Lowell 14s, 16s win, advance to next Little League playoff round

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith 

(7-16-2004)

LOWELL (7-15-2004) - The little League playoffs at Lowell's old Creek Side Little League were 'old school' last week. One of the bedrock basics of baseball is no matter what happened yesterday, you can turn it around today. No other team sport is like that.  So when Hebron and Demotte laid two losses on Lowell junior (ages 13-14) and senior (ages 15-16) all-star teams last Wednesday, there might have been reason to worry. But this was baseball.

The night after Hebron blasted Lowell 10-3 to send the District II Junior Little League tournament to a winner-take-all deciding game, Lowell's 14s turned around and beat Hebron 4-2 for the title. Then, on the same field, just 24 hours after DeMotte's Senior all-star squad had handed Lowell's 16s their first loss in the District II tournament, Lowell bounced back and blasted DeMotte 18-0 for the title.

You didn't have to be from Lowell to hope they'd win. Lowell had agreed to host the Senior all-star Sectional playoff series (which begins Friday) and it would have been a chore if they hadn't qualified for that series. But that would have paled by comparison of the embarrassment for Lowell's Junior team, a perennial district champion, had they lost in the first round in a year when they finally hosted the state finals.

"I wouldn't have come around for two weeks," admitted Lowell 14s manager Paul LoFrano. "You wouldn't have seen me here."

But the hosts went home happy after both Lowell squads played above average games to earn the right to do the victory lap, where team members run around the field with the championship banner. For the 16s, it was especially satisfying. When DeMotte beat Lowell 3-2 in the first game of the championship round, Lowell could have won on a forfeit. DeMotte did not allow all 12 of their players to bat at least once, one of the basic rules of the Little League all all levels. Lowell manager Dan Butor knew that DeMotte had made a mistake and he could have forced the forfeit but he chose not to. When his boys came back the next night and won the winner-take-all game 18-0, it made the victory especially sweet.

"I just didn't want to win it that way," Butor said after the title win. "I didn't think that (the non batter) had anything to do with the outcome of that game."

"I'm sure that some of the parents might not have been happy with me but, as it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened to us. There would always have been that feeling that we didn't deserve it because we didn't win it on the field."

The Lowell 16s definitely won it on the field Thursday night. After an error and a walk in the first inning, Zack Hoffman slapped a ground ball to DeMotte shortstop John Cambe, who was playing at regular depth. Cambe tried to throw home, but Lowell's leadoff man Zach Voss beat the throw for a 1-0 lead. Brad Kerrick then sent a hard line drive to bouncing to the left center field fence for a two-run double. Ryan King's sacrifice fly made it 4-0 before Demotte (4-2) got to bat.

King, Lowell's pitcher, had an easy night. The hard-throwing right-hander, a junior varsity pitcher at Lowell high school this spring, pitched his second consecutive playoff shutout, allowing just three hits and striking out five. Earlier King struck out 18 in a shutout win over Roselawn. 

"He's gotten a lot stronger," said Butor. "We tried to get him to use his legs more in his delivery. I don't know what he did at the high school this year but I think he's improved a lot out here."

King and John Cap, who pitched a 4 2/3 shutout innings of relief in the 3-2 loss to DeMotte, give Lowell a formidable 1-2 punch heading into the sectional playoff series.

"I think I pretty much have to go with Ryan," said Butor of the first game Friday. "He hasn't given up a run yet. But Jon is very good. I'm pretty happy with our team. We've got a lot of hitters. We're going to be tough to beat."

The 14s had more of a battle in the deciding game. Ted Macis, who had pitched two complete game victories earlier in the tournament, got a break in the first inning when Hebron's Eric Elliott tried to go from first to third on a ground ball to shortstop. Lowell first baseman Mitch Perrotta's throw across the infield ended the first inning with no runs scored.

Lowell got going in the second inning after leadoff walks to Danny Remboski and Ted Macis. With runners at first and third, Zach Porras bounced a hit-and-run grounder to shortstop, scoring Remboski. Josh LoFrano's bloop single to left made it 2-0 for Lowell, just the first time in five playoff games that the 14s had scored first.

Hebron tied the game with single runs in the third and fifth. Andrew Shrum walked, stole second and third, and scored on Elliott's single in the third inning. Shrum drove inn Joe Grabski with an RBI single in the fifth. Lowell's baserunning stole the go-ahead run in the bottom of the fifth. Jake Belt walked and Josh Hayden single with one out in the inning before Nate Miller flied out to right field against Hebron pitcher Wayne Straka. Before the next pitch, Hayden broke for second base. When Straka turned and threw the ball to second, trying to trap Hayden in a rundown, Belt scored from third base to make it 3-2.

Coach Bob Porras added, "We lost out here on that same play against Hobart a couple of years ago. Almost exactly the same play."

Macis, whose twin brother Eli, also started all five playoff games, controlled the game with a sweeping curveball that Hebron never could figure out.

"He lost some velocity," smiled LoFrano. "He wasn't throwing every hard at the end. But he was getting it over the plate. I thought our defense played well today. We played pretty well the whole tournament except for that one game."

"I think we didn't respect them. We saw them get beat by DeMotte (a game DeMotte had to forfeit for not batting all its players) and we thought we'd roll over them. I did, too. And we played like it. We gave them a chance and they took advantage of it. That's a good Hebron team. Better than they've had in a while."

The two week layoff between the 14s district win and their state finals opener on Thursday July 29 at 6 p.m. is unavoidable (with the sectional bye) but unwelcome to everyone except possibly Ted Macis, who threw over 350 pitches in three complete games.

"I've got some things planned for us to do," said LoFrano. "The seniors are going to work with us and that's an accomplishment. When we picked the teams, the seniors were kidding our guys, saying we wouldn't beat DeMotte. Now, they want to help us. That's great. That means we proved something to them, too."

"We're playing a sectional champion," noted LoFrano. "That team will have won their tournament AND a playoff series. So we're expecting a pretty good team. We'll see a number one pitcher, but sometimes, the 'slowball' pitcher is the one that gets you. So we're going to work half and half. Half against hard pitching and half against slow pitching. If we play well, three times, I'll be satisfied."

This year's 16s are reminiscent of the teams coached by Rodger Hughes three and four years ago that though about winning the state title. Other than a lack of left-handed hitters and pitchers, this team seems gifted with good bats, gloves and arms.

"Having a week off isn't good," said Butor. "We'll practice late and we'll work on situations. The games won't be like this one. We had no idea this would happen. We don't have to travel. That's good. That's just a big worry. We like playing here and I'm glad the playoff series is here. But when you go to the sectional, it's how you handle situations."

"That was just no way to advance to the next level. Even if we'd have lost tonight, I still think it was the right decision. I'm sure some of the parents weren't too happy with me and a couple of the boys got on me last night. My son (John) got on me after I got home. But I just didn't feel right about it. I put the protest in but it just wasn't right. I didn't want anything handed to us on a technicality."

LITTLE NOTES:  No one at the Lowell Little League will complain if Lowell fans form some baseball car pools to the playoff games the next couple of weekends. There is not much parking on the lower level of the Creek Side Little League. Also, anyone coming to night games in Lowell should keep two words in the front of their minds. BUG SPRAY. There is no substitute.

DeMotte's 6-4 left-hander John Van Schapen gave up 14 runs in four innings of relief in the final game of the Seniors tournament. Van Schapen, a significant 15-year-old prospect, gave up three extra base hits to Jerry Hughes. But he was largely betrayed by poor defense.

Little League State Tournament

Little League SENIORS (ages 15-16)

DeMotte 3, Lowell 2

Junior Little League

(ages 13-14) District II Championship

LOWELL 4, Hebron 2