Lady Red Devils drop season-opener 7-2 to Chesterton

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

Lowell home opener   3-29-3 in Lowell - partly cloudy, 37 degrees
WP -   Laura Langendorfer (2-0) 8Ks, 3 walks, CG No. 2
LP -   Kristin O'Connell (0-1) 5Ks, 1 walk, 2 WPs (3 innings)
Kristin Just (Lowell) 5Ks, 1 walk , WP (4 innings)

Chesterton (7 hits, 10Ks, 3 walks, 3 earned runs, one stolen base)
Tiffany Hise (C) 2 singles
Stephanie Bernier (C) Single, walk, RBI
Jessie Vargo (C) HR, single, walk, 3 RBIs

LOWELL (4 hits, 8Ks, 2 walks, 2 earned runs)
Cristin Just (L) 2 singles, 2 RBIs
Elizabeth Martin (L) Single, walk, run scored

LOWELL (3-29-2003) When you show up for the season opener and you recognize more names on out of town lineup than you do on your team, that's a tip-off as to how the game's going to go.

Conventional logic said that Lowell's largely new 2003 softball squad would have trouble against Chesterton, a 20-game winner from a year ago. Logic was served in 30 degrees and snow flurries Saturday as the Trojans, rated seventh in the 3A pre-season poll, took advantage of Red Devil mistakes and won 7-2 in the wind out behind Lowell high school.

A two out dropped fly ball by Lowell sophomore center fielder Ashley Cicillian helped the defending Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) champions to three runs and run-scoring wild pitches added three more Chesterton scores as the Trojans (2-0) won a game they, frankly, should have won.

"Pete said 'thanks' for coming over here and whipping his butt," said Chesterton coach Lou Ann Hopson. "But there's been a lot of years that we've been on the other end of this score."

Lowell is still looking for their best starting lineup and how to work in three freshmen. The Red Devils drooped behind almost immediately butt their at-bats got better as the game went on. The girls showed a lot of spirit in bad conditions and they also got a visualization of what they needed to work on.

"We've got a really good freshman group," veteran coach Pete Iussig said. "We have more of these (3) girls. We're breaking these three in, we've got a sophomore at first and Cicillian, who really did a good job for us last year on the varsity. She started a number of games for us last year. She's fast and she can go back on the ball."

When (injured infielder Carrie) Shelhart gets her release from the doctor, we could have two freshmen at the top of the batting order. We're a very young team."

Chesterton (2-0) scored three times in the second inning after Lowell starting pitcher Kristen O'Connell, who won 10 games last year, struck out Chesterton's Stephanie Bernier and Jenni Lightfoot. The Trojans' Tiffany Hise lined a base hit to right center field and Cicillian dropped Nicole Felta's fly ball to center field.

Chesterton's eighth place hitter Jessie Vargo then hit a long drive to right center that cleared the short fence for a 3-0 Trojan lead. Vargo also had a single and a walk and Hopson agreed she had surprising power to be batting where she was.

"People might wonder why I've got her batting down there," said Hopson. "Sometimes she gets people and sometimes she doesn't."

Iussig cited pitch selection as an example of the Devils' inexperience. "That girl hits the home run and coach (Jim Chancellor) says, 'What did she hit? They (O'Connell and catcher Megan Bachinski) both said, 'The drop ball. It didn't drop. Well, what were the pitches you got the two strikes on. They said, 'A screwball and a curve ball. They're not touching 'em.' Well, why try something else?
That the was the first drop ball they tried all game. With two on and two out. Why couldn't you wait until nobody was on base to try a pitch for the first time?

Chesterton made it 4-0 in the third inning on a two-out single by Bernier and they scored three times on wild pitches in the fourth.

Chesterton senior right-hander Laura Langendorfer, who was 14-2 last season and no-hit Marquette 10-0 in five innings to start the season two days earlier, retired the first 10 Devils Saturday before freshman Liz Martin walked. Freshman Kristen Just and sophomore Ashley Lukasik had fifth inning singles and Lowell scored twice in the sixth after Kristen Kania's leadoff walk.

Martin, who has great promise as a speedy, left-handed slap hitter, laid down a bunt that Chesterton catcher Kayla Vargo threw past first. When Tiffany Meyers walked to fill the bases, Amber Roberts hit into a force play at the plate. Just, who pitched the final four inning for Lowell, then singled to center to drive in the Devils two runs.

"She had two hits," said Iussig. "She was swinging the bat well. We have three freshmen and they're all second basemen. Martin's good enough so we can put her in the outfield. Shelhart's coming off surgery (wrist) so she's not going to be able to pitch. So when Just is pitching, Shelhart can play second."

Hopson wanted to get her other pitchers into the game but the conditions changed her mind.
"They got a couple of runs," she explained, "and the fielders had all been standing there in the cold for two hours. I didn't want to take a chance." Third baseman Bernier, first baseman Alicia Babcock and Holly Melton were all starters for the Trojans last year behind Langendorfer. The Trojans were a bit fortunate to win 21 last season. They may have to suffer misfortune not to win 20 this time.

What about Lowell? The Red Devils were 14-15 last year after three straight 20-win seasons so a winning year is the immediate goal. This is one of Lowell's youngest teams ever.

"Look around the infield," said senior Kristen Kania. "We've got a sophomore at short, a freshman at second. A sophomore at first. Our second pitcher was a freshman. This was the first game for some of them. We'll be okay."

DEVIL NOTES: Lowell's lineup is a tad confusing for scorekeepers with three Kristens (Kania, Just and O'Connell) and three Ashleys (Cicillian, Lukasik and Shelhart). Just is actually Cristin Just.

After having no hitting left-handers last season, Iussig will have two slap hitters in Martin and Shelhart this season. Iussig is noted for teaching left-handed slap hitting.

Tiffany Meyers went hitless but the day was a success. She started the opener at third base after rehabbing a fall soccer injury all winter.

Lowell got a bad break in the third inning when a bunt by Vargo that appeared to roll foul was ruled fair by the home plate umpire. The play led to one of three fourth inning runs. Lowell's pre-season schedule is again tougher than their Lake Athletic Conference slate.

"We've got Valparaiso Saturday (at 3 p.m.), then Portage, Kankakee Valley and Munster. So four of our first five are tough. We're going to find a lot out."

Lowell also plays defending Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) champion Andrean, defending Porter County Conference (PCC) champion Hanover Central, defending Northern Indiana Conference (NIC) champion Penn and defending state champion Lake Central. Lowell began the season 0-3 and then 3-6 last season.

Chesterton girls all had brightly colored mouth pieces during the game, a distinct oddity in baseball and softball. Basketball and football players wear mouthpieces due to contact but varsity caliber softball players don't get hit in the mouth with the ball. That's what that big leather glove on their hand is for.

The mouth piece is a dental aide concept intended to keep players from grinding their teeth during a game. Don't look for the idea to catch on.

The new 'flex' player rule instituted by the IHSAA this season is a little confusing. A player who does not bat can play any position on the field in place of someone in the batting order. The 'flex' player can move around during the game and the player who she is 'covering for' temporarily on defense can re-enter once. It's similar to Little League baseball' re-entry rules. Iussig explained how you can use two good-hit, no field players in tandem with two good glove, soft bat players.

"It's not a whole lot different than the DH (which has been eliminated). If I have a really good fielder," said Iussig, "There can be three innings (if you're the home team) before her time at bat comes up. If you put the pinch hitter in, you can re-enter her (the original starter) and she plays the fourth and fifth. Then you can pinch hit for her and bring in another person defensively to finish the sixth and seventh. If her time at bat comes up, the batter bats again.

"We can do a lot of that. We have a number of spots where we can put players in and out." You can bat the 'flex' player and have her enter the game.

Iussig is high on freshman Cristin Just, his new No. 2 starting pitcher, who paid her dues last summer. "She's going to be okay," he said. "It helps that she was on her summer team that Glenn Eisenfelder of Boone Grove has. It's called the Excel. He has two teams. An 18-and-under and a 16-and-under. The 18-and-under team had (Lake Central all-stater Brooke) Baker and (Valpo all-stater Ashlee) Blankenbaker as the pitchers. Kristen was one of the pitchers on the '16' team. But they practice together. So, she's practicing all winter with those two girls. That's got to rub off. She's better right off the bat because of that."

All-area Red Devil star Katie Porento (2000) is back as a varsity assistant coach for this year's team. Porento, who is also a varsity assistant in basketball, batted .330 with a Lowell-record 31 stolen bases in 1999. She played second base on Lowell's last sectional championship team, which was 24-10-1 three years ago.