Northwest Indiana Top-10

Week-3, 2008 High School 'Renegade' Poll

4-13-2008

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

ST. JOHN (4-12-2008) Hard core weather shut down Northwest Indiana softball a couple of times again last weekend, but not until we got some indication of how the year is going to go. The pre-season pick (Lake Central) in the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) is still the pick. The pre-season selection (Hanover Central) in the Porter County Conference (PCC) is still the pick.

In the new Northwest Crossroads Conference, nobody's sure. Lowell didn't win the final year of the Lake Conference in 2007, but they have jumped to an early lead with a win over defending 3A state champ Andrean. Munster is still a significant candidate. The Greater South Shore Conference saw the first head-to-head showdown between powers Whiting and Wheeler with Whiting winning 3-0.

The shorter the season lasts the less the conference races matter, but the double round-robin hopefully creates some rivalries and 'big' games.

Again, there are several postponements. Andrean's annual trip to Dowagiac, Michigan is in doubt because of the weather. Saturday's Porter County Conference match between undefeated Hebron and unbeaten Hanover is in question as is the Adams tourney (April 12) in South Bend that includes eight teams, one of which is Boone Grove.

The problem with tournaments of more than four teams is that if it rains, those games are gone. You can re-do a four team matchup, but a group of eight can't be rescheduled. This is the strongest argument for escaping the annual spring rain and moving to fall softball. In a fall season, you could play an eight team tournament every day except Sunday before school starts. All teams would play the entire schedule and you could play three different opponents morning, noon and night if you wanted to.

If you haven't seen state polls, I haven't either. As of Wednesday, April 9, there had been no real state poll since March 17. The pre-season poll is irrelevant because nobody knows what's going on so there haven't been any polls in 2008 so far. I have to admit that I don't understand the difference between the softball coaches association, which struggles with the polls and the Indiana baseball coaches association, which fires up a new poll every Monday night.

True, state polls where coaches in Madison County vote on the relative strength of Hebron and Boone Grove, have about as much value as Iraq war bonds, but they gain publicity for the sport and the coaches need to do a better job. The season's only eight weeks long.

In 4A, Pendleton Heights (7-0), Mishawaka (6-0) and McCutcheon (7-1) are off to fast starts. Mishawaka freshman Shelbie Jones (3-0) pitched a three-hitter Monday to beat Elkhart Memorial (4-1) in a matchup of 4A unbeaten teams. In 1A, Lakewood Park Christian has outscored three foes 35-0. But you get the feeling nobody's getting a lot of games in anywhere in the northern half of the state.

1. (4A) LAKE CENTRAL (5-3)
2007 (21-6), 2006 (25-8), 2005 (32-1), 2004 (29-3), 2003 (32-3-1)

ST. JOHN: Let's save a lot of time and agree that Lake Central, with four returning players entering their third season, should have been the top-ranked team to start the year. They have lost 3-1 to 4A No. 4 Penn and 1-0 in eight innings to 4A No. 1 Pendleton heights. LC is a big, strong, confident team. They also lost 6-5 to Portage Monday. I don't think the record is the No. 1 factor. Rachel Weaver (3-2) has been dominant even in the 1-0 loss to Pendleton (7-0). LC beat Adams 9-1, Merrillville 10-0 and Crown Point 7-1. LC is not a great team and they will lose 5-10 games. They lost 6-5 to Portage last week. But I don't know how many weaknesses they have and the schedule is very strong.

2. (4A) LOWELL (5-1)
2007 (30-7), 2006 (23-7), 2005 (21-10), 2004 (20-9)

LOWELL: Lowell roared out of the gate, overwhelming most of the early portion of their schedule. The Devils scored no-contest wins over South Central 18-0 and Highland 12-0. A 5-3 loss to Boone Grove opened some eyes, especially about Boone. But it must be noted that all-area senior pitching candidates Allyssa Reed (2-0) and Kaitlyn Bolanowski (2-0) were not the starting pitchers against Boone. Lowell is using the pre-season to get sophomore pitchers Jacki Fletcher and Lauren Wells experience for 2009. Give Boone credit, but don't assume that Boone is as good as Lowell because of an early April win. Lowell's upcoming highlight after back-to-back road games at Portage (April 11) and Crown Point (April 12) is the short bus trip to neighbor Hanover Central on April 16. And there's no truth to the rumor that sophomore Red Devil rookie shortstop Megan Bolanowski, who has three home runs and 14 RBIs in seven games, is really a Japanese exchange student: Megan Fukudome.

3. (2A) HANOVER CENTRAL (6-0)
2007 (20-10), 2006 (16-14), 2005 (26-5-3), 2004 (25-7)

CEDAR LAKE: They have not played a home game yet and they've had three games postponed. But here is the most intriguing team in Lake County, partly because they haven't played a game in Lake County yet. The Lady Cats have beaten Chesterton 12-2, Clinton Prairie 15-0, Maconaquah 11-0, Mishawaka Marian 10-1, LaCrosse 13-0 and Morgan Township 7-1. Combined score: 68-4. All road games. Reality check? Chesterton is rebuilding, Marian (4-2) had to go without their top pitcher against HC and Clinton Prairie, Maconaquah and LaCrosse are, shall we say, softball-challenged. Jessica Toth (3-0) has three complete game wins and fellow sophomore Kelsey Jankowski (3-0) has two. Second baseman Lindsay Thompson already has two home runs and freshman Tiffany Gibson was 7-of-11 in HC's three-game win in the LaVille Invitational (April 5) Saturday. Hebron (6-0) and HC (6-0) were rained out Saturday and that game has not yet been rescheduled. Oddly, Hebron and Hanover drew each other as first round foes in the Porter County Conference (PCC) championship tournament on May 9. The challenge comes next week when HC hosts Munster (April 14), defending 4A regional champ Lowell (April 16). defending Illinois small school state champion Beecher (April 17) and defending 3A state champ Andrean in a five-day span. Let's wait a week before we start talking about how good Hanover is. Let's wait until, at least, they play a home game.

4. (3A) ANDREAN (3-2)
2007 (29-3), 2006 26-4, 2005 (32-3), 2004 (29-5), 2003 (27-2)

MERRILLVILLE: Not a good start for the 59ers, who have lost to Munster 5-2 and Lowell 6-3, but this is a fairly young team and they'll get better. In an 8-2 win over Griffith Monday (April 7), the Niners scored as many runs as they'd scored in the previous three games. The 59ers haven't been able to get on the field and they face some more postponements this week. There is a possibility that the bad weather than rolls into Northwest Indiana this week won't be in the air up in southwest Michigan. The field in Dowagiac's Chieftain Invitational, an almost picnic style tourney on old fields with a pancake breakfast and folks selling chicken in the parking lot, features Elkhart Memorial (4-1), Mishawaka Marian (4-2), South Bend Washington and Andrean. the defending champ, and I believe, a six-time Dowagiac tourney champion. The Michigan teams are Niles, Edwardsburg, Berrian Springs and host Dowagiac. Marian is fourth ranked in 3A, but they lost 10-1 to Hanover Central, when their top pitcher wasn't available. Memorial's Callie Stewart pitched a no-hit game beating Washington 8-1 last week. Andrean beat Marian 3-1 to win the Dowagiac title last week. This is one of those weekends where the Niners could lose to Memorial or maybe Edwardsburg, but Andrean only really loses here if the tournament can't be played due to the weather. The Niners rescheduled last week's postponed game with Hobart to April 16.

5. (4A) Munster (5-2)
2007 (24-7), 2006 (22-7), 2005 (25-3-1), 2004 (25-3-1), 2003 (22-7), 2002 (15-12)

MUNSTER: The steadiness of Munster's pitching should come to the forefront as the season goes on. They aren't shutting anybody out, but other than that 15-2 loss to LC, they're in every game. The Lady Ponies scored what had to be an uplifting win 4-3 over Crown Point on Friday (April 4) as Erin Moss drove in the winning run in support of Elanor Kennedy (5-0. That's probably a game they should have lost. Munster shut out Griffith 1-0 behind Kennedy as Pheobe Connor drove in the winning run. Munster lost 4-3 to Lowell in nine innings, but again, they haven't lost to anyone they weren't 'supposed' to lose to. Munster will try to head down to the land of the 'Happy Cows' again Monday (April 14) to take on Hanover Central (5-0) in Cedar Lake, but the weather makes that one very questionable. That's a twice-postponed game that's good for strength of schedule. Don't let early results shake you here. They have two returning pitchers and a strong catcher in Ashley Moore. You can't lose with the girls they use. Munster hosted Lowell late Wednesday and they travel to Andrean again on April 21.

6. (4A) CROWN POINT (5-3)
2007 (16-14), 2006 (13-14), 2005 (12-14), 2004 (8-19), 2003 (16-16)

CROWN POINT: CP hasn't really posted a big win yet, although the 4-2 win over Portage looks good. The Lady Bulldogs have lost to Lake Central (6-3), New Prairie (3-1) and Munster (5-3), but they have five wins including 10-0 over Morton and 13-0 over Merrillville this week. Kelsey Rather (1-0) and Jackie Beilfuss (2-3) pitched shutouts. Taylor Perry pitched the 4-2 victory over Portage (2-3), a team that beat Lake Central Monday. The 4-3 loss to Munster (April 5), a game they led 3-0 in the fifth, was a downer, the second time this season CP has a lost a multiple run lead in the late innings. They should be 6-1, but they aren't and they've had about five days off to think about it. Still, like Munster, the pitching and catching gives them hope for a strong finish.

7. (4A) Chesterton (4-3)
2007 (20-6), 2006 (30-2), 2005 (27-3-1), 2004 (20-7), 2003 (22-5)

CHESTERTON: The Trojans stopped Valparaiso 4-1 as Catie Armstrong (2-2) pitched a no-hitter. I can't really explain the 12-2 loss to Hanover Central, but this is still a rebuilding team and, like CP, they could easily be in the sectional title game next month. But the Trojans took a step forward playing in something called the 'Horseshoe Classic', at Pendleton Heights. Chesterton lost to Madison-Grant 3-1, beat South Bend Washington 9-1 as Taylor Harlow struck out eight. Chesterton also beat DeKalb 11-5. None of those teams are powerhouses, but the big deal for the Trojans was to play three times and be competitive in all of them. They've played a tougher schedule so far than a lot of teams have. Catie Armstrong allowed just one hit in a 4-1 win over Valparaiso Thursday (4-11-2008). None of the eight teams in 4A Sectional 2 are dominating. Chesterton is in a good position.

8. (4A) Portage (2-3)
2007 (23-7), 2006 (18-12), 2005 (20-9), 2004 (27-4-3), 2003 (19-9)

PORTAGE: The Indians scored their biggest win of the early season Monday with a rainy-day 6-5 win over DAC favorite Lake Central. I don't know how they did it, honestly, because LC had 12 hits. But it's encouraging that Portage led 5-0 going to the seventh inning, no matter who was pitching for LC. They scored the winning run off Rachel Weaver in the seventh. This was not a game where Portage rallied to pull off a miracle. They never trailed and six runs will probably be more than any other team scores against LC this season. Portage already lost 4-2 to Crown Point, but they seem to be getting capable pitching from senior Olivia Leggett (2-2). Here's a team that can go in a lot of different directions and the results so far don't confirm or deny anything. Don't down grade them due to some early defeats in bad weather.

9. (4A) LaPorte (5-1)
2007 (17-11), 2006 (16-11-1), 2005 (13-16), 2004 (3-21)

LaPORTE: After losing the opener, the Slicers have won five in a row. Pitcher Amanda Jones (4-1) has three complete game wins in a row, and while the Slicers have made just 10 errors, four came in a 6-2 win over Valpo. The rest of the time it's been an error a game, which is acceptable. Jones pitched a four-hit shutout in a 5-0 win over Chesterton. No. 2 pitcher April McCarty pitched a 5-hitter in an 8-1 win over Clay. Sandi Downs had three hits and two RBIs in a 6-5 win over Michigan City Monday (4-7-2008), but LaPorte shouldn't be giving up five runs to Michigan City. I believe the Slicers are still without suspended senior No. 3 hitter Tara Buchanan, who batted .419 last season. She is not injured and apparently, she will return this season, although no one has said officially what the problem is there. LaPorte was 8-6 in the DAC last year, the best record in the history of the program in league play (the DAC has had girls softball since 1993) and they are 3-0 now. The Slicers are on the rise, but they haven't faced a big-time, big school team yet.

10. (2A) Wheeler (6-1)
2007 (25-4), 2006 (14-16), 2005 (10-18), 2004 (7-21), 2003 (7-18)

UNION TOWNSHIP: The Bearcats lost 3-1 to Whiting, but that was the only defeat in four games. The 8-4 win over Kankakee Valley was a little shaky. Pitcher Lanay Parks has 30 strikeouts in her first three games. The core of this team is still young, but unlike Munster and Hanover and Boone Grove, Wheeler does not play the schedule that will school them to go where they want to go in June. Wheeler shut out Lake Station 16-0 as Parks pitched a no-hitter. The next day, Wheeler shut out Calumet 5-0 as Parks (6-1) pitched a two-hitter. I'm pretty sure that teams like Wheeler realize that these are not great victories. River Forest (0-8) and Lake Station (1-6) could play Wheeler 100 times and not win. The Bearcats need a much more difficult nonconference schedule. Crown Point's 'Four Class' Challenge may be the answer. South Central is misplaced in that tournament, but Wheeler, which already plays 2A Hanover, would not be. They could and should play HC, 3A Andrean and 4A Crown Point on the same day and it would do them more good than it would do the other three teams there. Coaches must schedule like they understand it's better to get beat by a team that's much better than you, than it is to defeat a team you are superior to. That's why the Bearcats may be losing ground even by winning. Wheeler heads for Hanover Central on Tuesday, April 22 for a sectional preview.

On the outside looking in...

(1A) Whiting (5-0)
2007 (26-4), 2006 (33-0), 2005 (11-16), 2004 (28-6), 2003 (21-10)

WHITING: Mel Dumezich struck out 20 in a 3-0 win over Wheeler (4-1) to take the lead in the Greater South Shore Conference. Dumezich hit a first inning leadoff homer off Wheeler 20-game winner Lanay Parks to start the scoring. Dumezich, a 5-foot-8 junior, hit three home runs in an 18-1 win over Lake Station, a GSSC league foe. Other than the rematch with Wheeler, there's not much on Whiting's schedule until the season-ending May 16 night game at home against Hanover Central. Dumezich has an unofficial total of 75 strikeouts in five games, although the last three foes: North Newton (1-5), River Forest (0-8) and Lake Station (1-6) have not put up much of a fight against anyone. It's hard to give the Oilers credit for pounding teams that are barely varsity caliber. In 1A, the Oilers are on the same path they've been on the last two years, and if you look at the record, it's worked for them. As always, it's hard to tell how good this team really is because of the schedule.

(3A) New Prairie (3-2)
2007 (23-7), 2006 (31-4), 2005 (21-10), 2004 (26-4)

NEW CARLISLE: To be honest, I've lost track of New Prairie. Seven days after they beat 4A Crown Point, they lost 6-1 to 3A Mishawaka Marian (4-1), which was rated 4th in the pre-season. The Cougars topped South Central 6-4 and they have a 12-1 win over 4A South Bend Washington behind junior pitcher Olivia Findley (2-2). But the Cougars lost a 2-1 decision to LaPorte County rival Michigan City last Wednesday (April 10). I think the weather has hit the Prairie and those are the only five games New Prairie has played. But if that's the case, the Cougars are still 2-1 against 4A teams and they've allowed only 15 runs in six games against fairly good competition. It looks like the annual match up with LaPorte (5-1) will be a big one this year. New Prairie is a very talented team, but a young team (they start two freshmen) that's hurt by not playing.

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