Lady Devils win 4 of 5 games at Twin Lakes Invite, 

fall to Andrean 2-0 in tourney final

A USA-365 special report by Mark Smith

5-8-2006

  Saturday, May 6, 2006 - Twin Lakes Invitational championship in Monticello, IN

WP - Katie Ivancich (15-3)  8K, 0 walks, CG, 77 pitches
LP  -  Ryssa Nord (6-4)  1K, 0 walks, 60 pitches

LOWELL (18-6)
Kelly Johnson (SS) Double

ANDREAN (21-3)
Chanel Brant (RF) Double, single,  RBI
Christina Caldwell (C) Single, bunt sac, RBI

Saturday, May 6, 2006 - Twin Lakes Invitational semifinal in Monticello

WP -  Ryssa Nord (6-3)  CG, 5K, 0 walks
  LP - Abbie Tolen (5-2)  0 K, 0 walks (2 inn.)

LOWELL  (18-5)
Becca Nida (CF) 2 singles, RBI
Nicole Fletcher (3B) 2 singles, RBI
Kristina Kuzma (OF) 2 singles, RBI
Courtney Austgen (C) Double, RBI

Benton Central  (13-8)
Olivia Sheetz (OF) Double, 2 singles, RBI

Saturday, May 6, 2006  - Twin Lakes Invitational semifinal in Monticello

WP -  Kate Rone (6-0)  4K, 1 walk (3 inn.)
  Peneziaski (SAVE) 1K, 0 walks (3 inn.)
  LP - Kristen Weber (4-4) 0K, 7 walks (5 inn.)

McCutcheon (11-14)
Tristan Wilcox (C) Double, 2 singles, 2 RBIs

ANDREAN (20-3)
Taylor Kendra (CF) Double, 2 singles, walk, 3 RBIs
Stephanie Rister (1B0 2 singles, 3 RBIs
Katie Ivancich (DH) Double, run scored
Kara Kristoff (SS) Single, 2 walks
Chanel Brant (RF) Single, 2 walks, RBI


2006 Twin Lakes Invitational

POOL ONE  (LOWELL)
LOWELL  10, Frontier 3;            Twin Lakes 11, Maconaquah 7
LOWELL 10, Twin Lakes 0 (6 inn.);   Frontier 13, Maconaquah 3
LOWELL 11 Maconaqauh 2;                Twin Lakes 4, Frontier 2

POOL TWO   (Lewis Cass)
Lewis Cass 4, Munster 3;    Benton Central 10, BOONE GROVE 3
  Benton Central 3, Munster 2;     Lewis Cass 13,  BOONE GROVE 1
Lewis Cass 3, Benton Central 2;    Munster 8,  BOONE GROVE 0

POOL THREE (ANDREAN)
ANDREAN 5, MERRILLVILLE 1;                  Jefferson 2, Pioneer  0
ANDREAN 8,   Jefferson 0;               Pioneer 1, MERRILLVILLE 0
ANDREAN 7, Pioneer 0;   Jefferson 4, MNERRILLVILLE 2 (8 inn.)

POOL FOUR  (McCutcheon)
McCutcheon 2, Western 1;     Eastern 1, HANOVER CENTRAL 0
McCutcheon 10, HANOVER CENTRAL 5;    Western 6, Eastern 3
McCutcheon 3, Eastern 0   HANOVER CENTRAL 5, Western 3

Twin Lakes Invitational -      Finals
LOWELL  13, Bention Central 2 (6 inn.);  ANDREAN 12, McCutcheon 2 (6 inn.)
ANDREAN 2, LOWELL 0  (championship)

MONTICELLO  (5-6-2006)  You like to see the game played at a high level.  There's a lot of bad games every season and there were some in the 16-team Twin Lakes Invitational last weekend.  There's also no guarantee that the championship of a major tournament will be a quality game.   That's why there probably wasn't a loser, only degrees of victory when Andrean topped Lowell 2-0 late Saturday for the championship of the Twin Lakes Invitational.

Run-scoring base hits by Christina Caldwell and Chanel Brant posted single runs in the fifth and sixth inning of a game which saw just two errors and one walk combined.

"This was a great day for us," said Andrean coach Frank Podkul, who watched his team win five games in 24 hours for the second year in a row down by Indiana Beach.

"McCutcheon was 3-0 and we got ahead of them early, recalled Podkul.  "And Lowell is a very good team.  I told them that they did a wonderful job of bouncing back and I wanted them to know how personally I took that.  The Munster and the Lowell games (the two recent losses) are history right now and that's Munster and Lowell, two good teams which have state recognition.  Splitting with them (in LAC play) is not the worst thing that could happen to us."

"What's most important is how we responded this week.  We just did what we call agonizing reappraisal.  We had to look at this as an opportunity and that's why I'm so proud of them.  It's a grind and it took everybody in the cardinal shirts to make this happen."

Lowell (18-6) probably went home feeling like a very good team.  The Devils path to the final game was not overly difficult after 2A No. 2 Lewis Cass (16-2) opted not to finish the tournament, because the girls wanted to go to their school prom that night.  But the Devils bombed fairly good teams from Frontier (12-5) and Benton Central (13-8) and ran a week long winning streak to six before coming up short against the tourney tested 59ers (21-3).

"I enjoy these games," said Lowell coach Pete Iussig.  "I don't know about coach (Jim) Chancellor.  In the early rounds, we faced some teams here that had not had good seasons and the thing I like about it is we didn't give them a chance.  We came to play.  We've done that really since the Bishop Noll game Thursday."

"I don't know exactly why.  We talked after our loss to Highland and that's when we started to think.  Michelle Johnson and Kristina Kuzma had really good days.  That enabled us to sit a couple of girls and I know they start thinking to themselves that 'Hey, I've got to get going.'"

Andrean had lost to Munster and Lowell recently, but it's hard to call that a slump.  The Niners, like Lowell, rolled through four games and went scoreless for the first four innings in the early evening sun at Twin Lakes high school Saturday in a 6:00 p.m. game.

In the Lowell fourth inning, Kelly Johnson doubled to left center and went to third on a passed ball.  But after Katherine Allert popped out, Becca Nida hit a line drive that pitcher Katie Ivancich grabbed with a quick move.  Ivancich was then able to double Johnson off third base ending Lowell's best threat.

Andrean finally scored in the fifth inning after an error by Johnson at shortstop allowed Rachel Grzelak to reach base.  Lowell senior right-hander Ryssa Nord struck out Allison Bickel.  But after Grzelak stole second base, 59er catcher Christina Caldwell smacked a solid run scoring single to center field.

In the sixth inning, Andrean's Kara Kristoff singled and was bunted to second base before she scored on another two-out hit, this one by the 59ers Chanel Brant.  The 59er defense made just one error (a dropped pop-up) using a type of 'match-up zone' infield, which had the third baseman and second baseman sagging in towards the plate more than half the time against a Lowell batting order with five left-handed hitters.

Ivancich, who did not pitch all day Saturday until the title game due to chronic shoulder problems, was quick and strong in the title game, striking out eight and shutting out the Devils on 77 pitches.

"The girl I keep saying is their best defensive player is the pitcher," said Lowell coach Pete Iussig, "and she makes the defensive play of the game."

Lowell should not be crushed by the defeat.  After an early 7-1 loss to Andrean, they split two games in a late-season 10-day span with the Niners, who reached the state finals last season.

"I would have rather faced Andrean today than Munster," said Iussig before he headed for the bus.  "We play Munster again on Thursday (May 11) and we will see them at our sectional.  I wasn't keen on us playing Munster four times."

"These guys create more problems than you can possibly imagine," said Podkul of Lowell.  "Some teams when you scout them, they bat (lefty) slappers who are strictly slappers.  Pete's kids can slap, drag, hit it 200 feet or slice it the other way.  You've got to be able to react to any eventuality and that's what makes them so tough.  They can play a lot of small ball and put tons of pressure on you."

TWIN LAKES NOTES:  The level of play here was hinted during a fifth inning scenario with the game still scoreless.  In the third inning Lowell's Nicole Fletcher had hit a foul ball home run out of the Twin Lakes field down the left field line.  In the fifth with one out and a 3-2 count, 59er catcher Christina Caldwell was injured on a foul ball.  After a five minute delay, Caldwell stepped back into the catcher's box and called a changeup, getting a swinging third strike on the dangerous Fletcher, with Lowell stars Carrie Shelhart and Kelly Johnson on deck.

It was an unusually adept call. 

"My catcher calls the game," Poidkul smiled while Ivancich nearby, laughed.  "I want them to learn the game.  I'll occasionally call location but the catcher calls the game."

In a scenario which certainly speaks to priorities, Lewis Cass, ranked No. 2 in Class 2A, turned down a chance to play 4A No. 5 Lowell in the semifinals to go to the school's prom.  Cass won all three games in their pool, but they let it be known early Saturday that they would not advance to the 3:30 p.m. semifinals because Benton Central (13-8), a 3-2 loser to Cass (16-2), advanced to the semifinals where they lost 13-2 to Lowell.

Two years ago, Hanover potentially faced the same situation but the Lady Cats did not win their pool and the conflict never came up.  Cass is annually a strong team and always enters this tournament.  It's a mystery how folks at schools who schedule proms simply are oblivious to athletics.  It's also a surprise that so-called competitors would pass up the chance to face top competition for the chance to party.

Hanover Central (11-11) won one of three games, losing 1-0 to Eastern (15-5) and 10-5 to McCutcheon (11-14), but defeating Western (11-8) by a score of 5-3.  Danielle Hill (8-8), who was the losing pitcher in the one-run loss to Eastern, pitched through a couple of errors to send the Lady Cats home happy in their final game of the tournament Saturday afternoon.

"I thought we played well against Eastern," said coach Larry McMillen.  "We just didn't get a hit at the right time.  I thought we played pretty well against McCutcheon.  We just gave them a lot of runs."

Hanover played four freshman and Molly Fairhurst, the starting pitcher against McCutcheon was returning from a leg injury.  The junior lefty walked six in four innings.  But Hanover has never advanced to the semifinals at the Twin Lakes Invitational in eight tries.

Considering Boone Grove's 0-3 record, Merrillville's 0-3 record and a 1-2 tourney mark by injury-crippled Munster (18-4), Hanover 1-2 mark doesn't look so bad.  HC, which defeated Boone Grove 3-2 Thursday night in the Porter County Conference, drew LaCrosse (5-12) in the quarterfinals of the eight-team single-elimination PCC Tournament, which starts Friday, May 12.

If HC wins (they have not lost to LaCrosse in this decade) in the quarterfinals, the five-time defending PCC champ Lady Cats will face the winner of the quarterfinal between Morgan Township and Kouts.

"That's about as good a draw as we can get," McMillan said.  "I think we should get to the finals."

Hebron (14-2), dominated the four-team Knox Invitational over the weekend, beating LaCrosse 5-2 and Knox 18-1.

South Central (13-4) and right-hander Olivia Pahl (4-1) shut out arch-rival LaPorte 4-0.  Hebron and South Central figure to meet in a Saturday morning PCC semifinal.  The PCC tournament semifinals and finals are again in LaCrosse. 

With two weeks left, Andrean has one makeup date, an early April postponed double-header with South Bend St. Josephs' that will not be replayed.  The 59ers could and would like to re-schedule that game.

Nearby teams that are not on Andrean's schedule include next door neighbor Crown Point, 3A power New Prairie, undefaeted Whiting and undefeated Illinois small school border power Beecher (28-0).

Lowell coach Pete Iussig has gone to an odd lineup which places a leadoff hitter every three positions in the batting order.  In the last week, Lowell has lead off with long time 1-2 hitter Carrie Shelhart and they have batted sometimes No. 1 hitter Becca Nida fourth.  Whitney Magley, a lefty slap hitter with speed, is batting seventh.  Lowell has also balanced the order as well in hitting and RBI potential.  Nicole Fletceher, one of the Devils most experienced batters, hits ninth, but that's actually in third in the third threesome behind Magley.  The idea is that you have a lefty leadoff slap and slice hitter batting in every inning.  Since going to that lineup, Lowell had won six in a row before losing to Andrean.

"She's pretty tough," Iussig said of 59er pitcher Katie Invancich. "But I think we had a couple of threats against her.  You start a game off and you're excited because you have a group that will get you some runs.  Now, with some of these girls hitting, we feel that way almost every inning."

   

LOWELL  (21-6)

Coach Pete Iussig (21-10 in 2005)

3/23  (W) 6-0 at Kankakee Valley  (6-5)
3/25  (W) 3-2  at Chesterton  (18-1)
4/1  (W) 12-0  Valparaiso  (3-9)
4/4  (W)  7-5  Highland  (4-6)
4/5   (W) 9-2  Portage   (12-5)
4/6  (L)   1-7 Andrean  (21-3)
4/11  (L) 0-2 Bishop Noll  
4/12 (W)  2-1 at Boone Grove  (4-7)
4/13  (W)  10-0 Hobart  (5-4)
4/15 (W)  2-1 (10-innings) Crown Point  (10-9)
4/17 (L)  0-4  Munster  (14-2)

4/19 (W) 7-1 at Hanover Central  (8-7)
4/20 (W) 3-2 at Griffith  (9-10)
4/25 (W) 7-4  Kankakee Valley  (5-10)
4/27 (L) 1-2  at Highland (8-10)
4/29 (W) 6-0  Pioneer  (7-8)
4/29 (L) 1-6  West Lafayette  (21-2)

5/02  (W)  3-2  Andrean (21-3)
5/4 (W)  8-0  Bishop Noll (10-11)

5/5  Twin Lakes Invitational  
(W) 10-3  Frontier
(W) 10-0  Twin Lakes 0 (6 inn.)
(W) 11-2  Maconaqauh 

5/6   Twin Lakes Invitational 
(W)  13-2  Bention Central (6 inn.)
(L) 0-2  ANDREAN (21-3) (championship)

5/8 (W) 20-8 at Merrillville
5/9 (W) 8-1 at Hobart
5/10 (W) 4-0 at Wheeler

5/11 (Th)  at Munster  4;30 p.m.
5/15 (M)  at Morton  4:30 p.m.
5/16 (Tu)  Griffith High School  4:45 p.m. 
5/17 (W)  at Lake Central (16-6) 4:30 p.m.


Munster (4A) Sectional * site not certain
5/22  (M)  sectional quarterfinals
5/24 (W) sectional semifinals
5/26 (F) sectional championship

6/3 (S)   Merrillville (4A) Regional semifinals
6/3 (S)   Merrillville regional championship

6/9 (F) State semifinals (TBA)  6/8 p.m.
6/10 (S) 4A state championship 7 p.m.

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Revised: May 13, 2006.