Northwest Indiana Top-10

Week-5, 2008 High School 'Renegade' Poll

4-30-2008

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

ST. JOHN (4-30-2008) - If you wish to make snap judgments about the relative strengths of sports teams, the April 25-26 weekend was not pretty for Northwest Indiana softball. While Lowell left the Northwest Indiana area and won twice over out-manned squads, and Lake Central battled on even terms, beating 4A No. 7 Carmel 4-3 after losing to 4A No. 1 Avon 5-1, others fared poorly.

In the four-team LaPorte Invitational, the Slicers, Andrean and New Prairie all fell short against South Bend Riley, a surprise champ. And at the eight-team Highland Invitational, you had the only two non-region teams (Penn and Mishawaka Marian) playing for the tourney title.

Many of us talk about our six county area (Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton, Jasper, Starke) and call it a softball hotbed, but while small schools like Whiting (15-0), Hanover Central (11-2) certainly have high hopes at mid season, the larger schools have taken an uncomfortable number of losses. Why? The weather has made scheduling very inconsistent in the north. In Class 3A, defending state champ Andrean is suffering greatly from playing infrequently.

Lake Central may be Northwest Indiana's Trojan horse. The Indians will lose more games this year than they have in any year in this decade. But when you see them play, they are confident and powerful. And when you look at their schedule, you see elite teams McCutcheon, Carmel, Center Grove and Avon. All state-rated superpowers.

Is there a super pitcher? LC knows the answer. Her name is Jenny Esparza of Avon, who has allowed only seven runs all year against an elite, multi-state schedule. Esparza (11-3) struck out 15 batters against Lake Central, a team that simply does not strike out consistently. Esparza is coached part time by Cara Johnson, who is the founder of 'Softball One' the Indianapolis-based softball training center and the batting coach of the Chinese Olympic team. She struck out 18 against 4A Fishers and 17 against 4A Noblesville.

Though not considered in the class of Hamilton Southeastern grad Morgan Melloh, who at last report had a 31-5 record in her freshman season at Fresno State, Esparza is reportedly a fastball-screwball pitcher that has led Avon (11-3) to the state's top ranking. She must have something. I can guarantee you that nobody in NW Indiana is going to strike out 15 Lake Central batters in seven innings.

The big event this weekend is the 16-team Twin Lakes Invitational in Monticello. The big matchups will send defending 3A state champ Andrean against 2A No. 2 Hanover Central at 6:30 p.m., CST Friday. Also, NW Indiana powerhouse Munster (13-4) takes on defending Twin Lakes champ McCutcheon (17-2) Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m., EST.

Twin Lakes Softball Invitational
May 2-3 (4 fields) in Monticello Indiana (times are EST)

POOL (1) ONE: Twin Lakes (7-4), Pioneer, Maconaquah, MERRILLVILLE (1-13)
POOL (2) TWO: Lewis Cass, Munster (13-4), Benton Central and McCutcheon (17-2)
POOL (3) THREE: Frontier (10-0), Western, Harrison (9-4) and LOWELL (13-4)
POOL (4) FOUR: Eastern, Jefferson (2-11), HANOVER (10-2), ANDREAN (8-4)

Friday, May 2 - pool play
(5:00) Twin Lakes vs. Maconaquah
(5:00) Jefferson vs. 2A No. 7 Eastern
(5:00) Harrison vs. 1A No. 4 Frontier
(5:45) Pioneer vs. MERRILLVILLE
(6:30) Western vs. LOWELL
(6:30) 2A No. 2 HANOVER CENTRAL vs. ANDREAN
(6:30) Lewis Cass vs. 4A No. 2 McCutcheon
(8:00) Benton Central vs. MUNSTER

Saturday, May 3 - pool play
(9:00) Pioneer vs. Twin Lakes
(9:00) Jefferson vs. ANDREAN
(9:00) Western vs. Harrison
(9:00) Lewis Cass vs. Benton Central
(10:30) 4A No. 2 McCutcheon vs. Munster
(10:30) 2A No. 7 Eastern vs. 2A No. 2 HANOVER CENTRAL
(10:30) MERRILLVILLE vs. Maconaquah
(10:30) 1A No. 4 Frontier vs. Western
(12:00) Maconaquah vs. Pioneer
(12:00) ANDREAN vs. 2A No. 7 Eastern
(12:00) LOWELL vs. 1A No. 4 Frontier
(12:00) Benton Central vs. 4A No. 2 McCutcheon
(1:30) Twin Lakes vs. MERRILLVILLE
(1:30) Munster vs. Lewis Cass
(1:30) Harrison vs. LOWELL
(1:30) 2A No. 2 HANOVER CENTRAL vs. Jefferson

(3:30) Winner of Pool 1 vs. Winner of Pool 2 (semifinal)
(3:30) Winner of Pool 3 vs. Winner of Pool 4 (semifinal)
(6:00) Tournament Championship game

1. (4A) LAKE CENTRAL (15-6)
2007 (21-6), 2006 (25-8), 2005 (32-1), 2004 (29-3), 2003 (32-3-1)

ST. JOHN: Lake Central lost 5-1 to 4A No. 1 Avon (11-3) on Saturday, but they bounced back to beat 4A No. 7 Carmel 3-1 behind senior Rachel Weaver (8-3). Junior Jessica Dobson (7-1) struck out nine against Avon. Some do not value strength of schedule, but they then don't understand why LC is annually successful. Of last week's top-10, 4A No. 8 Franklin Central, 4A No. 9 Pendleton Heights, 4A No. 7 Carmel, 4A No. 2 McCutcheon and 4A No. 1 Avon (not to mention 4A No.11 Penn) have all played Lake Central. LC is 1-5 against those schools, but all games were competitive. No one in NW Indiana will end the 2008 season with the strength of schedule that LC has. Add in the first place status for LC in the Duneland Athletic Conference and LC is a clear cut No. 1.

2. (4A) LOWELL (11-5)
2007 (30-7), 2006 (23-7), 2005 (21-10), 2004 (20-9)

LOWELL: Lowell traveled to West Lafayette and beat Pioneer 9-0 and West Lafayette 14-1 as the Devils recovered from a off-day and 13-9 loss to Highland. There have to be details of that game that were not reported because Lowell hasn't given up 13 runs in three years and Highland was a team the Devils blanked 11-0 in early April. I'm going to pass it off as a fluke (with all due respect to Highland) until we see more results from both teams. Lowell got a draw that gives them a chance to win the Twin Lakes Invitational. The season has not gone perfectly for Lowell, but the Devils know that the season doesn't really start until the first week in May. The Devils need to reach the semifinals at Twin Lakes like they did in 2007. That's the boost they need and it is within their reach.

3. (2A) HANOVER CENTRAL (12-2)
2007 (20-10), 2006 (16-14), 2005 (26-5-3), 2004 (25-7)

CEDAR LAKE: Hanover rolled over some out-manned teams including Kouts, Rensselaer and South Newton to run their win streak to five games. The Lady Cats have still only lost to Munster (13-5) and Beecher, Illinois (20-4), but a lot of their wins are games that should not have been close and weren't. Kelsey Jankowski (7-0, 0.61 ERA) and Jessica Toth (5-2, 0.80 ERA) now get set for prime time competition as 2A No. 10 Boone Grove (9-2) travels to Cedar Lake Friday night. Hanover will certainly play Andrean (8-4) for the first time in five years Friday night and those two games will determine whether it's a successful weekend.

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

MUNSTER: Munster lost a tough 2-1 eight-inning game to Illiana Christian (11-3) as they struck out 11 times against IC's Jocelyn Oppenhuis. Long time readers of this poll know that an extra inning loss to a good team is much better than a 10-0 rout over some .500 squad. The Lady ponies are unique in that they play in the two toughest softball tournaments in the state. April's Carmel Invitational includes 4A superpowers McCutcheon and Carmel and May's Twin Lakes Invitational pits them against McCutcheon and small school powers like Eastern, Hanover Central, Benton Central and Lewis Cass. The Mustangs were fortunate in that they were able to play all four games at Carmel and if they play four or five times at Twin Lakes, they've had a good year no matter the eventual outcome.

5. (4A) Portage (13-5)
2007 (23-7), 2006 (18-12), 2005 (20-9), 2004 (27-4-3) 2003 (19-9)

PORTAGE: The Indians went to Michigan and took 2-out-of-3 at the Lakeshore Tournament in Lakeshore Michigan. Four errors against the host school contributed to a 4-3 loss but Portage won 7-1 and 8-0 in other games behind senior right-hander Olivia Leggett (11-3) and junior Kristen Helmick. Hannah Pajor was 4-for-4 against South Bend St. Joseph's and Kristin Helmick hit a three-run homer. Judgement day comes up for Portage this week when they have to play Lake Central again. Portage is the only NW Indiana team to defeat Lake Central (15-6) this season.

6. (4A) Chesterton (12-5)
2007 (20-6), 2006 (30-2), 2005 (27-3-1), 2004 (20-7), 2003 (22-5)

CHESTERTON: The Trojans ran their win streak to eight games with wins over LaPorte and Hebron. Alexis Paz (3-0) struck out seven against the Hawks (11-4) to end a three-game week where Chesterton defeated Michigan City 14-2 and LaPorte. The Trojans losses are to Madison-Grant, LaPorte, Griffith, Hanover Central and LC and I'm not sure they'd lose to most of those teams now. But with that said, here's another team that sees the next game with Lake Central as a turning point. LC blasted Chesterton 8-0 last month and the Trojans have top prove their winning streak is the product of improved play and not a down year in the Duneland Conference.

7. (3A) ANDREAN (8-4)
29-3 (2007), 26-4 (2006), 32-3 (2005), 29-5 (2004), 27-2 (2003)

MERRILLVILLE: Andrean lost to South Bend Adams (8-4), who won the LaPorte Invitational. That's clear sign that the 59ers are not playing well and, again, with just 12 games played after 5 weeks, the Niners haven't had much chance to play well. Anybody can lose but the 59ers struck out 15 times against Riley's Jessica Hull (4-0), who is a good, but not great pitcher. They only have four losses, to Adams, Lowell and Munster twice. No shame in any of those. The worry for me is not the four losses but the 12 games played. Weather reports for the Twin Lakes Invitational in Monticello this week (May 2-3) are not good at all. The Niners need to call on some 'divine intervention' this week so they can get on the field at Twin Lakes. This team has lost nine games to the weather and that number could rise to 12 this weekend. Andrean will attempt to make up games with Crown Point and Hanover Central and they need to make those dates double-headers.

8. (3A) Griffith (13-5)
2007 (16-14), 2006 (12-19), 2005 (19-15), 2004 (16-15), 2003 (18-14)

GRIFFITH: The Panthers beat Crown Point Friday to run their win steak to five since losing to Blackford. Senior right-handed Brittany Bridges survived four walks to beat Andrean 3-2 and early wins over Chesterton and Lowell look good now. The Panthers apparently went to Michigan last weekend and took 2-of-3 beating Kalamazoo Central and (East Lansing) Bath. Give them credit for traveling near and far to find tough teams. You only do that if you want to be a top playoff team. The losses are to Blackford, Munster, Highland, Niles (Michigan) and Andrean, but even with the split against the 59ers, they need some big wins. There are rematches with Lowell and Munster coming and here's another squad Whiting won't call, but they should. The Panthers have no reason to believe they can't stop Andrean at the sectional, but the Niner team they played twice may not be the same squad they'll see in the post-season.

9. (4A) LaPorte (10-7)
2007 (17-11), 2006 (16-11-1), 2005 (13-16), 2004 (3-21)

LaPORTE: LaPorte got bombed by South Bend Adams 15-7 in the finals of the LaPorte Invitational, a surprise. It was also a surprise that the Slicers didn't get to play Andrean, but Adams beat them both. I didn't realize that in LaPorte's 17-11 season in 2007, they lost to Adams three times. Senior Tara Buchanan came back on the roster and she had two hits against Adams. I don't know if you can give up 15 runs and be a good 4A team. To be fair, Munster did and they bounced back. But LaPorte was 6-1 when they lost to Crown Point on April 15 and, to be honest, it's been downhill since then.

10. (4A) CROWN POINT (8-8)
2007 (16-14), 2006 (13-14), 2005 (12-14), 2004 (8-19), 2003 (16-16)

CROWN POINT: CP beat Merrillville Tuesday to get back to the .500 mark, but the Bulldogs are here only because nobody else deserves to be. The Bulldogs have lost twice to Lake Central and other defeats are to Chesterton, Munster and New Prairie, all good teams. CP has wins over LaPorte and Portage but the offense went south in losses to Valpo 5-2, Chesterton 2-0 and LC 7-3. The Bulldogs are here on strength of schedule, which matters much more in 4A than it does in 1A.

On the outside looking in...

(1A) Whiting (15-0)
2007 (26-4), 2006 (33-0), 2005 (11-16), 2004 (28-6), 2003 (21-10)

WHITING: Whiting rolls along playing teams like Lake Station, who they beat 14-0 last week. What is interesting here is that Whiting star Mel Dumezich didn't pitch and Sarah Jansky still struck out 10 in five innings. Some local polls have Whiting in their Top-10, but they aren't serious. You don't have to defeat a Top-10 team to be in the Top-10, but you do have to, at least, play someone in the Top-10-in this region or any region. Whiting has beaten Wheeler (11-5) twice, but Wheeler has hit on hard times and their schedule is limp-wristed. Again, the only quality team left on the Whiting schedule is Hanover Central, which plays at Whiting on May 16. That game is growing in interest. Both teams are ranked second in their class state wide, and while neither is likely to reach the No. 1 spot, it will be nice to have Whiting play a competitive regular season non-conference game. If anyone at Whiting thought they could beat Andrean or Crown Point or Griffith, the Oilers would play them. Andrean is nine games short due to rainouts. They would undoubtedly play Whiting if Whiting would agree to the game.

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