Lady Red Devils' 3 errors in 3rd lead to 3-0 shutout loss to Portage

A USA-365 special report by Mark Smith

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

Monday, 4-4-2005 – 71 degrees in Portage

WP – Meagan Gutierrez (1-0), 5K, 0 walks (5 innings)

Tracy Markwell (SAVE), 1K 0 walks (2 innings)

LP – Cristin Just (0-1), CG, 3K, 1 walk (0 earned runs)

PORTAGE (1-0)

Olivia Leggett (P) 1-2, Single, run scored

Sammy Griffith (P) 1-3, Single, RBI

Amy Samplawski (P) 0-3, RBI

LOWELL (1-1)

Krystol Pigg (L) 1-3, Single

Carrie Shelhart (L) 1-3, Single

Kelly Johnson (L) 1-3, Single

Cristin Just (L) 1-3, Single

Nicole Fletcher (L) 1-3, Single

PORTAGE (4-4-2005) - “We want to win the sectional,” said Lowell coach Pete Iussig. “I told them. Every game we play, we're playing against (sectional favorites) Munster and Lake Central. You're not playing Portage. You're not playing Valparaiso. You're playing Lake Central and Munster. Everything we do is trying to get better. And we will get better. I promise you that.”

That's why Iussig was unhappy with Lowell's 3-0 loss at Portage Monday. Lowell got very little going offensively and made three errors in one inning to allow the Indians to head for the happy hunting ground in the home opener for the perennial Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) power.

Three infield errors and singles by Portage freshman Olivia Leggett and sophomore Sammy Griffith put three runs on the board in the third inning and that was more than enough for Indian pitchers Meagan Gutierrez and Tracy Markwell.

I was a little nervous with us coming out for our first game,” said Portage coach Jeff Smith. “We moved our games that were scheduled last Thursday and Friday (during spring break) to the end of the season. Lowell had already played. But we played pretty good defense when we had to.”

Lowell is going to have to hit top pitchers to either win the Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) or get out of the sectional and they simply did not do that Monday.

Portage sophomore Meagan Gutierrez (1-0), who nearly won 20 games (19-2, 0.44 ERA) in 2004. pitched five shutout innings, striking out five and allowing just three singles in the first two innings. Control is the 5-8 right-hander's specialty. She walked just three batters in 108 innings last season and walked none on this day.

“I was nervous,” Gutierrez said later of the first two innings. “It was the first game of the year. I tried to pitch the left-handed hitters inside. Get it in on their hands.”

Smith worried about both of his pitchers dealing with Lowell's slap and slice offense.

“I'm sure they were a little jittery. We know Lowell is a good opponent for us. Their slap hitting is a problem. You cannot simulate that in the gym. They did get a couple of hits on bunts. But I was happy that they pitched ahead. They got strike one and when you do that you're going to be okay most of the time.”

Portage scored in the third inning after Olivia Leggett slapped a hit off the glove of shortstop Kelly Johnson. “Ninth place hitter Amanda Sedoris bunted and Lowell third baseman Nicole Fletcher threw the ball past first base, putting runners at second and third.

Portage's Teri Harrington bounced a ground ball to deep short where Johnson was preoccupied with the lead runners and fumbled the ball, filling the bases.

Portage's Sammi Meints hit a ground ball to second baseman Carrie Shelhart, whose throw bounced into catcher Courtney Austgen. Austgen caught the ball but pulled her foot off the plate to make the grab, allowing the first run of the game to score.

Amy Samplawski made it 2-0 when she grounded out to Johnson at shortstop and Sammi Griffith's low line drive to right field was lost in the sun by Red Devil outfielder Ashley Cicillian. It was a disastrous inning and one that usually means a loss against top teams.

“We want to be an elite team,” said Iussig, who thought that junior right-hander Cristin Just pitched a top game. “And this is how those games are going to be. It should have been a 1-0 game. I told the girls that I thought that was probably the best game I've even seen her pitch.”

“This was Portage we're playing. You want to be an elite team like them, you've got to walk out of here with the score 1-0. You're going to win some and you're going to lose some but it's got to be a 1-0 game.”

Gutierrez, who relies on pitch location and change of speeds rather than velocity, retired the last 12 batters she faced before Smith replaced her with Markwell, a senior, to allow his No. 2 pitcher to get some work in the season opener.

Lowell filled the bases in the seventh inning on a single, a hit batter and an error. But the Devils' Courtney Austgen struck out on a 1-2 pitch to end the game.

Lowell and Portage cannot meet again until the 4A Elkhart Regional in June. Portage, which started a freshman and four sophomores, needs experience behind their state class pitching.

Lowell's infield defense is a strength and it will probably not be a long term problem. But the Devils have the tools to score runs off good pitchers. They have too much speed and skill to be shut out.

“We took some weak swings,” admitted Iussig. “Her (Gutierrez') ball's got a lot of jump to it. But if you're not making contact, you don't stop swinging hard. That's not the way to make contact.”

This wasn't a good game by Lowell, but it was good for them. You'd rather lose to good teams than beat bad ones.

DEVIL NOTES: Portage coach Jeff Smith said it was no big deal to move two early April nonconference games to the end of May. “We play Munster on May 12,” said Smith, “and we play sectionals on May 25. That's too much time off. Nobody wants to do that. So we put those two games there. Actually it was a no-brainer.”

Portage's third baseman Cara Horner is out on a 12-game disciplinary suspension. That's why freshman Olivia Leggett is at third base.

Portage plays Roncalli and 4A No. 10 Martinsville in a two game pairing with Valparaiso this Saturday (April 9). The state top 10 has been a secret in the first week, but 4A Lake Central, 3A Andrean and 2A Hanover Central were all No. 1 in the preseason, the first time three Lake County teams have ever been No.1 in softball at the same time. Chesterton was No. 8 and Portage was not ranked. With Hanover Central's 1-0 loss to Munster, HC will drop in the next poll.

Iussig batted junior catcher Courtney Austgen in the leadoff spot, an odd move until you take a second look at softball rules which allow you to pinch run for the pitcher and catcher whenever they reach base.

“She can put the bat on the ball,” Iussig said of Austgen. “I'm sure a lot of the parents might have been wondering about that. But if she gets on base, we can put in a speedy pinch runner every time.”

Junior Liz Martin, who played two seasons of softball, has switched to track this year. That loss and the back injury to Whitney Magley which will cause her to miss the 2005 season, has left the Devils a little shorter on the bench than they'd hoped to be.

Magley says she has no chance of playing this spring.

“I think I'll be able to go by the volleyball season,” said Magley, who was in uniform on the bench Monday. “The doctors really don't want me to play volleyball or basketball. They say I can if I want to. Softball is a lot less impact. But they say there are no guarantees.”