Lowell ends season with 9-2 loss to Grandville (MI) in Little League Seniors (Age 15-16) Regional Quarterfinals

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

(8-11-2004)

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
LOWELL, IN (11-5)	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	4	2
Grandville, MI (8-2)	2	4	2	0	0	1	-	9	12	1

Central Region Senior Baseball Regional Tournament - Quarterfinals
65, degrees - 8-10-4, Peru, Illinois

WP – Chris Van Gessell, 7Ks, 3 walks (5 innings)
LP – Jon Cap (5-1) 1K, 3 walks (1 2/3 inn.)
Ryan King (4 2/3 inn.) 4Ks, 4 walks

Chris Van Gessell (G) 3 singles
Ryan Lind (G) Double, single, 2 RBIs
Jake Loomans (G) 2 doubles, single, 3 RBIs
John Kammerman (G) Double, 2 walks
John Butor (LOWELL) HR, 2 RBIs
Zak Voss (LOWELL) Single, walks
Nate Korth (LOWELL) HBP, single

Peru, IL (8-10-2004) - Baseball, more than any other, is a game where you have to learn to lose. Nobody wins them all. It's how you come back after a loss that makes the difference. Lowell's Senior Little League all-stars came back home after a loss Tuesday, when Grandville, the Michigan state champion, defeated the Lowell 16s, 9-2 in the Central Regional quarterfinals in Peru's Washington Park.

The Indiana champions might have been luckier and hung around a day or two more. But Grandville raced to an 8-0 lead on walks and Lowell mistakes. They appeared to be the better team. Lowell seemed tense and tentative and, once these tournaments reach the single-elimination point, anyone who isn't playing well has simply got to go.

“I don't think anybody expected us to get this far,” said manager Dan Butor, probably including himself and the coaching staff. “It was a great run for us. We did very well.”

It never felt like Lowell would win Tuesday night. After a series of warm, sunny days, the temperatures dropped 20 degrees and were in the mid-60s under cloudy blue-gray skies when Zak Voss stepped in for the game's first pitch. On a pivotal play, Voss smoked the first pitch from Grandville right-hander Chris Van Gessell to deep left. Grandville's Jeff Hayfst got a good jump and ran straight back towards the left field fence and made an outstanding, reaching catch with his back to the infield. Lowell went down in order and never again batted in a tie game.

“I hit that real good,” Voss said later, “If he wasn't left-handed, he can't make that catch.”

“That might've changed the game,” Butor said. “If that gets over his head, its a double and we probably score.”

In the bottom of the first inning, another key play. After right-hander Jon Cap (5-1) got the first two outs, Ryan Lind lined a double to left-center and KC Brown hit a deep flyball to right-center. Right-fielder Brain Gerlach appeared to catch up to the ball near the fence but he missed it, allowing Lind to score. Jake Loomans then blooped a single to center and it was 2-0.

Grandville scored four times in the second inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Lowell pulled the infield in to get a force at home. Lind chopped a soft ground ball that got up the middle for a two-run single to make it 4-0.

Then another key defensive play. Cap got Loomans to hit a bouncer to third baseman Brendan Langen, who stepped on third base for a force play. But Langen's double-play relay to first base was low and first baseman Jerry Hughes could not dig it out of the dirt. Given an extra out, Loomans drove a long two-run double to right-center to make it 6-0.

“There were a couple of plays we didn't make or it's a 4-2 game in the last inning,” said Butor. “And if it's 4-2 it's anybody's game. You look at the score and it's 9-2 and it's a different game. We got ourselves in a big hole and we couldn't get out of this one."

Lowell's baserunning was bad, which cost them two potential rallies. After Gerlach walked in the third inning, he tried to reach second base on a short wild pitch and was thrown out by Grandville catcher Tim Jelsma. Trailing 6-0, it was too risky a play. In the sixth, with Grandville leading 8-2, Nate Korth was hit by a pitch with one out and Lowell relief pitcher Ryan King boomed a deep drive to right center. Lind, the Grandville centerfielder, made a long run and an excellent catch near the fence in right center field. Korth was already around third base and was doubled off second with two relay throws to end the inning. Lowell had two bright spots. John Butor smacked a two-run home run in the fourth inning and King came out of the bullpen to pitch 4 1/3 innings, allowing three runs. King had pitched four innings just 48 hours earlier.

“Ryan King did an excellent job,” said Butor. “He came in and did what we needed him to do. He shut them down and gave us a chance."

Butor, John Butor's dad, especially enjoyed the homer.

“He hit it real well. I knew it was gone when he hit it.”

When Voss bounced out on a 3-2 pitch to end the game, there was disappointment but it was not severe. While Lowell certainly would have loved to win the tournament and qualify for the World Series in Bangor Maine Aug. 15-21, nobody truthfully knew how these Lowell high school boys, some of them football players, were going to be able to go to Maine without losing their fall sports spots. After two weekends on the road, it was probably time to go home.

This was probably a once-in a lifetime run for Lowell, which had to shake down the thunder to win four of five at the state finals in Terre Haute. But there is the age thing. Top pitcher Cap, shortstop Korth, third baseman Zak Hoffman and catcher Josh Kuiper are just 15 and return to the Senior Little League in 2005. While everybody can't make the all-star team and no one can argue with the results of the 2004 all-star team, more than one observer thought that centerfielder Matt Kay and 1B-P Aaron Corns, both 15, could have made this team. With a little help coming up from the Junior Little League all-stars, next years Senior stars could certainly return to the state finals.

“We'll be back,” said Hoffman. “We'll be good again next year.”

SENIOR NOTES: It's a little unfair to ask manager Dan Butor which one of the Lowell 16s would make the Lowell high school varsity. But the boys are 15 and 16 and Lowell's varsity baseball team was hit hard by graduation for the second consecutive season. The question still stands.

“Zak Voss will be a varsity player,” said one Lowell Little League watcher. “Brian Gerlach will probably come up. Brendan Langen is at Andrean. Brad Kerrick will be JV. John (Butor) will definitely come up. Jerry Hughes might be and Dave Erpelding should be. Ryan King will be if he plays. He's a linebacker on the football team and he loves football. He may decide to only play one sport.”

Catcher Josh Kuiper, third baseman Zak Hoffman, pitcher Jon Cap and shortstop Nate Korth are only 15 years old, which would make them very young varsity candidates for 2005.

Grandville, a team near Grand Rapids, Michigan, lost only once in the Michigan state tournament.

Highland's 12-and-under all-stars lost 3-0 to Owensboro, Kentucky (17-0) in the championship game of the Great Lakes Regional in Indianapolis. Only six Lake County 12-year-old Little League teams have ever made the Little League World Series. No Indiana team has ever won the Little League World Series.

Dyer lost 17-12 to Wabash Saturday in the 10-and-under semifinals at the Concord Little League in Elkhart. South Bend East Side then beat Wabash 5-3 for the state championship.

Ironically, the Indiana Junior Little League (age 13-14) champ Goshen (12-2) was also eliminated by the Michigan state champion, Midland Michigan, 5-3 in the quarterfinals of the Junior state tourney in Fort Wayne Tuesday night.

The final four teams at Peru were Ankeny Iowa and Grandville Michigan in one semifinal. Humbolt Park, Illinois and the host team, Peru, Ill were in the other semifinal.