CP sophomore shortstop Crystal Guzman (21) watches Annabel Karberg (18) warm up early in last Tuesday's regional title game. Karberg pitched a complete game allowing one run and seven hits. (All photos by Mark Smith)

CP's Miranda Elish (22) gives a tip to sophomore Alex Holloway after Elish's first inning at bat. Holloway singled to right field moments later.

CP's Morgan Matalin (1) watches a close one go by against Lake Central Tuesday, June 2. This was the fifth meeting of LC and CP in two seasons.

LC coach Jeff Sherman plans strategy on his way to the dugout between innings. The Indians avenged two losses to CP during the regular season.

CP's bench watches play in the third inning. CP left the bases loaded in the third, fifth and sixth innings.

Lake Central seniors Aspyn Novak (far left) Ashley Nylen (14), Sydney Scherzinger (19), Sarah Banasiak (11), Annabel Karberg (18). (All photos by Mark Smith)

Copyright © 2015 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp.  All rights reserved. Revised: June 07, 2015.

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
LAKE CENTRAL (26-6-1)	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	4	1
CROWN POINT (29-3)	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	7	0

CROWN POINT (06-02-2015) If you didn't care who won, last Tuesday night's 4A regional championship battle between big neighbors Crown Point and Lake Central was one of the best playoff games of the last few years.

If you did care, you were probably among the near 1,000 friends of the programs in attendance at the CP softball stadium when Sydney Scherzinger's one-out, seventh-inning single provided the game-winning RBI for 4A No. 5 Lake Central in a 2-1 win over the 4A No. 2 Bulldogs.

Crown Point has been the top team in Northwest Indiana the last couple of years, but Lake Central has been the top program the last couple of decades. When they got together for the 4A big school regional championship last Tuesday night, the game we all wanted was the game we got.

"When you get to the post-season, you always hope your seniors come through," said LC coach Jeff Sherman, who cited Ashley Nylen's sacrifice bunt which led to a first-inning run and Sydney Scherzinger's RBI hit in the seventh. The biggest winner Tuesday was pitcher Annabel (Bella) Karberg, who was one of the pitchers in LC's playoff losses the past two seasons. She won her biggest game after graduation her senior year.

"And it all started last week," said Sherman. "She was outstanding. (Three complete game wins.) And she picked up right where she left off tonight. We knew we were facing a good hitting lineup and she executed the game plan very well. She got better in tight situations."

"It was awesome," said Karberg. "I usually get excited about everything and I get mad about anything and I want to fight everything. But this was something to get excited about."

How on earth did Karberg escape three times when CP loaded the bases?

"I just tried to concentrate on getting the ball to the plate," said the pitcher who gave catcher Scherzinger credit ("She's the only reason I stay calm in any game.") Hitting the glove and not the ground. I just focused a little more then, I guess."

LC scored in the first when Aspyn Novak drew the only walk of the game against CP right-hander Miranda Elish (15-1). Novak stole second base and Ashley Nylan bunted her to third. Alex Hickey, who leads LC with seven home runs, hit a pop fly into short right field. CP second baseman Rachel Honaker made the catch running into short right field and Novak scored after the catch.

CP thought Novak left third base early but an appeal was denied by game umpires, the first of several controversial calls.

In the bottom of the first, CP's MacKenzie Dunlap grounded to third baseman Maddie Blythe with two out and a runner at first. The throw appeared to pull Hickey, LC's first baseman, off the bag. The first base ump ruled Dunlap safe, but then, after an umpire conference, was apparently over-ruled by the home plate ump, calling Dunlap out to end the inning.

In the second inning, CP's Marie O'Malley doubled to center but Karberg struck out the next three CP batters.
In the third inning, CP got singles from Felecia Wacasey and Elish before a sacrifice bunt by Alexis Holloway. Rachel Honaker walked on four pitches. But Karberg, a 5-foot-10 right-hander, struck out Dunlap on a 3-2 pitch and got O'Malley to fly out to center field.

Elish retired 11 in a row in the middle of the game, but CP left the bases loaded in the fifth inning after Elish reached on an error, Holloway was walked intentionally and Dunlap walked with two out. O'Malley hit another fly ball to center that Novak ran down to end the inning.

Crown Point tied the game in the sixth when Elish smacked a two-out RBI single to score Natalie Klingberg. LC walked Holloway to pitch to Honaker, who hit a sinking line drive to right that was caught by Nylen.

LC (26-6-1) took the lead in the seventh inning when Hickey hit a long double to center field and Blythe bunted pinch runner Julia Schassburger to third base. Elish hit Crystal Guzman with a pitch and Guzman stole second base.
 
It appeared that Elish was 'pitching around' Scherzinger (CP said later that was not the case) when she threw three letter high pitches -- all called balls. A similar looking fourth pitch was called a strike moving the count to 3-1. On the next pitch Scherzinger, who entered the game batting .292 (26 of 89), sliced a low line drive past CP third baseman Klingberg, who was pulled in to protect against the bunt. LC would have scored two more, but a two out pop fly down the left field line was grabbed by Dunlap, running full speed and diving from her shortstop position.

Nylen took an eighth hit away from Crown Point in the bottom of the seventh inning. O'Malley lined what looked like a base hit to right field but Nylen fielded it on one hop and threw O'Malley out at first base.

Karberg struck out Morgan Matalin for the final out, setting off a big blue celebration in the middle of the diamond.
Crown Point had won five in a row from Lake Central, including two regular season games this spring.

It was a very tough loss for Crown Point (29-3), the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) and 4A Sectional 2 champions, but there wasn't a lot to say afterwards. CP finished with seven hits and four walks off Karberg. The Lady Bulldogs were errorless in the field and didn't have anyone thrown out on the bases. CP left 11 runners on base and Lake Central, which was credited with just 28 errors all season, just made the defensive plays they needed to make.

"We couldn't get hits with runners on base," said CP coach Ginger Britton. "We hit the ball. It just didn't fall today. The girls are bummed, but they played hard."

Ironically Britton had talked earlier this season about the difficulty of needing to defeat the top teams like Portage and LC two and three times to win sectional and regional honors.

"Exactly," she said, "It's tough. We'll come back next year. That's all we can do."

CP NOTES: Crown Point's Miranda Elish has never taken the loss in a regular season game. She was the losing pitcher at the Harrison semistate last season and the regional last week at Crown Point. The junior, who was 24-1 last season, has a three-year record of 56-3.

Crown Point was 25-5 in 2013, 29-1 in 2014 and 29-3 this season. The Lady Bulldogs have never won 30 softball games in a season.

This is the 28th consecutive season in which Lake Central has won 20 games. That is believed to be a state record.
Lake Central walked CP's Alexis Holloway intentionally twice. LC coach Jeff Sherman said it wasn't about wanting to pitch to Rachel Honaker, the next hitter. It was about getting away from facing Holloway.

"It's a sign of the respect we have for her," Sherman said. "We just did not want her to beat us."

Crown Point pitching gave up 17 earned runs and just 75 base hits all season. Junior Miranda Elish and sophomore Alexis Holloway combined for 386 strikeouts and 39 walks in 208 innings.

After the regional, LC senior Annabel Karberg had struck out 248 and walked 32 in 156 innings.

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