| Team (Record) / Inning | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Michigan City (5-2) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 2 |
| LOWELL (4-2) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 5 |
Junior
Little League state finals (ages 13-14)
7-25-2003 - 73 degrees, sunny at the Merrillville Little League
WP - Kyle Federoff (2-0) CG, 3K, 3 walks (100
pitches)
LP - Josh Kuiper (0-1) ), 1 walk (one inning)
Michigan City (8 singles, one double, 5 stolen bases)
Mike Arvin (MC) Double, single, walk, stolen base
Gregory Hines (MC) 2 singles, 2 RBIs
Marc Torres (MC) Single, walk
Brock Kohler (MC) Single, HBP, walk
LOWELL (10 singles, double)
Matt Kay (L) 3 singles
Tyler Overdorf (L) 2 singles, RBI
Nathan Korth (L) 2 singles, Sac Fly, RBI
MERRILLVILLE (7-25-2003) - Any scenario that saw Lowell's Junior Little League all-stars reach the semifinal round of the 2003 state finals included a victory over Michigan City.
Lowell and Michigan City, from Districts I and II, got a bye directly from district play to the state finals. Frankly, it was assumed that Michigan City was the weakest team here because they had four 13-year-olds in a tourney dominated by 14-year-olds.
And Lowell led Michigan City 6-4 in the seventh inning. The could have won. They should have won. But they didn't. Michigan City's all-stars scored five runs in the seventh inning to win 9-6 and eliminate the Lowell 14s from any chance to reach the championship round.
The rally was pure Little League. Infield hits, questionable throws, walks and one blown call gave the rallying team what they needed.
The game turned when Michigan City (6-1), which had drawn just one walk all night against Lowell right-hander Aaron Corns, got walks for Brock Koehler and Jordan Hines leading off the final inning. Lowell manager Paul Hoffman then went to catcher Josh Kuiper as his relief pitcher. Michigan City clean-up hitter Kyle Federoff smacked a hard ground ball to the right of Lowell third baseman Jon Cap, who was guarding the foul line. The ball got past Cap and down the third base line and the throw home got away, moving runners to second and third.
"That was a foul ball," said Hoffman. "He (Cap) was in foul territory. The guy (umpire) here had no call and the home umpire just said fair. He didn't see it. He (Cap) was right on the line and he took a step into foul territory."
Gregory Hines, the next MC hitter, hit a very catchable pop up foul that Cap could not grab, the ball landing in foul territory. Hines then bounced an 0-2 ground ball into left field to tie the game 6-6 and put runners at first and third. After Hines stole second base, Marc Torres, who played on Michigan City's 12-and-under District I Little League champs last year, then sliced an RBI single that was overrun by rightfielder Jon Stoner for another error. Two runs scored and MC had an 8-6 edge.
A wild pitch by Kuiper made it 9-6 and Lowell was done.
"I thought we played much better than we did last night," said Hoffman, who saw his boys lose 8-7 to Cleveland Township in round one of the pool play tournament. "We just lost two close games."
"After getting no-hit last night," said Michigan City manager Honer Torres, "we had to come back and swing the bats tonight. I managed the majors team (12 and under) that won district last year. The 14-year-olds, this is all new to them. The 13s who were with with me, they've been through close tournament games like this."
Lowell trailed 2-0 and 4-3 but scored three in the fifth inning to go ahead. Josh Kuiper walked and raced to third on Nate Korth's single. Kuiper scored on a wild pitch but Korth was tagged out when, after racing to second base, he got up and started for third. With two out, Kyle O'Keefe doubled and moved to third base when shortstop Brock Koehler fumbled Matt Kay's ground ball. Aaron Corns then dropped a pop fly hit into right field to make the score 5-4. A wild pitch made it 6-4 after five innings.
"I thought we played better than yesterday," Hoffman insisted. "Aaron was doing so well but, after he walked two, I got scared and I put Josh in there. We had Nate Korth, but he got hurt earlier and I didn't want to risk putting him in. He just didn't look like he was ready to throw. He was it. He was the closer."
Korth, Lowell's starting shortstop, was hurt on a collision with base stealer Brock Koehler in the fifth inning. The ump was ready to call Koehler out until the collision forced Korth to drop the ball. That run later scored on Hines RBI single. On a clear, dry night, Lowell didn't have much luck.
Lowell realistically would've been hard-pressed to beat Chet Waggoner all-stars from South Bend in a do-or-die game but had they beaten Michigan City, they could have won a three-way tiebreaker and advanced to the semifinals. With that hope lost, Lowell's 14s had only one motivation going into Saturday's final pool play game.
"I told them," said Hoffman, "that 1-2 is a lot better than 0-3."
LITTLE LEAGUE NOTES: Lowell was eliminated from the tournament after two games because the two teams with 1-1 records were set to play each other in the third round. The winner of Michigan City's game with Cleveland Township would have a 2-1 record and, even if Lowell was to beat Chet Waggoner, Chet Waggoner would have a 2-1 record. Only two teams advance from each pool and the best Lowell could do would be 1-2. Chet Waggoner clinched a top seed in the semifinals with a 4-3 win over Cleveland Township.
In the Senior Little League state finals in Indianapolis, Hobart, which swept Lowell 5-0 and 16-2 in the sectional playoff series, was beaten twice by 10 runs in their first two games. In the 'minors' state finals in Greenwood, Dyer beat Franklin Township 15-6, (Fort Wayne) Times Corner 4-3 and (South Bend) Chet Waggoner 11-1. The 10s reached the Final-4 as a top seed and needed two wins to take the league's fifth state title.
In the 'majors' state finals, Dyer was upset 10-9 by the Brooklyn Little League of Anderson, Indiana on Thursday (7-24-03) but they rebounded to bury West Terre Haute 13-1 Friday night. The Dyer 12s needed a win Saturday morning to reach the single-elimination semifinals Saturday afternoon. Dyer needed three wins in a row to take the state title. Four-time state champion Brownsburg lost 4-2 to New Albany on Thursday and also needed a victory early Saturday or they would be eliminated.
JUNIORS
(ages 13-14)
2003 State
Finals at the Merrillville Little League
At
MERRILLVILLE - July 24
New Albany Township 3,
Zionsville 0
Decatur 3,
Petersburg 1
(Elkhart) Cleveland Township 8, Lowell 7 (8 innings)
(South Bend) Chet Waggoner 3,
Michigan City 0
At
MERRILLVILLE (Fri.) July 25
New Albany Township 7, Decatur 2
Zionsville 10, Petersburg 2
Chet Waggoner 4, Cleveland Township 3
Michigan City 9, LOWELL 6
At
MERRILLVILLE (Sat.) July 26
Zionsville vs. Decatur (11 a.m.)
New Albany Township vs. Petersburg (1:30
p.m.)
Michigan City vs. Cleveland Township (4 p.m.)
Chet Waggoner vs. LOWELL (6:30 p.m.)
At
MERRILLVILLE (Sun.) July 27
Chet Waggoner vs. Zionsvile or Decatur - 1 p.m.
New Albany Township vs. Michigan City or Cleveland Township 3:30 p.m.
At
MERRILLVILLE (Mon.) July 28
STATE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: 2 p.m.
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Revised: July 10, 2004.