Northwest Indiana Softball / Baseball
Weekend Preview

5-04-2007

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

2007 Twin Lakes Softball Invitational

MONTICELLO (5-4-2007) Truthfully, this is a good weekend for high school softball because, if you don't mind taking a little drive, a lot of Northwest Indiana girls are headed for the same place. The annual Twin Lakes Invitational matches 16 teams in two days of play down near by twin lakes Shaffer and Freeman in Monticello. None of the eight Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) teams are here, but most of the first division of the Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) squads including Munster, Lowell and Andrean will spend the weekend in God's Country down in rural White County.

There are two winners of this tourney. The team that wins five games and takes home the trophy. And the other team that gets to play five games. Because in the IHSAA's dazed and confused game limit rules, you can count this as one tournament, no matter how many games you actually play.

Everyone at Twin Lakes is guaranteed three "pool play" games, but the teams that win and become the four finalists get four and five games. With the unnecessarily low limit on games played in one season (26 and two tournaments), here is a chance to play extra games which can do nothing but help you in softball. There is a 90-minute time limit on all games here except the championship. Teams must play aggressively because a slow game can be over in four innings. This is a very unforgiving tourney. You must win your pool to advance and you most likely need to sweep all three games to win your pool. If you lose even one pool play game, you will probably be home before the sun sets Saturday.

This tourney does not simulate the state tournament in any way because you will never play more than two games on any one day in the post-season. But the idea that you must be in top shape and play every inning aggressively or the entire day could be lost, is good for any team.

Also, there is a heat factor. Temperatures should be in the low-70s which is something that NW Indiana girls have not experienced many times this season. To play four games in the sun Saturday will be tiring. Players have to avoid goofing off in the hotel room Friday night because they want to have a long day Saturday.

Twin Lakes high school, US 24 - Monticello Indiana (pool play) EST
5-4 (F) Twin Lakes (7-4) vs. Maconaquah (9-4) 5 p.m.
5-4 (F) 4A No. 4 McCutcheon (14-2) vs. Western - 5 p.m.
5-4 (F) Pioneer (6-7) vs. (Lafayette) Jefferson (2-11) 5 p.m.
5-4 (F) 2A No. 3 Eastern (11-2) vs. 2A No. 10 HANOVER CENTRAL (8-5) 5:45 p.m.
5-4 (F) 3A No. 3 ANDREAN (14-3) vs. MERRILLVILLE (6-12) 6:30 p.m.
5-4 (F) Frontier (7-3) vs. LOWELL (15-3) 6:30 p.m.
5-4 (F) 3A No. 6 Benton Central (14-2) vs. (West Lafayette) Harrison (11-3) 6:30 p.m.
5-4 (F) 2A No. 9 Lewis Cass (6-3) vs. 4A No. 3 Munster (16-1) 8 p.m.

Twin Lakes high school, US 24 - Monticello Indiana (pool play) EST
5-5 (S) LOWELL at Twin Lakes - 9 a.m.
5-5 (S) Munster vs. Benton Central - 9 a.m.
5-5 (S) Jefferson vs. ANDREAN - 9 a.m.
5-5 (S) McCucheon vs. HANOVER CENTRAL - 9 a.m.
5-5 (S) Frontier vs. Maconaquah - 10:30 a.m.
5-5 (S) Lewis Cass vs. Harrison - 10:30 a.m.
5-5 (S) Eastern vs. Western - 10:30 a.m.
5-5 (S) Pioneer vs. MERRILLVILLE - 10:30 a.m.

5-5 (S) Twin Lakes vs. Frontier - 12 noon
5-5 (S) Lewis Cass vs. Benton Central - 12 noon
5-5 (S) Pioneer vs. ANDREAN - 12 noon
5-5 (S) McCutcheon vs. Eastern - 12 noon
5-5 (S) Maconqauah vs. LOWELL - 1:30 p.m.
5-5 (S) Munster vs. Harrison - 1:30 p.m.
5-5 (S) Jefferson vs. MERRILLVILLE - 1:30 p.m.
5-5 (S) Western vs. HANOVER CENTRAL - 1:30 p.m.

Twin Lakes high school, US 24 - Monticello Indiana (finals)
5-5 (S) Semifinals (2 fields) 3:30 p.m.
5-5 (S) Championship (main field) 5:30 p.m.

MONTICELLO - You look at Munster, with three good pitchers and McCutcheon, with tall junior lefty Tori Collins (5-2, 0.27), as the co-favorites here with Lowell and Andrean. Hanover Central (9-5) faces an uphill climb with Eastern Friday night at 4:45 p.m., CDT and then McCutcehon at 8:00 a.m. Central time Saturday. The Lady Cats' right-hander Jessica Toth (5-3) had back-to-back wins over Kouts and South Central early this week. South Central is not McCutcheon.

Lowell and Andrean who each alternate two regular pitchers, are also in good shape. Benton Central's Emily Butler (11-1, 0.60 ERA) has 121 strikeouts in 70 innings. Harrison's Morgan Stephens (3-1, 0.42 ERA) struck out 11 in a 9-0 shutout of Frontier on Monday after Brooke Jordan (6-2) struck out 13 in a 2-1 win last Saturday over Lafayette Central Catholic. Olivia Sheetz of Benton Central began the week with 21 hits (21-39, .538) including five doubles, two homers and 16 RBIs.

If all the won-loss records are accurate (and they are only what's been published) the Munster-Harrison game Saturday afternoon is the key game of the tournament. The Harrison, Munster, Benton Central, Lewis Cass pool features four winning teams so a 2-1 record could win this group. Munster junior Elanor Kennedy (9-1) shut out Griffith Tuesday, allowing just six hits, and freshman Grace Ispas (6-0) has been very strong.

Lowell appears to be the best team in their foursome (which includes Frontier, Twin Lakes and Maconaquah), although Maconaquah reportedly isn't bad. Lowell junior Alyssa Reed (8-1) has complete game victories over Boone Grove (9-6), Highland (9-8) and Andrean (14-3) in the last 10 days.

Andrean needs to beat Merrillville, Pioneer and slumping Lafayette Jefferson and they should get that done. The Niners need to avoid overconfidence early here, because they face three teams with losing records.

4A No. 2 Chesterton (16-2) at CROWN POINT (12-8)
May 4 - 4:30 p.m. at Crown Point

CROWN POINT - Crown Point wants to join the Twin Lakes tournament but that's in the future. The present day sends 4A No. 2 Chesterton, the defending DAC and regional champs to CP for a Friday afternoon contest. The Trojans defeated CP only 2-0 in April and, while 2-0 is often a decisive win when good softball teams meet, CP had to be encouraged there because the Lady Bulldogs lost 10-0 and 9-0 to Chesterton during the 2006 regular season. The Trojans could easily be 19-0. They did not pitch all-stater Dawn McClellan in the April 21 game where they lost 5-4 to Elkhart Memorial. Considering the fact that the Trojans scored four times and that McClellan has never given up four runs in a game in her varsity career, it's a safe assumption that the Trojans would have won that game had they chosen not to give the No. 2 and No. 3 pitchers some experience. CP was 5-6 two weeks ago and they have been on the rise ever since.

Jackie Bielfuss was the losing pitcher in the April match up, striking out nine and walking five. I would suspect that CP coach Brett Crutchfield might go with Kelsey Rather this time, saving Bielfuss for an inevitable third meeting in the post-season. Hitting is adjustments and the Trojans didn't adjust to Bielfuss in six innings, getting only three base hits. The Trojans (138-22-1 in 6 seasons) should come into this game 10-0 in the DAC, so this is one of the final steps towards an unprecedented second consecutive 14-0 DAC season. This game means nothing concrete to CP because they aren't going to catch Chesterton in the league race. The CP-Chesterton game in the post-season is the one that matters. But the Bulldogs have not won a varsity softball game from Chesterton since a 4-3 win April 20, 2000. CP would like to end that 15-game streak Friday.

Plymouth Baseball Invitational
May 5, 2007 at Bill Nixon Field - Plymouth (EST)
5-5 (S) 4A No. 3 Carroll (13-1) vs. Plymouth (6-7) 1 p.m.
5-5 (S) Penn (9-5) vs. 4A No. 2 CROWN POINT (15-0) 3:30 p.m

5-5 (S) Third place game - 6 p.m.
5-5 (S) Championship game - 8:30 p.m.

PLYMOUTH - Here's the top baseball tournament in the state this weekend as undefeated Crown Point puts that perfect record on the line against three of northern Indiana's best baseball franchises. To my knowledge, the Kingsmen and Bulldogs have never met and it's about time. CP is on the rise with back-to-back sectional titles while Penn, a school of over 3,000, is a two-time state champion.

Penn teams are products of the dominant Harris Township Little League and Babe Ruth programs. Harris Township won the 13, 14 and 15 years old Babe Ruth state titles two years ago. When CPHS reached the Class 4A semistate level two years ago, the four teams there were LaPorte, Crown Point, eventual state champion Brownsburg and Carroll, an Allen County school near Fort Wayne.

The Carroll Chargers are a product of the highly competitive Little League and Babe Ruth programs in Fort Wayne. Carroll was 26-8 in 2004 and 24-7 in 2005. They are 94-38 in the last five seasons. Pitcher Justin Frane (2-0, 1.75 ERA) was also batting .313 (10-of-32) after 10 games with eight stolen bases and a team-leading 15 runs scored. Dominick Spadafora (.387) had three homers in his first 10 games with 11 RBIs. Zach Taylor (.429) had 15 hits in 32 at-bats after 10 games. Carroll has outscored 10 foes 101-42 and has turned 103 hits into 101 runs scored.

Plymouth is off to a very slow start, but they usually are in baseball because the basketball season tends to run long there. Plymouth is the 2007 Class 3A boys basketball state champion.

Crown Point has a league game next Tuesday so, if they do not need him against Chesterton Friday, the Bulldogs can use right-hander Matt Ernest (3-0) Saturday against Carroll. Chris Saroff, who pitched against Valparaiso Wednesday in a 10-0 win, does not figure to pitch again until Tuesday's game with Merrillville. Blake Mascarello will go Friday against Chesterton and that would leave Ernest and probably Eric Clayton (2-0) or Jon Sertich to go Saturday.

The No.1 ranking could be on the line in the opener and I do not believe that Crown Point has ever played either Plymouth or Penn. This is a day that CP baseball fans should have marked on the calendar. The Bulldogs could go 0-2 Saturday but that's not the point. To even be in this foursome puts Crown Point among northern Indiana's elite baseball programs.

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Northwest Indiana Softball / Baseball Weekend Preview

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

Northwest Indiana Softball / Baseball
Weekend Preview