Crown Point advances to sectional softball finals before falling to #1 Chesterton, 3-0

5-27-2006

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
CROWN POINT (13-14-1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1
Chesterton (27-1)	2	0	0	1	0	0	-	3	9	0

Friday, May 26, 2006 - 81 degrees - Portage Sectional Championship

WP - Dawn McClellan (19-0) CG, 11Ks, 0 walks, HBP, 15th shutout
LP - Shelley Kurcz (8-8) CG, 1k, 1 walk

CROWN POINT (13-14-1)
Amber Pierce (RF) Single,
Jen Adank (1B) Single

Chesterton (27-1)
Brittany Richardson (3B) 2 singles, RBI
Ashley Scherer (RF) 2 singles
Emma Lawson (1B) Single, RBI

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Merrillville (4-21)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
CROWN POINT (13-14-1)	2	0	0	0	0	7	-	9	10	0

Thursday, May 25, 2006 - 68 degrees - Portage Sectional Semifinal

WP - Shelley Kurcz (8-7) CG, 7K, 2 walks
LP - Amy Vargas (4-13) CG, 2K, 3 walks

CROWN POINT (13-13-1)
Amber Pierce (RF) 2 singles, 2 walks, 2 RBIs,
Jen Adank (DH) Walk, HBP, RBI
Kara Gulvas (3B) 2 singles
Amy Fairchild (1B) 2 singles

Class 4A LAKE CENTRAL SECTIONAL
Munster 15, Gary West Side 0.
LAKE CENTRAL 5, LOWELL 4.
LAKE CENTRAL 2, Munster 1 (19 innings).
Highland 14, East Chicago 0.
Championship – LAKE CENTRAL 00, Highland 00 (title)

Class 4A Portage Sectional
Chesterton 3, Portage 2.
Hobart 9, Valparaiso 4.
Chesterton 5, Hobart 0.
CROWN POINT 9, Merrillville 0.
Chesterton 3, CROWN POINT 0 (title).

Class 4A (SB) Adams Sectional
LaPorte 6, Michigan City 0.
South Bend Riley 4, South Bend Washington 0.
South Bend Riley 2, LaPorte 0.
South Bend Adams 7. South Bend Clay 0
South Bend Riley 6, South Bend Adams 0 (title)

Class 4A Penn Sectional
Elkhart Central 3, Elkhart Memorial 0.
Concord 11, Goshen 0 (6 innings).
Elkhart Central 6, Concord 2.
Penn 3, Mishawaka 1.
Penn 2, Elkhart Central 1 (title)

Merrillville (4A) Regional
Game 1 – Chesterton (27-1) vs. (SB) Riley. 10 am CDT
Game 2 – Lake Central (24-7) vs. Penn (26-3) 11:30 am CDT
Championship – Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner. 6 pm CDT

PORTAGE (5-26-2006) - The game went from being anti-climactic to being an uncomfortable nuisance. Chesterton's 3-0 win over Crown Point on a sunny, warm Friday in May will probably be remembered in the light of what happened to the Chesterton 'family' on that day.

With the Trojans leading 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth, a car pulled up to the edge of the parking lot behind home plate at the Portage athletic complex. Two young people jumped out, ran up to the screen as Crown Point's Shelley Kurcz was about to pitch and motioned frantically for third base coach Lou Ann Hopson, Chesterton's long time varsity coach.

After a brief, animated conversation, Hopson motioned for senior Amber Paz and her little sister Alexis, a sophomore reserve pitcher, to leave immediately. The Paz sisters ran full speed to the waiting car, which sped away at full speed. The rest of the game, a sectional championship victory for the top-ranked Trojans that matches them against South Bend Riley in the 10 a.m. game on June 2's Merrillville Regional, was unimportant.

"Something about their mom being in the hospital," said a clearly shaken Hopson after the game. "Heart attack. I don't know exactly what has happened but I know its bad."

Some things are said by what's not said.

Parents of long-time athletes rarely pull them out of varsity games under any circumstances and teenagers almost certainly would not be removed from a varsity state tournament event and rushed to the hospital unless a close relative was near death. Mrs. Cathy Paz, it was learned later, suffered a massive heart attack near her job in Munster and was in what published reports said was 'critical condition' early Saturday at Munster Community Hospital.

CP head coach Jim Inglehart was told little of why the two Trojans sisters left the game in such a panic, but he recognized the obvious, even if some of the players and fans didn't grasp it immediately.

"Our hearts are with them," said Ingelhart. "Congratulations to them for winning this game but, as long as we are in this game, every once in awhile something happens and we realize that other things are far more important."

Amber Paz (25-59, .424, 11 stolen bases) was the catalyst of the Chesterton batting order during the 25-game regular season. Hopson obviously has known the Paz family for many years and and it was hard on her to keep the game going, knowing what had happened to Mrs. Paz.

"I tried not to talk to the players much during the game," she said, with some tears indicating the seriousness of the situation. "And keep my shades on."

The game was very forgettable, although Crown Point (13-14-1) played better than they had in earlier games, a 9-2 loss in April and a 5-0 loss in May. McClellan (19-0), a hard-throwing right-hander who challenges everyone with a rising fastball, struck out the first four Bulldogs to face her.

Chesterton took a 2-0 first inning lead after run scoring singles by Emma Lawson and Ashley Scherer after an infield error. Scherer's second base hit, a sacrifice bunt by Katie Stahura and an RBI single by Brittany Richardson made it 3-0 in the fourth inning before the Paz sisters had to leave. No one scored after the fourth inning and a subdued air surrounded the game.

McClellan has been the story of the year in NW Indiana softball. After pitching just one game in 2005, playing behind all-stater Laura DeLeon, McClellan has made 19 appearances and won 19 games. During the regular season the 5-4 righty had an ERA of 0.20 with 171 strikeouts in 105 innings.

"We knew she threw harder than anyone we had," said Hopson. "But she was always so wild. And we had four other girls waiting to pitch. But she worked hard over the winter... bringing a catcher into the field house to throw. And she just got better."

Ingelhart was not unhappy with the final game, considering the no-contest nature of the two earlier meetings.

"They have a great pitcher," he said. "Give her a lot of credit. But I thought Shelley (Kurcz) pitched a great game. We gave them two runs in the first inning or it's a one run game."

Crown Point graduates just five seniors and they started two freshmen in third baseman Kara Gulvas and second baseman Jessica Martinez in the state tournament.

"I think we showed a lot of improvement this year," Ingelhart said, "and there's a lot of promise for the future."

SECTIONAL NOTES: Chesterton was 27-4 last year and they came back in 2006 to go 27-1 with five starters who did not play on the varsity last year.

"I think that's a source of pride for them," said coach Lou Ann Hopson. "We made 29 errors last year and this year we've made 17. These kids all came in so determined to get back to where we were (the regional championship game) last year."

Chesterton has now won 20 games for five consecutive seasons.

Lake Central defeated Munster 2-1 in 19 innings to advance to play Penn in the Merrillville Regional. The LC-Munster game was suspended from May 25 to May 26 by rain with the score 1-1 in the seventh inning. LC defeated Penn 2-0 in the 2005 regional semifinals and beat Chesterton 2-1 in the regional championship game.

Kurcz, who will attend Prairie State College, has been pitching with a shoulder problem all season long and she came up with two strong playoff games under pressure. CP's No. 2 pitcher, freshman Kelsey Rather was injured and unavailable in the sectional.

Kurcz allowed only a seventh inning single by Ashley Thomas in the 9-0 sectional semifinal win over Merrillville.

"That's the best game I've had pitched for me in the four years I've been here," Ingelhart said of Kurcz.

The Bulldogs defeated Merrillville for the third time this season.

Under the present format, Crown Point has only advanced beyond the sectional level once, in 2001.

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