| Team (Record) / Inning | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| LOWELL (30-7) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Hamilton SE (30-0) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | - | 3 | 7 | 0 |
Friday,
June 8, 2007
- 72 degrees - State (4A) Semifinals at Cherry Tree Complex - CARMEL,
IN
WP - Morgan Melloh (26-0) 16Ks, 3 walks, 19th shutout
LP - Allyssa Reed (15-3) CG, 1 K, 1 walk, 2 HBP
LOWELL (30-7)
Megan Bolanowski (RF-3B) Single
Lauren Wells (LF) 2 walks
Hamilton Southeastern (30-0)
Kathleen Maloof (CF) Single, walk
Brett Williams (C) Single, RBI
Devin Dearing (3B) Single, RBI
Mollie Brown (RF) Single, HBP
Taylor Rager (2B) Single, HBP
Class 4A Penn Regional
6-2-2007, at Penn High School, Osceola
(SB) Adams 1, Portage 0 (10 innings)
LOWELL 3, Elkhart Memorial 2 (10 innings)
LOWELL 3, Elkhart Memorial 2 (title)
Class 4A
Center Grove Regional
6-2-2007, at Center Grove High School, Greenwood
Hamilton Southeastern 4, Center Grove 0
Avon 4, (Indianapolis) Cathedral 0
Hamilton Southeastern 3, Avon 1 (title)
Class
4A State Softball Finals
at Cherry
Tree Complex - Carmel
Castle 5, McCutcheon 3 (10 innings)
Hamilton Southeastern 3, LOWELL 0
at Ben Davis - Indianapolis
Hamilton Southeastern 2, Castle 1 (10 innings) championship
CARMEL (6-8-2007) - Lowell's players and coaches might be bothered by the 3-0 loss to top-ranked and undefeated Hamilton Southeastern in the Class 4A Indiana state semifinals late Friday but they shouldn't be. They probably were defeated by one of the state's all-time best pitchers. Hamilton Southeastern left-hander Morgan Melloh struck out 16 and allowed only one hit as the top-ranked Royals defeated Lowell 3-0 in the Class 4A state semifinals Friday night.
And after Lowell (30-7) went home, Melloh did something that might make the Red
Devils feel a little better about losing. The Hamilton County left-hander
struck out a state finals' record 26 batters in a 2-1 victory over Castle in the
state title game. Melloh (27-0) finished the 2007 season with 426
strikeouts in 187 innings, capping a career where she was 76-13 with 1,220
strikeouts (628 innings) and just 34 runs allowed in four years. Lowell should
be upset over the end of their best-ever season, but they must know by now that
they can't be disappointed to lose to Melloh, who probably posted the greatest
season in Indiana prep softball history.
"She's tough," said coach Pete Iussig. "She's the best we've faced. I
told Dave (SE coach Dave Cook) that I didn't ever remember Kelly Johnson
striking out three times in the same game. I was very impressed. I
think she stacks up there with the best that I've ever seen in our area over the
years."
Southeastern, the undefeated champion of the Hoosier Crossroads Conference (HCC), which included 4A state finalist McCutcheon (29-7), scored in the first inning on a hit batter, a single by Kathleen Maloof and back-to-back infield errors by second baseman Jacki Fletcher and third baseman Nicole Rolniak in the sandy infield at the Cherry Tree Complex, tucked away in a residential neighborhood in the northern Indianapolis suburb of Carmel.
The Devils, who batted .308 as a team through 36 games, had one scoring threat in the second inning but Becca Nida popped up with runners at first and second and two out. Melloh, a 5-foot-9 left-hander, simply threw the ball by most Lowell batters, striking out the first seven Red Devil hitters. Throwing straight fastballs and a couple of rise balls, or rising fastballs, the senior all-stater, who was 14-3 in 2006, overmatched a Lowell lineup that included five left-handed hitters.
Lowell's lefties were 0-for-12 with three walks against Melloh, but to be fair, Lowell's right-handed batters were 1-for-10 with six strikeouts. The Devils really didn't have right-handed pinch hitters on the bench with any statistical experience of success, but the their lefties had no chance swinging against Melloh.
"We really didn't have anybody else to put up there," said the 18-year Lowell coach, who seemed to be upset when he thought his strategy was being questioned. "We didn't have anybody on the bench that was better than they guys we had out there. That wasn't going to happen. I think I'd have the same game plan next time. Maybe I'm not a very good coach, but you've got a better chance bunting than you would swinging away."
Iussig and old-timers like McCutcheon's Jim Bates basically invented slap hitting to confront hard throwers. Lowell did not 'bunt' the ball in the conventional sense, because that would have been very difficult, especially for the left-handed hitters, against a hard-throwing (about 65 MPH) pitcher. Lowell did not bunt more than three or four times. The Devils could have pinch hit right-handed hitters or turned around the left-handed hitters (Most of whom are right-handed) and ordered them to bunt, but they chose to go with their strength, which was slapping. It was the slap hitting that failed, although the numbers show that everything almost everyone tries fails against the Hamilton Southeastern all-stater.
The second semifinal game started about 9:45 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time due to
the first semifinal, Castle's 10-inning 5-3 win over McCutcheon. Lowell,
backed by a good-sized student section behind home plate in the capacity crowd,
had baserunners only in the second, third and seventh. Southeastern, which is
less than 20 minutes from Carmel, had a larger crowd with a student section in
the tiny left field bleachers. The Southeastern fans chanted Melloh's name when
she came to bat.
"The run in the first inning was big," said Cook, who knows Iussig long range
from many years in the coaching association and the state all-star games.
"We talk about winning the inning. When you get the lead you get more
confident and when high school kids are confident they are so much better."
Southeastern scored runs in the fifth and sixth inning on infield hits, but they
didn't need them. If Melloh had thrown about 125-150 pitches, Lowell might
have caught up to her. But she looked very strong in all seven innings.
Six Lowell batters hit the ball into fair territory, but two were Bolanowski's single and Nina Ioakimidis ensuing sacrifice bunt in the second inning. Two others wee pop ups. Only Bolanowski, who hit a one hop grounder to the pitcher and Becca Nida, who hit a hard one hopper at the second baseman, actually made Southeastern (31-0) field the ball.
"How many times did we hit the ball in play?" Iussig asked. "Three? People aren't going to make mistakes when you only it the ball three times. We just didn't get it done."
The first inning run was crucial.
"It made a difference when you were facing a dominant pitcher," said Iussig. "I think in every the game this year, when we've been behind, we've always had the feeling we could catch up. If there was a game in which we questioned ourselves, it was against here. I don't think the girls gave up in any way. But in the back of their mind, I think they started to think, 'Wow, we've got to scratch and scrap for ONE run.' Sometimes you get the feeling that you can score three or four. I don't think they had that feeling tonight."
Lowell junior Allyssa Reed (15-3) pitched a strong game, although she did hit two Southeastern batters. The first run off her was unearned and the final two runs came on ground balls that deflected off infielders' gloves. The good thing for Lowell was that they were not embarrassed in their state finals' debut. The Devils were a walk away from getting the tying run to the plate in the seventh and they were down just 1-0 with two out in the fifth. For real players, it's better to lose to the No. 1 team than it is to beat some unranked team that lucked its way to the final. The Devils had two seniors, two freshmen, two sophomores and four juniors in the starting lineup.
Odds are always against a state finalist returning the next year. Undefeated state 1A champion Whiting didn't even make it to the regional finals this year. But nobody knows. Lowell, which wasn't even in the Post-Tribune's Northwest Indiana Top-10 to start the season, beat Andrean twice and the 59ers won the 3A state title.
"Its a young group," said Iussig, who insists he'll retire when the present freshman class graduates. "Maybe we'll be back down here in a couple of years."
FINALS NOTES: Morgan Melloh set a state finals record with 26
strikeouts in Hamilton Southeastern's 2-1, 10-inning win over Castle in
Saturday's 4A state title game.
Melloh
also drove in the winning run with a double to left center.
Melloh
(27-0) finished with 425 strikeouts.
Lowell, as might be expected with a week off before the finals, had an elaborate
game plan for facing Hamilton's tall left-hander. Everybody went up with a
'two-strike swing'," explained coach Pete Iussig, who had his girls prepare
extensively for facing the fast-balling Melloh. "I'm not sure if a particular
person was listening to me (not Kelly Johnson) when we said we'd go up there
with the adjustments."
"We had six machines cranked as high as they would go in practice. Of our seven lefties (five starters and two pinch hitters), six of them slapped when they were younger. So, we had them try to slap this week. If they hadn't looked good in practice, I would have scrapped it, but we looked half way decent at it. Everybody went up there with the idea that we're going to start with the adjustments that we make with two strikes. And six of the seven lefties went up there with the option to slap or bunt. We tried that for about five innings and it just wasn't happening."
"And this morning we set the machine way off to the side, but she's just very dominating. We knew we had to put the ball in play and just didn't do that. One hit's just not going to get it done."
The Cherry Tree Softball complex is outdated and the IHSAA needs a new site for the softball semifinals. The field is quaint and tree-lined but it has seen better days. The infield is not good.
"This is a very sandy infield," said Iussig. "We've never played on an infield like this. I'm not saying it's bad. But two very sure-handed infielders made errors on plays when the ball died (in the first inning). It didn't take your routine hop. The ball just flattened out. But that doesn't matter. We'd have lost 2-0 instead of 3-0."
Cherry Tree is an elementary school so there is very little parking. Some fans had to park in a church a mile north of the field and were bussed south to the site. Cars are parked on the grass. There is a good amount of seating, but press and concession facilities are outdoors. The state finals should probably be at an IHSAA member high school with enough parking for a high school event.
For the record, Lowell (30-7) beat Andrean (29-5) twice, 2-1 and 4-0 in Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) play.
Southeastern (31-0), which won its first state title, gave up 15 runs all year in completing the second undefeated season in the 23-year state tournament era. Whiting (33-0) won the 1A state title last season.
4A No.
9
LOWELL
(30-7)
23-7
in 2006
= coach
Pete
Iussig...LAC
games in
CAPS
3-22 (W) 9-3 Kankakee Valley (10-20)
3-29 (L) 4-8 Chesterton (20-6)
3-31 (W) 5-0 at Valparaiso (7-19)
4-2 (L) 2-4 at Portage (23-7)
4-3 (W) 2-0 at HIGHLAND (17-13)
4-5 (W) 2-1 (8 innings) ANDREAN (27-5)
4-10 (cold) BISHOP NOLL (9-19)
4-12 (W) 8-2 at HOBART (17-11)
4-14 (W) 6-4 (9 innings) at Crown Point
(16-13)
4-16 (L) 2-3 at MUNSTER (24-7)
4-18 (W) 6-1 Hanover Central (20-10)
4-19 (W) 12-5 GRIFFITH (16-15)
4-24 (W) 10-0 (5 innings) at KANKAKEE VALLEY
(4-8)
4-27 (W) 10-0 (5 innings) Boone Grove
(15-12)
4-28 (W) 9-1 at Pioneer (14-14)
4-28 (W) 9-2 West Lafayette (6-22)
4-30 (W) 2-1 HIGHLAND (17-13)
5-1 (W) 4-0 at ANDREAN (27-5)
5-3 (W) 1-0 BISHOP NOLL (9-19)
Twin Lakes Invitational (in Monticello)
5-4 (W) 11-3 Frontier (19-9)
5-5 (W) 9-3 Twin Lakes (18-8)
5-5 (W) 14-0 Maconaquah (14-14)
5-5 (W) 5-4 (8 innings) Munster (24-7)
5-5 (L) 0-2 McCutcheon (29-6) title
5-7 (W) 3-0 Merrillville (3-22)
5-8 (L) 1-6 HOBART (17-11)
5-9 (L) 0-1(L) Wheeler (25-4)
5-10 (W) 2-1 MUNSTER (24-7)
5-14 (W) 12-2 MORTON (10-15)
5-15 (W) 5-2 at GRIFFITH (16-15)
5-16 (W) 3-2 Lake Central (21-6)
Lake Central (4A) Sectional
5-21-7 (W) 10-0 East Chicago (6-16)
5-23 (W) 6-1 Highland (17-11)
5-25 (W) 10-1 Munster (24-7)
Penn (4A) Regional
6-2 (W) 3-2 (10 innings) Elkhart Memorial
(23-8)
6-2 (W) 3-2 (SB) Adams (21-10)
(4A)
State Finals
at Cherry Tree Complex - Carmel
6-8 (L) 0-3 Hamilton Southeastern (30-0)
semifinal
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Revised: June 11, 2007.