Crown Point first baseman Marie O'Malley and second baseman Rachael Honaker guard the right side of the CP infield Saturday against Hanover Central. CP won three times in Saturday's Crown Point Invitational. (All photos by Mark Smith)

Hanover third baseman Melissa Balkema grabs this first inning ground ball in front of CP base runner Morgan Matalin. Hanover, which lost 2-0 to CP at the 2014 CP Invitational, lost 2-1 last Saturday at the 2015 CP Invitational.

CP's Miranda Elish (22) looks in for the sign against Hanover Central Saturday. Elish pitched complete game victories over Hanover and Kokomo Saturday. The CP junior right hander now has 45 pitching victories in three varsity seasons.

Hanover senior Kori Davis (7) takes warm up swings in front of the HC dugout Saturday at Crown Point. The Lady Cats were competitive in all three games at CP but went 0-3 on the day.

Crown Point catcher Lexi Madrigal helps the home plate umpire with a strike call Saturday during the battle with Hanover Central. The Lady Bulldogs held on for a 2-1 win.

Andrean right-hander Abby Graegin pitched a complete game against Crown Point but the top-ranked Lady Bulldogs won 5-1 at Saturday's CP softball invitational.

CP's Miranda Elish and first base coach Tom Keithley are all smiles after Elish's two-run single in the third inning of a second round CP Invitational game against Andrean.

Crown Point's Lady Bulldogs pack up and head home after winning three times in the CP Invitational Saturday. Crown Point ended the day on a school-record 35-game regular season winning streak.  (All photos by Mark Smith)

Copyright © 2015 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp.  All rights reserved. Revised: April 22, 2015.

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

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

 

CROWN POINT (4-18-2015) It's not 'breaking news' any more, but Crown Point's two pitchers so dominate most opposition, you wonder if even the most ambitious team goals are not unattainable.

That was in evidence again Saturday as the top-ranked Lady Bulldogs (10-0) won three times at the annual Crown Point Invitational.

If CP was 25-0 in the regular season in 2014 and Saturday's wins improved them to 10-0 in 2015, the Lady Bulldogs' appear to be capable of being this year what they were last season.

Junior right-handed pitcher Miranda Elish (5-0) and sophomore Alexis Holloway (5-0) combined for three complete games, allowing one run each to three challengers as Class 4A No. 1 CP created greater margins of victory each time.

Junior first baseman Marie O'Malley, who was 5-for-8 on the day, had two hits each in the two close games as CP was challenged, but not conquered on a day which began under warm and sunny skies but ended in 50-degree chilly breezes.

The CP Invitational is the first multiple game event CP has won this year. The Lady Bulldogs have just two seniors (Rachael Honaker and Brittany Hulen) returning from last year's 29-1 squad. They know it obviously isn't possible to outdo last season until the state tournament. Until then, the CP ladies are just trying to defend titles they won a year ago.

"It's a little hard," said Honaker, the senior CP second baseman. "But we really don't think about last year a lot because a lot of things have changed. We have a lot of new players. It's just great to be back out here."

Against Hanover, Elish pitched out of a first inning problem after HC's Kori Davis and Alexis Mokos reached base on singles. Elish grabbed a one-hop ground ball by Hanover's cleanup hitter Alyssa Gill and fired home to catch Davis in a rundown. Elish then struck out Skyler Barnett to end the inning.

CP scored in the second inning when Marie O'Malley doubled to right center and pinch runner Madison Pizer scored on Morgan Matalin's base hit to center field. CP led 2-0 in the third inning when Brittany Hulen singled and eventually scored on Honaker's single to center.

Hanover's left-hander Marley Hanlon (6-3) shut out CP the rest of the way with off-speed pitches and good control, walking none of the 33 CP hitters she faced. In the sixth inning, Hanover scored on Melissa Balkema's single, Davis' sacrifice bunt and a ground out by Mokos. HC's Abbey Thompson singled with two out in the seventh, but Elish, the 2014 Indiana player of the year, struck out Kaylee Finigan to end the game.

Elish, who also struck out 13 in five innings in the 14-1 victory over Kokomo that ended Saturday's play, was in top form. The 5-foot-10 right-hander skillfully maneuvered through Hanover's top hitters Balkema (18 of 36, .500 in 10 games), Mokos (18 of 37, .486) and Gill (18 of 38, .474, five home runs) and overpowered most of the rest. Facing smaller schools in the Greater South Shore Conference (GSSC), Hanover had compiled a 10-game team batting average of .356 with 10 home runs.

Elish, who was 40-2 in her first two seasons on the CPHS varsity, calmed all that down Saturday, striking out 15 of the 27 batters she faced.

Against Andrean, sophomore right-hander Alexis Holloway (5-0), struck out six of the first nine batters she faced before a single by the 59ers' Jessica Adamczyk and a double to the left field fence by Haley Huesken cut CP's lead to 2-1.

Holloway, who is now 9-0 in her two varsity seasons for CP, struck out seven of the last 12 batters she faced to finish with a two-hit victory. O'Malley's two run single in the sixth created the 5-1 final score.

Hanover was 0-3 on the day losing 7-5 to Kokomo and 7-5 to Andrean (6-5).

The 59ers got a single and double from Haley Huesken and they rallied from a 6-3 deficit to top Hanover at CP for the second consecutive season.

The Lady Cats (7-6), the defending Class 3A regional champs, are 0-3 against Class 4A schools. Kokomo also defeated Andrean 6-3 in eight innings.

CP INVITE NOTES: Rachael Honaker, who was on the CP varsity as a sophomore has become (with Brittany Hulen) the oldest players on the CP squad. She went from being one of the young ones to being one of the old ones very quickly.

"I know," she said. "It's strange. You just have to try to speak out more. You've still got your teammates behind you. It's just that they're all younger than you. You just want to try to be a leader."

Crown Point travels to Stevensville, Michigan on May 2 for the Lakeshore High School Softball Invitational. The eight teams involved are Lakeshore, Coloma, Grandville (suburban Grand Rapids), Dowagiac, Okemos (near East Lansing), Portage Central (near Kalamazoo) , CP and South Bend St. Joseph's.

Portage Central is the defending champion and they were the third ranked Division 1 (the largest class) school in the pre-season. Lakeshore, which was 31-11 last season, is the defending Division II state champ and pre-season No. 1. Coloma was Class 2A No. 3 in the pre-season.

Because Michigan is in the Eastern Time zone and they have the benefit of daylight until 9 p.m. by May, Michigan high school teams can play double-headers on week nights starting at 4 p.m. That's how Lakeshore played 42 games last season in southwest Michigan where the weather might be worse than it is in NW Indiana.

Crown Point coach Ginger Britton was away on 'baby duty' Saturday. Britton gave birth to twins (a boy and a girl) last week. Former CP all-area player Allison Adank (a teacher at CPHS) and Ginger's dad Tom Keithley coached the team to three wins.

Hanover Central (7-6) committed a total of seven errors in the twin 7-5 losses to Kokomo and Andrean Saturday. The Lady Cats have an ominous statistic: In five of their six losses they have scored at least five runs.

Andrean sophomore Kaitlynn Schmick pitched a complete game in the win over Hanover, allowing nine hits, but striking out HC over the final three innings.

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