Northwest Indiana's Magnificent-7, Week-5 High School 'Renegade' 2015 Poll 5-10-2015
	A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

Crown Point's Natalie Klingberg (15) tries to score and Lakeshore's MacKenzie Sanders (5) tries to stop her at Saturday's (May 2) Lakeshore Invitational in Stevensville, Michigan. Crown Point has defeated teams from Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan this season.   (Photo by Mark Smith)

CROWN POINT (5-10-2015) These must be the good, old days. Northwest Indiana has three softball teams ranked in the top 10 in Class 4A and a fourth (Munster) should be.

According to the latest IHSGCA (Indiana High School Girls Coaches Association) poll on May 4, Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) members Crown Point, Portage and Lake Central are rated 2-3-6. Munster was not in the top 10 but a 12-4-1 record suggests they might be.

Penn (17-1) is the top ranked team in 4A above the three DAC schools and there's a reason for that. Penn starts five committed college players in pitcher Danielle Watson (Louisville), left fielder Maddy Newman (Louisville), center fielder Katie Quinlan (Michigan State), shortstop Halle Hixenbaugh (Boston College) and catcher Alyssa Grinman (University of Illinois-Chicago) who have committed to play at the Division I level in college. But not next year. All five are underclassmen and Watson is a sophomore.

In Northwest Indiana, every body in softball looks at LC, CP and Portage and envies their players. Apparently, Penn likes what they have, too, and any semistate showdown between a Northwest Indiana team and Penn will be a rematch.
 
Penn hosts Munster on May 16, plays at Crown Point May 19 and hosts Portage on May 20. The state tournament draw is scheduled for Thursday, May 14 and the draw is big in six and seven team sectionals. In the eight-team Class 4A Sectional 2, nobody gets a bye and top teams Portage (16-1) and Crown Point (19-1) will meet on a neutral field in Chesterton sooner rather than later.
 

2015 Twin Lakes Softball Invitational
May 8-9, 2015 in Monticello - pool play
Friday - 5 p.m. - EST
Delphi vs. Pioneer
Benton Central vs. (Flora) Carroll

Friday - 5:30 p.m.
Twin Lakes vs. Frontier
Maconaquah vs. West Lafayette

Friday - 7 p.m.
Western vs. ANDREAN
(Howard County) Eastern vs. LOWELL

Friday - 7:30 p.m.
Lewis Cass vs. KANKAKEE VALLEY
MUNSTER vs. HANOVER CENTRAL

Saturday - 9 a.m. - EST
Twin Lakes vs. Lewis Cass
Delphi vs. Western
Benton Central vs. Eastern
West Lafayette vs. HANOVER CENTRAL
Saturday - 11 a.m.
Frontier vs. KANKAKEE VALLEY
Pioneer vs. ANDREAN
(Flora) Carroll vs. LOWELL
Maconquah vs. MUNSTER

Saturday - 1 p.m.
Twin Lakes vs. KANKAKEE VALLEY
Delphi vs. ANDREAN
Benton Central vs. LOWELL
West Lafayette vs. MUNSTER
Saturday - 3 p.m.
Lewis Cass vs. Frontier
Western vs. Pioneer
Eastern vs. (Flora) Carroll
Maconaquah vs. HANOVER CENTRAL

Saturday - single-elimination - final 4
SEMIFINAL - 5:30 p.m.
SEMIFINAL - 5:30 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP - 7:30 p.m.

1. (4A) Crown Point (18-1)
29-1 (2014), 25-5 (2013), 25-8 (2012), 18-9 (2011), 27-2 (2010)

CROWN POINT: Crown Point won six games last week including a three-game sweep of the Lakeshore Invitational in Stevensville, Michigan. Junior Miranda Elish (10-0) and sophomore Alexis Holloway (9-1) have pitched well every time out this season with the only loss coming 1-0 at Portage. The Lady Bulldog pitching staff has 11 shutouts. The last time CP lost a game in which they scored at least one run was 2013. When you look at top softball teams, one thing I check is what their record is in games that end up 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1. In those games, CP is 1-1 after their 1-0 win over 2014 Division II Michigan state champ Lakeshore last Saturday. The Lady Bulldogs still have 4A No. 9 Harrison, 4A No. 1 Penn (17-1) and 4A No. 3 Portage remaining on the schedule.

2. (4A) Portage (16-1)
2014 (23-7), 2013 (25-6), 2012 (18-8), 2011 (19-7), 2010 (12-10), 2009 (14-14)

PORTAGE: Portage won 8-2 over Merrillville and 11-0 over Michigan City last week. Senior Kiley Jones (12-0) had 13 strikeouts against Merrillville. By the way: In games decided by scores of 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1, Portage has a record of 2-1. The Indians, who now have seven shutouts, face a deciding week in the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) and will be 14-1 when they play at Lake Central (15-4) on May 6 and Crown Point (19-1) on May 7. Portage, which has allowed only eight runs all season, also travels to Penn (17-1) on May 20. No one has scored more than two runs in any one game against Portage this season. The major difference going forward with CP and Portage is that Portage's top pitcher Kiley Jones (9 shutouts) is a senior while CP's pitchers are not. Local softball history is full of senior pitchers who have led their teams to state finals.

3. (4A) Lake Central (15-5-1)
20-9 (2014), 23-7 (2013), 26-3 (2012), 29-6 (2011), 21-11 (2010), 25-2 (2009)

St. JOHN: LC topped Penn 5-2 and swept Chesterton and LaPorte to go 11 games over the .500 mark. Penn (17-1) led LC 2-1 in the eighth inning when Alex Hickey smacked a game-winning grand slam homer at the Carmel Invitational. Hickey (19 of 63, .302) has five home runs and 20 RBIs. Senior Annabel Karberg (8-2, 1.60 ERA) has been backed up by freshman Madisen Tucker (6-2, 2.75 ERA). Lake Central did fall 9-0 to Crown Point, the second LC loss to the Lady Bulldogs. Penn, CP, Portage and Franklin Central (13-3) are the only teams to defeat LC, which ended last week on a seven game win streak. Despite the losses to CP, it would appear that LC has gotten a bit stronger since a late March 5-5 tie with 4A Sectional 1 rival Munster.

4. (4A) Munster (12-4-1)
20-11 (2014), 24-8 (2013), 18-13 (2012), 20-9 (2011)

MUNSTER: Munster did lose 9-4 to 4A No. 11 Carmel (12-4) and 2-0 to 4A No. 8 Avon (18-3) at the Carmel Invitational but nonconference road losses to Top-10 teams are almost better than wins at this point of the season. The other losses are to Portage (16-1) and Crown Point (19-1). The wild horses have not lost to an inferior team all season and that 5-5 tie with Lake Central is a quality non-win. Munster heads for the 16-team Twin Lakes Invitational this weekend and a rematch with Hanover Central (11-7) in the first round. You get a guaranteed three games at Twin Lakes, but you hope to play five times, which means you'd get to the championship game. It's a wearing marathon, but at this point of the season, just getting the final games has great value.

5. (3A) Hanover Central (11-7)
2014 (29-5), 2013 (18-10), 2012 (13-13), 2011 (13-13), 2010 (17-7)

CEDAR LAKE: Hanover topped Lowell 8-3, beat Wheeler 7-6 in 11 innings and edged Whiting 6-4. The Lady Cats lost to Illinois small school power Beecher (16-3) by a 12-11 count. Obviously the problem here is the high scores. Remember the 'games decided by scores of 1-0, 2-0 and 2-1' barometer? Hanover Central is 0-1 in those games, with a 2-1 loss to Crown Point. HC has allowed 80 runs (just 49 earned runs) in 18 games and that's just far too many. But they can hit. Sophomore Alyssa Gill (26 of 68, .382) has six home runs and 21 RBIs. Alexis Mokos (29 of 65, .446) has 21 RBIs and 10 walks. Senior Melissa Balkema (33 of 67, .493) has 33 base hits in 18 games. Retiring coach Larry McMillen picked up his 400th career win against Whiting. Hanover hopes to play five times in this week's Twin Lakes Invitational, but they did draw Munster (13-5-1) in the first pool play game.
 

6. (4A) Chesterton (11-6)
18-14 (2014) 22-5 (2013) 21-11 (2012), 19-8 (2011)

CHESTERTON: The Trojans lost 5-0 to Lake Central and 12-10 to LaPorte. Chesterton topped Valparaiso 11-10 last week. Here's another team with a winning record that's given up a lot of runs, 88 total in 17 games. Chesterton last lost to Lake Central (15-5-1) three times and they are 0-5 against LC, CP and Portage. I don't believe they have any games decided by 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1 which means I don't know how they are in low-scoring, traditional playoff-style match-ups. Can the Trojans win a playoff game against a top opponent? Definitely. Can they win three in five days, even with 4A Sectional 2 being played in Chesterton? Unlikely.

7. (2A) Bishop Noll (13-3)
22-7 (2014), 19-6 (2013), 18-9 (2012), 21-8 (2011)

HAMMOND: For many years, those who check these pages know we've produced Top-10 ratings and in the last three years, I've dropped it to a top-seven ranking. To be honest, it was partly change for change sake. The 'Magnificent 7' sounded cool. But the functional aspect of it is: I was hurting my shoulder 'reaching' to find the 9th and 10th teams. You'd get .500 teams that had played top foes. There were losing teams in the poll at times. You can go back and check it out. Seven teams seemed (and is) easier and more justifiable. But this week: I'm admittedly looking for a seventh team in this poll.

Lowell has played well at times. So has Kankakee Valley. I like Andrean but they're 9-7. KV is 8-7. Lowell is 11-8. LaPorte is 11-9. They've all beaten each other. And there's Bishop Noll with that 13-3 record. With a 6-5 loss to Munster and a 5-1 loss to Hanover Central (plus a 4-1 loss to Clay) it's hard to downgrade them. But there are no significant victories here. Noll is 9-1 in the Greater South Shore Conference. Sophomore pitcher Ashley Gordish (9-1, 1.46 ERA) is batting .409 (18 of 44) with four home runs and 20 RBIs. Freshman pitcher Haley Dugan (3-2, 2.33 ERA) is hitting .348 (16 of 46) with 18 runs scored. Sophomore Brittany Anderson (.545) had 30 hits in her first 55 at-bats and is a dominant middle-of-the-order hitter.

You wish they were older (only one senior on the roster) but in the Class 2A playoffs they have a fighting chance. I wish Noll was in the Twin Lakes Invitational, but they never have been. Noll does play at Lake Central on May 19. They host Andrean on May 21. And there is another day against Hanover on May 15.