Northwest Indiana Top-10,

Week-3, 2009 High School 'Renegade' Poll

4-20-2009

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

ST. JOHN (4-20-2009) A warm weather weekend let a lot things come into focus, including who are the top teams. Andrean and Lake Central showed the value of playing tournaments. The 59ers went up to Dowagiac, Michigan where they found the competition different and tougher than Andrean had seen in recent years. The Niners were pitted against powerhouse pitchers. They survived against Niles, Michigan 3-1 and (Hudsonville, Michigan) Unity Christian 1-0, but fell to Class 3A No. 2 (Mishawaka) Marian (7-0) in the championship game.

The game of week three had to be the 18-inning match between Unity (7-1) and Andrean (8-2), which went 18 innings and was won by the Niners 1-0. The value of a long, extra inning games in softball can rarely be overstated. Defensively, you must be near perfect to survive in extra innings and that practice cannot help but make a team stronger. The 59ers are already ahead of last season where this tourney was rained out.

Lake Central (12-2) battled it out with Franklin Central and defending state champ McCutcheon at the McCutcheon Invitational. LC beat Turkey Run 3-2 before losing to FC 1-0. They rolled in a 10-2 win over McCutcheon (8-3) to take the tourney title and make the trip worthwhile.

When you rank teams ahead of LC, you have to then look at who they play and what that schedule does to a team. As well as undefeated 2As Boone Grove and Hanover Central have been, they aren't playing elite teams in the early going. (HC will later.)

The long range weather forecast is good for this week and the renamed Crown Point Invitational (they couldn't get a 1A school to challenge 2A Hanover Central, 3A Andrean, and 4A Crown Point) looks good for April 25. CP (7-1), Andrean (8-2), Hanover Central (4-0) and (South Bend) St. Joseph's (4-4) all started well last week and they go head-to-head at Crown Point on April 25. This is not a playoff. Everyone plays the other three, but there will be a winner and loser even if no one goes undefeated.

This is the weekend where Munster heads for the Carmel Invitational with McCutcheon, Penn, Riley, West Lafayette, Cathedral plus No. 3 Carmel. There is a 1-vs.-2 match up in Indianapolis Thursday (4-23-2009) where No. 1 Center Grove faces No. 2 Avon (8-0), and senior right-hander Jenny Esparza (8-0, 0.80 ERA), the state's top big school pitcher. Avon, which has five four-year starters in the starting lineup, has already defeated 2A No. 1 Scecina.

There were more postponements Monday and Tuesday (April 21-22), but if Friday and Saturday come up dry and warm, it's a good week.

1. LAKE CENTRAL (12-2)
25-7 (2008) 21-6 (2007), 25-8 (2006), 32-1 (2005), 29-3 (2004)

ST. JOHN: Lake Central won the Maverick Invitational at McCutcheon despite a 1-0 loss to Franklin Central. Senior Jessica Dobson (8-1) took her first loss, but freshman sister Ashley Dobson (2-0) is getting pitching time. Ranked No. 4 in Class 4A, it's hard to argue they aren't the top team. At least until the April 28 game at Crown Point. LC has allowed 17 runs in 14 games and six of those were in the 7-6 LC win over CP three weeks ago.

2. CROWN POINT (7-1)
18-11 (2008), 16-14 (2007), 13-14 (2006), 12-14 (2005), 8-19 (2004)

CROWN POINT: The Lady Bulldogs are having their best stretch in many years. CP handed LaPorte its first loss 6-1 on Thursday (4-16-2009) and they came back to stop Lowell 3-0 and Hobart 10-0 Saturday (4-18-2009). Junior Jackie Beilfuss (3-1), who lost the sectional championship game against LaPorte last season pitching to a batter she was supposed to walk, got some closure on that issue with 10 strikeouts against the undefeated Slicers. Beilfuss then pitched a six-inning perfect game against Hobart with 15 strikeouts. Junior Taylor Perry (4-0) shut out Lowell. Perry has not allowed an earned run all year. It is scheduled to be a six-game week for CP with Chesterton Valparaiso and Portage plus the CP Invitational Saturday. CP's all-sophomore outfield is performing well. With LC (12-2) coming up on the 28th, the Lady Bulldogs appear to be ready.

3. LOWELL (7-3)
20-10 (2008), 30-7 (2007), 23-7 (2006), 21-10 (2005), 20-9 (2004)

LOWELL: I'm not sure what's happening here. Lowell pitching has allowed just eight runs in 10 games, but they've lost three of those games. The question mark about Lowell this season was SUPPOSED to be pitching, but Jacki Fletcher (3-2) and Lauren Wells (4-1) have dominated most games. The Devils aren't getting runners across the plate. They left five girls on base in the final two innings Saturday at Crown Point. With losses to Andrean (8-2), Boone Grove (6-0) and Crown Point (7-1), you can hardly call them a struggling team. But the future, including an April 22 home game with undefeated Hanover Central (4-0), features more tough teams and top pitchers. I still think Lowell will end up scoring a lot of runs this year. But I also thought Tiger Woods would win the Masters.

4. HANOVER CENTRAL (4-0)
20-10 (2008), 20-10 (2007), 16-4 (2006), 26-5-3 (2005), 25-7 (2004)

CEDAR LAKE: Hanover has moved steadily through a mine field of postponements to stay unbeaten. Jessica Toth struck out 10 in a 6-1 extra inning win at Griffith and the Lady Cats bombed overmatched Hebron 8-1. Now, HC's 7-game week will tell us where they stand. The Lady Cats host Boone (April 20), travel to Lowell (April 22), host Illinois two-time state champ Beecher (April 23) and LaCrosse (April 24) and play three times at CP on the 25th against St. Joseph's (4-4), Andrean (8-2) and Crown Point (7-1). HC used Toth in three of the first four games. One of their strengths was supposed to be pitching depth with Kelsey Jankowski and Kasey Stenger and this is the week they find out if they have as much as they hoped. The only bad news for Hanover? Four games played? My 8th grade education tells me that HC has a potential of 24 games (counting rainouts with Chesterton and Highland) in the next five weeks. Don't look for them to be out partying much next month.

5. ANDREAN (8-2)
18-10 (2008), 29-3 (2007), 26-4 (2006), 32-3 (2005), 29-5 (2004)

MERRILLVILLE: A very good week for Andrean and they won on three consecutive days and then placed second in the Dowagiac Invitational in southwest lower Michigan on a 70-degree day. If I was Andrean, I would never reject the invitation to go to Dowagiac. There are few nicer trips in Northwest Indiana sports. Andrean also shut out Hobart 6-0 and Griffith 6-0. In the game against the Panthers, freshman Nicole Steinbach struck out six and walked none in 6 1/3 innings to get her first career win. Junior Alyssa Moseley and freshman Morgan Moseley combined on a one-hit shutout against Hobart. The 18-inning victory had to make it feel like they won the Dowagiac tournament. The Niners will see Marian (7-0) again next month.

6. BOONE GROVE (6-2)
22-6 (2008), 16-11 (2007), 14-16 (2006), 9-19 (2005)

PORTER TOWNSHIP: Boone Grove stepped into tournament play and took their first two losses of the year, losing 7-5 to 4A Elkhart Central and 4-3 to 4A South Bend Adams. Boone pitcher Taylor Johnson and Roxanne Miniuk had allowed just five runs all year in the first five games, but facing the bigger schools gives them a line on where they are in Northwest Indiana. Boone led Elkhart Central 5-2 before losing and they led Adams 3-0 (after 5 innings) before the South Bend girls rallied. The Wolves did come home on the loser's bus for the first time, but they also led into the late going against 4A teams on the road. That's a good thing going into a road game at undefeated Hanover Central (4-0), which was postponed Monday and may be played later this week.

7. (4A) LaPorte (8-1)
2009 (20-14), 2007 (17-11), 2006 (16-11-1), 2005 (13-16)

LaPORTE: The Slicers got taken down by Crown Point 6-1 Thursday, but 8-1 is 8-1. Amanda Jones (6-1) pitched a two-hit shutout Saturday in a 9-0 win over New Prairie. In the game, Jessica Craft had two doubles and three RBIs and Jessica Craft had two doubles and two runs scored. That's not a misprint. They have two girls with the exact same name. It would help us stat-keepers if one of them pitched. To my knowledge, LaPorte has never defeated Lake Central (12-2) in varsity softball and they were scheduled to go head-to-head on Tuesday, April 21.

8. (4A) Munster (4-5)
2008 (27-7), 2007 (24-7), 2006 (22-7), 2005 (25-3-1), 2004 (25-3-1)

MUNSTER: Munster has lost 5-of-their-last-7, but they're still better than Wheeler (6-0) because of the schedule. Losses have come against Lowell (7-3), Hanover Central (4-0), Lake Central (12-2) and Crown Point (7-1). Remember, it's not about who you beat. It's about who you play. Munster steps up to the top floor of competition this week when they take on McCutcheon and a couple of other heavy-hitters at the Carmel Invitational. I don't see anybody else beating down the door to get into that Carmel tournament. There will be some rough sledding for the Lady Ponies this weekend (April 24-25), but it's all about the rematch with Lake Central next month.

9. Chesterton (6-6)
2008 (17-10), 2007 (20-6), 2006 (30-2), 2005 (27-3-1), 2004 (20-7)

CHESTERTON: The losses have been to LaPorte (8-1), Lowell (7-3), Lake Central (12-2), Mishawaka, Adams and Portage. The Trojans have also defeated Mishawaka, Griffith (4-4), Valparaiso, Michigan City and DeKalb. Chesterton also rolled over Hebron 8-4 last Friday (4-17-2009) and they had a game at Crown Point (7-1) rained out Monday and rescheduled for Tuesday. This is an inexperienced team, so the best news for them is that they've gotten 12 games in in the first three weeks of April, while teams like Hanover Central have played only four games.

10. (3A) Griffith (5-4)
2008 (21-8), 2007 (16-14), 2006 (12-19), 2005 (19-15), 2004 (16-15)

GRIFFITH: Griffith rallied to beat Munster 5-4 last Friday (4-17-2009) as Alex Latronica (3-3) struck out six and walked none. Alyssa Van Horssen had two doubles and three RBIs. The Panthers had Hanover tied 1-1 after seven innings but HC won 6-1. Losses have been to Boone (7-2), Hanover (4-0), Chesterton (6-6) and Andrean (8-2). Griffith has been hit by injury and illness and they'll be stronger next month. The Panthers take on Lowell in a night game at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, April 21.

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