Northwest Indiana Top-10

Preseason 2011 High School 'Renegade' Poll

4-01-2011

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

ST. JOHN (4-01-2011) We're looking at a changing of the guard in Northwest Indiana softball as many top teams lost all their pitchers to graduation. Munster, Hanover Central, Crown Point, Lowell and Boone Grove will all break in two new pitchers this season in an effort to keep up their winning traditions. Expect some high scoring games once warm weather arrives because there may not be 10 top pitchers in all of Northwest Indiana.

The biggest local tournament matches the 2010 champions of the four local conferences: The Duneland Athletic Conference (Crown Point), the Northwest Crossroads Conference (Andrean), the Greater South Shore Conference (Wheeler) and the Porter County Conference (Hanover Central) at Crown Point on April 23.

The Porter County Conference tournament is in May and the other seven schools have a chance to knock off four-time defending champ Hanover Central. The big show is May's (May 7-8) Twin Lakes Invitational, which will feature CP, Hanover, Munster, Andrean and Lowell in the 16-team field.

We are still stuck with the one game school night home site regional on the last Tuesday in May. That's just a bad idea that is woefully unfair to the visiting team, which must travel after school.

We don't appear to have a state champion in our midst this year, but you never know. The 1A and 2A brackets are not deep in this part of the state (most 1A and 2A teams are downstate) and the NW Indiana champ always has a chance in those brackets.

1. (4A) LAKE CENTRAL (0-0)
21-11 (2010), 25-2 (2009), 25-7 (2008), 21-6 (2007), 25-8 (2006), 32-1 (2005)

ST. JOHN: LC got a boost in the off-season which put them over the top as junior infielder and pitcher Morgan Moseley transferred from Andrean to join right hander Bridget Boyle (11-4, 2.76 ERA). Catcher Samantha Terry (.420, 36 RBIs), outfielders Nikki Adams (.391, 28 RBIs), Katelyn Ranieri (.459, 33 RBIs) and infielder Sarah Ranieri (.380) all posted good numbers for the defending regional champs. With only two seniors, LC will face some older squads, but they play the schedule to be a regional contender again. I don't know if they have any great players, but they have a lot of good ones.

2. (4A) CHESTERTON (19-7)
19-7 (2010) 14-15 (2009), 17-10 (2008), 20-6 (2007), 30-2 (2006)

CHESTERTON: The Trojans return pitcher Taylor Harlow (16-5), who is the top returning pitcher in the DAC for 2011. Chesterton returns six starters including the entire outfield of seniors Ryan Bozak (LF), Heather Overla (CF) and junior Jeannette Sosnowski (RF). In the infield, CHS returns juniors Sammie Howard (3B) and Jaren Lynch (SS) as three-year starters.
This is the DAC's most experienced team and they have the best pitcher. That didn't get CP the DAC title last year, but it usually does.

3. (4A) CROWN POINT (0-0)
27-2 (2010), 24-5 (2009), 18-11 (2008), 16-14 (2007), 13-14 (2006)

CROWN POINT: CP returns six starters including outfielder Victoria Connelly (.404, 22 steals), second baseman Raeanna (Lulu) Jenks (.389, 40 RBIs) and outfielder Allison Amodeo (.403, 22 runs scored). Freshmen twins Ally and Amanda Rock both come straight to the varsity with much potential. The two new CP pitchers (CP graduated all its varsity pitching in 2010) are totally untested, but softball is the kind of game where a freshman pitcher can be very good with a strong team behind her. CP can't have a losing team with the players they have on the field. If CP gets pitching, this will be a 20-win season because the rest of the team is strong.

4. (4A) MICHIGAN CITY (0-0)
17-9 (2010), 8-16 (2009), 0-0 (2008), 0-0 (2007)

MICHIGAN CITY: The Wolves return eight starters including star shortstop Jameka Collins (.429, 41 runs scored), who is probably the top position player in the DAC. All of MC's pitching and catching returns, while most of their foes are breaking in new girls. This is very much a team on the rise and, while they don't have a dominant pitcher, nobody else (with the possible exception of Chesterton) does either.

5. (2A) WHEELER (0-0)
31-2 (2010), 27-3 (2009), 20-7 (2008), 25-4 (2007), 14-16 (2006)

UNION TOWNSHIP: Wheeler was 58-5 over the last two seasons, something they also will not do again anytime soon. But it may be a mistake to assume they won't contend for some title. Outfielders Caitlin Herzog (.329), Mari Medina (.444) and second baseman Whitney Maas (.292) do return with pitcher Emily Bisch (7-0, 1.11 ERA in 38 innings). But the word is that basketball forward Nickole Finch is a very promising left handed pitcher who has coach Marc Bruner looking for four more years of success.

6. (3A) ANDREAN (0-0)
24-5 (2010), 28-8 (2009), 18-10 (2008), 29-3 (2007), 26-4 (2006)

MERRILLVILLE: Andrean is going to have to fill a lot of holes before the post-season, but they do have a pitcher-catcher combo. The Niners return catcher Kelly Ryan (.400, 23 RBIs) and pitcher Nicole Steinbach, but they will face a serious challenge from Griffith in the Northwest Crossroads Conference. I don't have them in the top five because I don't know who is going to produce runs here against good teams and Steinbach needs a pitching partner.

7. (4A) LaPORTE (0-0)
22-11 (2010), 17-11 (2009), 20-14 (2008), 17-11 (2007)

LaPORTE: The Slicers have won two of the last three sectional championships, but the 13-0 loss to Lake Central at the regional was a downer to end the year. Junior Jessica Craft (.436) hit a game-winning two-run homerun against CP in the seventh inning. Both LaPorte pitchers return for 2011 and they have a lot of speed, but neither pitcher is dominant and LaPorte is beatable. There is confidence the Slicers show here come late May and that can't be overlooked.

8. (2A) BISHOP NOLL (0-0)
20-10 (2010), 20-14 (2009), 19-10 (2008), 9-19 (2007), 16-16 (2006)

HAMMOND: The Warriors return top pitcher Vanessa Hartzell (14-8, 1.42 ERA) and their goal is to defeat Wheeler, a team that has topped them (I believe) six times in two seasons. The Warriors will be led in the field by senior outfielder Rose Mullaney (.390, 36 runs scored). I don't know if they'll win more than last season, but Hanover and Wheeler are down from what they were. If this is not Noll's year in 2A, I don't know when its coming.

9. (3A) Griffith (0-0)
2010 (16-16), 2009 (18-13), 2008 (21-8), 2007 (16-14), 2006 (12-19)

GRIFFITH: The Panthers may have a few holes, but pitcher is not one of them. Junior Alex Latronica was strong all last year. The right hander defeated everyone in the NCC at least once. The Panthers need to score some runs and it's not obvious where they're going to get that done. But this is their opportunity in the NCC and in their sectional because Lowell and Andrean will be much stronger next season than they are now.

10. (2A) Hebron (0-0)
18-11 (2010), 0-0 (2009), 20-14 (2008)

HEBRON: The Hawks return most everybody from last year's team, and with Hanover Central rebuilding, this is the time for Hebron to make a move to the top of the PCC. The Hawks return pitchers Carrie Combs and Mollie Lindeman plus catcher Emily O'Leary (.400, 29 RBIs). The schedule here is not tough enough for a 2A playoff run, but the Hawks just want to take down next door neighbor Boone Grove in the sectional. Years of top youth squads have built this team and their time is now.

On the outside looking in...

(1A) Westville (0-0)
2010 (23-4), 2009 (12-17)

WESTVILLE: Westville is not nearly as good as Portage or Munster or Calumet, 1-through-9. But pitcher Ashley Henrich (23-4) changes everything. The senior left hander is untested against big schools, but that won't matter in the 1A playoffs. I wish they'd schedule better competition and maybe they can make a few phone calls and line up some 'one-time-only' dates. Outfielder Shawna Ramer (.481, 28 stolen bases) can put some runs on the board, but they will rise and fall with Henrich.

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