Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	R	H	E
Elkhart Memorial (24-7)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	2
LOWELL (23-10)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	7	0

MERRILLVILLE (6-06-2009) I remember it clearly from Lowell's 2007 state tournament football run.  Coach Kirk Kennedy said it.  It was the second time Lowell had reached the state 4A football championship game in three years.  It didn't make any difference whether they won or lost either time.  The statement was still true.  He said, "When you go to the state finals once, it might be just luck, a hot streak or a collapse by your competition.  To go a second time validates the first time."

Coach Pete Iussig and the Red Devils will be returning to the state softball finals next weekend after two one-run wins in the Merrillville regional, 3-2 over Portage and 1-0 in 11 innings over Elkhart Memorial.  They will face the state's preeminent softball program, 11-time state finalist and four-time big school state champion Center Grove (31-3) at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time (7:30 p.m. Lowell time) at Ben Davis high school on the far west side of Indianapolis.

But maybe some of the Center Grove folks are going to spend a little time this week thinking about Lowell.  Let's not forget that before 2005, no Lowell high school team had ever been to the state finals in any sport.  Now the softball program is making a repeat appearance.

 

"We have good programs," said Katherine Allert in the middle of the diamond at Merrillville.  "We have good coaches.  We have really good coaches staffs.  And everybody supports everybody.  Coach Kennedy is out here to watch us.  The boys come out.  We all follow them.  That's how we win."

 

All the good teams work hard and get a lot of support.  They don't all get to Indianapolis.  Something's going on here.  Nobody DESERVES to go to the state finals twice, right?

 

"Yes we do," Allert smiled.  "I know.  It's crazy.  But we all thought we could do it today."

 

Lowell did it in the 11th inning when pitcher Lauren Wells hit a long double off the wall in center field.  Nina Ioakimidis lined out to Elkhart Memorial second baseman Heather Maxwell, but Allert got her fourth hit in a row, a single to right field.  With one out, Iussig held Wells at third base, knowing he had the hitter he wanted coming up next.

 

Junior Megan Bolanowski, who hit a Lowell school record nine home runs in 2008, did what comes naturally.

 

"I was just thinking, 'Hit the ball in the air,'" she said.  "That's what I always do.  You know that.  I knew I had to do something."

 

After defeating Portage 3-2, Lowell seemed a little tired in the 6:00 p.m. championship game.  As the 80-degree day cooled significantly in front of a crowd of about 300, Lowell squeezed out only three singles over the first seven innings against Elkhart Memorial right-hander Erin Burleson.  What concerned you was that there really wasn't an inning where Lowell blew a big scoring chance.  The Devils (23-10) did not have more than one runner on base at any time through the first nine innings.

 

"She is one of the best pitchers we've seen all year," Iussig would say later.  "I was very impressed with her and I was very impressed with them.  That No. 31 (Callie Selner) had four hits this morning against Penn.  We spent an hour between games trying to figure out how to pitch to her."

 

Meanwhile Lowell left-hander Lauren Wells never allowed more than one base runner in any inning.  But something was wrong.  You could see it on her face.  Wells was having a good night but she wasn't right.

 

"Lauren came into the third inning in the first game (against Portage)," the coach revealed.  "She shut them out for the rest of the game, but then, I don't know what happened.  We went to a park and when she was warming up, she said to me and said, 'I can't lift my arm past my shoulder.'  I said, you've got to be kidding.  What are you going to do?"

 

"She said, 'Let me try'.  So I did.  We had Jacki (Fletcher) warming up in the third inning.  But it got better as it went along.  I think she just got cold between games because we didn't go inside."

 

Wells has won four playoff games in a row and she has a 29-inning shutout streak in playoff games.  She had her arm packed in ice after the game, but she also had six days off before the next game.

 

"There's no such thing as good pain, Wells explained.  "But in the second game I felt some pain that was not normal.  But once I started throwing it became normal.  I just worked through it.  At the start of the game, I only warmed up for about 30 seconds.  Once the adrenaline kicked in, I was all right."

 

Several Lowell girls are facing role reversals.  They were freshman on the 2007 state finalist team, which lost 3-0 to eventual state champ Hamilton Southeastern.  Now, many like Wells, Fletcher, Bolanowski and Allert are the old timers.

"I remember freshman year as just being a blur," said Wells, who now will watch her freshman sister Kaitlin go through the same thing.  I took it in, but I didn't take it in as much as I do now."

 

"I don't want to say that you don't appreciate it when you're a freshman, but you don't get it then.  I don't think you understand how rare it is.  You don't have any of the knowledge of what it's like to lose at the sectional.  You don't know that feeling.  I'm grateful I'm going.  A lot of girls work hard and it never materializes."

 

"I was in right field when we went to the finals before," said Bolanowski about her freshman tip to Indianapolis.  "But it's different now.  We're the older ones on the team.  It's better this time."

 

There's no way to know what it feels like to coach a team to the state finals a second time, erasing all doubts about your quality.  To go to the state finals once, means you had a great year.  To go twice with different people, means you have a great program.

"When I was younger," Iussig explained, "We never thought we'd get past Lake Central, so let's get as good a regular season record as we can.  Now, I'm not so much concerned with our record as I am getting better to get to this point.  It's all about getting better for the post-season.

 

But Iussig, who had to dodge celebration buckets of water being thrown on him in the sunset on the Merrillville infield, agrees this run to Indianapolis with a 10-loss team is a surprise.

 

"Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would go twice," he said of his still-young and still-improving team that is in the final four for the big school state crown.  "We always talked about the losses in terms of 'Are we getting better'.  We have a lot of character in that infield.  And there are some characters in the outfield."

 

REGIONAL NOTES:  Center Grove defeated Avon (28-3) and Carmel (26-3) to win the Center Grove Regional Saturday, the school's 13th regional softball title.

 

Lowell has not allowed more than four runs in any game this year, but Center Grove has allowed just 17 runs all season.  The Trojans feature two senior pitchers; Sarah Franklin (14-2, 0.13 ERA in 110 innings) and Emily Gwaltney (17-1, 0.55 ERA, 185 strikeouts, 19 walks  in 116 innings).  Gwaltney (40-100, 2 HRs, 36 RBIs) leads an attack that is not overpowering.  Senior Sarah Alberico (48-112, .429) is also a factor, but what their statistics hit you with is 137 strikeouts in 34 games as a team.  In big school girls softball, only four strikeouts a game is very good.

 

One surprise Saturday was to see Kaitlin Wells, the freshman sister of pitcher and first baseman Lauren Wells, batting ninth as the designated hitter.

 

"She did very well on the JV," Lauren explained.  "I don't know how many home runs she hit.  Four?  One of them was a grand slam."

 

"She's really good, I'd never played with her except for one time in travel ball when she was a fill in.  I was working with her this week.  My mom was too.  In the cages, I help her out.  But when she's up there.  I just tell her to clear her mind.  It's good that she gets this experience, too."

 

Lowell's 'noisy boys', the all-boy cheering section backing the Red Devils, stood high in the raised stands all day and exchanged chants with fans from Portage and Elkhart Memorial.  Team sports stars Joe Bell, Keith Greer, Justin Juarez, Brandon Grubbe among others, showed up to wear funny clothes and (occasionally) say funny things.  The noisy boys, who have attended Lowell games since the start of the year, face the ultimate test Friday, taking their act on the road to Indianapolis and trying to stay on the good side of IHSSA officials at Ben Davis, the site of the state finals.

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2009 (4A) Lowell (23-10)
Coach Pete Iussig (19 years) 20-10 in 2008
NW Crossroads Conference games in CAPS
3-28 (W) 2-0 Chesterton (15-14)
3-30 (W) 9-0 Merrillville (3-22)
4-4 (W) 9-0 at Valparaiso (11-18)
4-6 (snow) Lake Central
4-7 (snow) at KANKAKEE VALLEY (17-11)
4-8 (L) 0-1 at Boone Grove (24-8)
4-9 (L) 0-2 at ANDREAN (25-7)
4-10 (W) 2-0 Lake Central (24-6)
4-11 (W) 5-0 South Central (12-16)
4-13 (W) 10-0 HIGHLAND (12-15)
4-15 (W) 3-2 MUNSTER (14-13)
4-18 (L) 0-3 at Crown Point (24-5)
4-21 (L) 0-1 at GRIFFITH (14-11)
4-23 (W) 2-1 (9 innings) HOBART (8-16)
4-24 (L) 3-4 KANKAKEE VALLEY (17-12)
4-28 (W) 5-1 Kankakee Valley (10-16)
4-29 (L) 0-3 ANDREAN (25-7)
5-1 (W) 5-0 at HIGHLAND (12-15)
5-2 (W) 9-1 Pioneer (11-15)
5-2 (W) 6-0 West Lafayette (9-14)
5-4 (Rain) at Bishop Noll (20-8)
5-5 (W) 3-0 at MUNSTER (14-13)
5-7 (Rain) HANOVER CENTRAL (23-4)

Twin Lakes Invitational in Monticello, In.
5-8 (W) 11-0 Benton Central
5-9 (L) 2-4 McCutcheon (16-12)
5-9 (W) 6-1 Eastern (10-9)
5-9 (L) 1-2 Harrison (18-7) semifinals

5-11 (L) 1-3 GRIFFITH (14-9)
5-13 (W) 10-0 at HOBART (8-16)
5-14 (L) 3-4 Wheeler (27-2)
5-18 (Rain) Morton (12-13)
5-19 (W) 4-2 at Portage (13-14)

5-21 (W) 4-3 Hanover Central (22-5)

Highland Sectional
5-25 (W) 7-1 Morton (12-13)
5-26 (W) 2-0 Lake Central (24-6)
5-29 (W) 5-0 at Highland (13-16)

MERRILLVILLE Regional
6-6 (W) 3-2 Portage (13-14)
6-6 (W) 1-0 (11 innings) Elkhart Memorial (24-7)

 

 

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Revised: June 09, 2009.