a strikeout. Lowell trailed 5-0 after one inning and never caught up.

On a sunny, warm day at the Portage Little League, Lowell decided to leave Cap in the game, hoping they could rally and win the second pool play game which would guarantee advancement to Sunday's semifinals.

But Cap, like everybody else who pitched Friday, could not find the strike zone. Cap threw over 100 pitches, striking out nine and walking 11. Even though Petersburg right-hander Colton Wilson walked eight in six innings, Lowell was climbing uphill all day.

Zac Hoffman's two run homer sparked a three-run Lowell first inning but singles by Wilson and Jeff Skinner and three more walks upped the lead to 7-3 in the Petersburg third inning. Lowell scored twice in the fourth inning on a bases loaded walk to Hoffman and a ground out by Korth but pinch runner Kyle O'Keefe was thrown out trying to steal third base, killing the rally.

Lowell stole five bases in six attempts and all of them came with Petersburg leading but some questioned a stolen base attempt with the score 7-5. Hoffman did not want to tone down Lowell's offense, which has averaged 10 runs a game in the state tournament.

“If I shut down the offense, “ he said later. “They (the players) shut down. I didn't want to do that.”

Controversy surrounded the fifth inning. With the score still 7-5, Josh Kuiper walk to start the inning and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Matt Kay was hit with a pitch but the home plate umpire ruled he stuck his elbow into the path of the pitch. Three other Lowell batters were hit by a pitch. Four other batters were hit by a pitch during the game. The call was questionable at best.

It was crucial because Kay then lined a 3-2 pitch to Petersburg's center fielder Kyle Hathaway, who made a perfect throw to second to double Kuiper off base.

“We should have had runners at first and second with nobody out,” said Hoffman. “All of a sudden we have two out and nobody on.”

Petersburg scored two more runs with two out in the sixth to make it 9-5. Cap hit Skinner with a pitch with the bases loaded for the ninth run.

Lowell scored three times in the eighth inning after two out. Kuiper's two-run single made it 9-7 and an infield hit by Kay cut the lead to 9-8 before Wilson struck out Bolda on a 3-2 pitch.

Petersburg's third pitcher Laban King retired Lowell in order in the seventh inning to end the game.

“We really dug ourselves a hole,” said Lowell assistant coach Tom Stoner, Lowell's head varsity high school coach. “We didn't deserve to win. We just made too many mistakes that cost us runs. We have pitchers. We can come back. We just have to come out and play the way we've been pitching. ”

Cap, who would have to pitch a championship game Sunday if Lowell got there, did an admirable job Friday despite 11 walks. Petersburg, which did not have to play a district tournament, left 14 runners on base.

“He can go Sunday,” said Hoffman of his top right-hander, “We just have to use everybody (Saturday) to get there. Bolda got shelled and I didn't think that would happen. He was hitting his spots okay. But he wasn't getting any calls. Then he had to bring the ball over the center of the plate. We can bring him back.”

Petersburg (2-0) won because they were more patient at the home plate. Lowell likes to swing early in the count and it becomes more difficult to make that work when you fall behind.

“I think they can handle a loss,” Hoffman said of his players. “They just know we have to win. We have to do whatever it takes. We ran ourselves out of innings and we didn't get hits when we needed them. We can come back.”

FINAL NOTES: The Portage Little League field dimensions (335 to left, 390 to center and 325 down the right field line) definitely did not favor Lowell, which hit a lot of homers in the Creek Side Little League, their home park.

Dyer and Valparaiso are the NW Indiana representatives in the 11-year-old state finals beginning Thursday (8-4-2005) at the Merrillville Little League.

In the American Legion Plymouth regional, Highland beat Crown Point 8-3 and host Plymouth bombed favored Bristol 21-4 in the first round of double-elimination play. Bristol has a record of 28-7.

To say that manager Paul Hoffman was unhappy with the home plate umpire Friday was an understatement. Lowell couldn't get in line with the ball-strike judge and they tried not to complain early when the walks were flowing.

“We tried that,” said Hoffman. “It didn't work. So, then we tried to go the other way and complain a little. That didn't work either.”