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

LOWELL (04-13-2010) One of the reasons people watch sports is that they don't understand how things work out the way they do.  Case in point:  How can the same Lowell team, which struggled to a 2-2 start, shut down three undefeated teams in succession, 8-1 over Boone Grove, 10-2 over Highland and 3-1 over Andrean in a four-day span?

How can senior Amanda Underwood, who had seven RBIs in 32 games in 2009, have 11 runs batted in after eight games in 2010?

How can Lowell lefty Lauren Wells pitch a perfect game for 5 2/3 innings against an all-right handed hitting lineup of a team that reached the 3A state finals last year?.

That's why you would go to see the games.

The Devils won for the fourth game in a row.  Wells won for the fourth game in a row.  The 59ers got three hits in a row leading off the seventh and final inning before Wells, who retired the first 17 batters, retired the final three batters in a row, giving Lowell a 3-1 win over Andrean.

 

It was an unusual day for Andrean head varsity coach Henry Ryan, the former hitting coach of the 59ers who took over for Russ Serrato this season.  He had to watch his girls go hitless until Savannah Kinsella lined a single to center with two out in the sixth inning.  As the batting instructor, he took it personally.

 

"It was killing me," he admitted.  "But give a lot of credit to them.  She (Wells) was hitting her spots.  She did her job.  A lot what she did was the speed.  We had not seen that speed this year.  I tried to talk to our guys about getting the stride foot down early so you can get the swing going.  But that 64, 65 miles an hour.  It's hard."

Lowell didn't overwhelm Andrean right-hander Nicole Steinbach (1-1).  There was some luck involved in the first run of the game.  With Kaitlin Wells at second base and two out, Nicole Sgouroudis laid down a bunt.  The throw to first was mishandled by the Niners' Meghan Bridgeman and the younger Wells scored from second base.

 

In the third inning Lowell took a 2-0 lead on back-to-back doubles by Megan Bolanowski and Lauren Wells, the latter a slicing line drive that the Andrean fans thought was foul down the left field line.  Two outs later, Amanda Underwood lined an RBI single to left field, which put the Devils' three runs ahead.

The change in Underwood is striking.  Amanda isn't very big.  Maybe 5-foot-5.  While she has good speed, she isn't driving in runs with bunts.  The line drives she's hitting don't seem possible coming from so small a person.

 

"At the beginning of the year," Underwood explained later.  "I got together with coach (Jim) Chancellor and we started working on my mechanics and it started falling in together.  I was having a problem with my shoulder flying open.  That's all it was.  All of a sudden the hits started coming.  It means a lot more this year."

No-hitters and perfect games are so common in girls softball that players and coaches often do not know they are occurring.  Underwood was one of those players.

 

"I didn't know anything," she said.  "Its not that they aren't a big deal.  But no, I didn't know."

 

The Andrean dugout knew.

 

"I need to look at game film," coach Ryan said, "make adjustments and come back tomorrow.  Don't get me wrong, I give them all the credit in the world.  But I'm not as good loser."

 

Ryan's daughter Kelly is his softball catcher and his son Zak is a freshman pitcher for coach Dave Pishkur's baseball 59ers.  In a freak occurrence, the 59er baseball team was playing Lowell on an adjoining field and Zak Ryan was making his first varsity start.
 

Coach Ryan claimed he didn't know what was going on in the baseball game (won by Andrean 17-4) but his wife could be seen running back and forth between fields.

 

"I'm with Zak all summer," he said.  "He's okay.  He's a man now.  He's on his own.  You step on the field with coach Pishkur and you're a man."

"We were a little lucky today," said Iussig.  "I thought their line drive (by Audrey Bickel in the fourth inning) was two inches foul.  But ours was right on the line.  Definitely a game of inches."
 

"We've played well.  Boone Grove's a quality team.  I don't care if they are 2A.  That girl (Taylor Johnson) had beaten us two years in a row and we just ripped her.  Highland was 7-0 when we played them.  All three of these teams (Boone, Highland and Andrean) were undefeated when we played them."

Lowell has changed the batting order, putting leadoff batter Jacki Fletcher in the third spot and third place hitter Megan Bolanowski in the leadoff position.  Iussig and Chancellor also slid Underwood up to the fifth position.  With that batting order, Lowell is also undefeated.

"We thought Jacki would have a little pop in the leadoff spot," said Iussig.  "After the first game, she's just been pounding the ball.  But she never starts the game well.  Her worst at bat is always her first.  That's no good.  We want to put that crooked number up right away."
 

"Underwood is our unsung hero.  We're 6-2 and she got another RBI tonight.  I think she has 11 or 12.  It's crazy because, like tonight, she makes an out with nobody on base.  And Jacki says, 'Don't worry, you'll get a hit when there's somebody on base.' That's the way it's been."

Lowell seemed frustrated as a team in the first week, but they had a good atmosphere around them on this day, something that is rare on a senior-dominated team that breaks up after the season ends.
 

"I think they just get more relaxed," Iussig said.  "The seniors are so confident."

DEVIL NOTES:  The idea that Lowell would win the 16-team Twin Lakes Invitational on May 8 dims considerably with the news that that's the weekend of Lowell's prom.  This is girls softball and Lowell has 10 senior girls.

 

"And we have two juniors who are going to the prom," said coach Pete Iussig, who has not received a Twin Lakes schedule as of yet.  "We talked to them and the earliest we could play our third (pool play) game would be 12 noon Saturday.  We asked for that 12 noon game and we would be pitching a JV pitcher in that game anyway."
 

Lowell would likely play the three pool play games and then come home no matter how they did.  If you win your three pool play games at Twin Lakes, you advance to the 2:30 p.m. semifinals in an effort to reach the 5 p.m. title game.  Lowell would likely let it be known that they are unavailable for the semifinals and let the second place team in their pool advance.  The athletic department has no control over when the prom is scheduled and folks who schedule the event are more concerned when they can get the banquet hall than what sports teams are playing that weekend.

 

Most boys will blow off the prom to play baseball or show up at the last minute.  Most girls need six hours to get ready for the prom.  That's just the way it is.
 

Boone Grove does not compete in the Twin Lakes Invitational anymore because the prom consistently falls on the Twin Lakes Invitational weekend.  The collision of prom and Twin Lakes also occurred to Hanover Central in 2004.
 

Amanda Underwood may stay close to home in the fall.
 

"I've been talking to the coach at South Suburban College (in South Holland, Ill.) so I'll probably go there," she said.  "I want to major in sports marketing.  I'll be at home my first year."
 

Iussig understands that freshman girls are nervous playing for a high school varsity, not just the Devils, but anybody.
 

"First of all, she's facing 18-year-old pitchers for the first time in their lives," he explained.  "'She's playing for a team that's ranked in the state.  Then you're playing for your school and your town which is a little different than playing for your summer team."
 

"If you win your sectional with your school, they have a fire truck lead you through town.  If you win the national championship with your summer team, they say 'congratulations' and that's it.  It's just different."
 

---

2010 (4A) Lowell (6-2)
Coach Pete Iussig (21 years) 23-11 (2009), 20-10 (2008)
NW Crossroads Conference games in CAPS
3-27 (L) 1-3 at Chesterton (5-2)
3-29 (W) 9-0 at Merrillville (0-6)
3-30 (W) 10-3 Hebron (1-3)
4-3 (rain) Valparaiso
4-5 (L) 6-7 at Lake Central (5-5)
4-6 (W) 4-2 KANKAKEE VALLEY (5-2)
4-10 (W) 8-1 Boone Grove (4-1)
4-12 (W) 10-2 at HIGHLAND (8-1)
4-13 (W) 3-1 ANDREAN (3-1)

4-14 (W) at MUNSTER (5-5) 4:45 p.m.
4-17 (S) Crown Point (5-1) 9 a.m.
4-20 (Tues) GRIFFITH - 4:45 p.m.
4-21 (W) at Hanover Central (4-1) 4:45 p.m.
4-22 (Th) at HOBART - 4:45 p.m.
4-26 (M) at KANKAKEE VALLEY - 4:45 p.m.
4-28 (W) at ANDREAN - 4:45 p.m.
4-30 (F) HIGHLAND - 4:45 p.m.
5-1 (S) vs. (at West Lafayette) Pioneer - 9 a.m.
5-1 (S) at West Lafayette - TBA
5-3 (M) Bishop Noll - 4:45 p.m.
5-4 (Tu) MUNSTER - 4:45 p.m.

Twin Lakes Invitational (16 teams) in Monticello, IN
5-7 (F) 1st round game
5-8 (S) Semifinals/Finals

5-10 (M) at GRIFFITH - 4:45 p.m.
5-12 (W) HOBART - 4:45 p.m.
5-13 (Th) at Wheeler - 4:45 p.m.
5-17 (M) Morton - 4:45 p.m.
5-18 (Tu) Portage - 4:45 p.m.
5-19 (W) Valparaiso - 4:30 p.m.

4A Sectional 1 at Highland
5-24 (M) Quarterfinals (TBA)
5-26 (W) Semifinals (TBA)
5-28 (F) Championship (TBA)

Regional Championship
6-1 (Tu) one game

Semistate Championship
6-5 (S) Semifinals
6-5 (S) Championship

 

Copyright © 2010 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp.  All rights reserved.
Revised: April 16, 2010.