Crown Point Post 20 'B' Team wins 11-straight, captures Great Lakes Regional Championshipin American Legion Baseball |
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A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith7-31-2005 |
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American Legion Junior = 'B' team Region '5' finals Lancaster, Ohio |
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Pool Play (7-28 thru 7-30-2005) CP (20) 7, Urbana, IL 5 CP 16, Bowling Green, KY 3 CP 16, Marysville, OH 11 |
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Finals (7-31-2005) CP 8, Kirkersville 2 Marysville 9, Lakeville, MN CP 9, Marysville, OH 6 |
CROWN POINT (20) 7 , Urbana, IL (71) 4
7-28-2005 - Pool Play - Lancaster, Ohio
Team (Record) / Inning | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
Urbana, IL Post 71 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 1 |
Crown Point Post 20 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | - | 7 | 7 | 0 |
WP - Tommy Wise (2-2) 5K, 3 walks, CG
CROWN POINT (21-10)
Chris Saroff (SS) Single, 2 RBIs
Matt Dobin (LF) Double, RBI
Adam Kennedy (C) triple, RBI
Tommy Wise (P) Double, RBI
Jack Stanley (RF) Single, RBI
CROWN POINT (20) 16 , Bowling Green, KY (107) 3
7-29-2005 - Pool Play - Lancaster, OH
Team (Record) / Inning | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
Crown Point Post 20 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 6 | - | - | 16 | 11 | 0 |
Bowling Green, KY Post 107 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | - | - | 3 | 8 | 0 |
WP - Chris Saroff (9-2) 3K, 2 walks, (4 innings - 70 pitches)
CROWN POINT (22-10)
Chris Saroff (SS) Single, double, triple, 2 RBIs
Matt Dobin (LF) 2 doubles, RBI
Andy Stalbaum (1B) Single, HR, 3 RBIs
Matt Schweitzer (RF) Double, single, 2 RBIs
CROWN POINT (20) 16 , Marysville (79) 11
7-30-2005 - Pool Play - Lancaster, Ohio
Team (Record) / Inning | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
Crown Point Post 20 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 11 | 0 |
Bowling Green, KY Post 107 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 4 |
WP - Andrew Higgins (5-2) 3K, 3 walks (5 innings)
(SP) Matt Hakola -(BG) 3K, 4 walks (2 innings)
CROWN POINT (23-10)
Chris Saroff (SS) HR, 2 RBIs
Matt Dobin (LF) Double, 3 runs scored
Andy Stalbaum (1B) Walk, 2 RBIs
Adam Kennedy (C) Single, double 2 walks, HBP, 2 RBIs
Matt Schweitzer (RF) 2 singles, double, walk, 2 RBIs
Tommy Wise (2B) Double, triple, HR, 8 RBIs
CROWN POINT (20) 8 , Kirkersville, OH (107) 2
7-30-2005 Semifinal game
Team (Record) / Inning | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E |
Kirkersville, OH Post 107 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 4 |
Crown Point Post 20 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 4 |
WP - Tommy Wise (3-2) CG, 5K, 1 walk
LP (Sp) - Johnny LaCorte (K) 3K, 3 walks (6 inn.)
Kirkersville
Pat Fraley (LF) Double, single, walk
CROWN POINT (24-10)
Chris Saroff (SS) 2 doubles
Tommy Parks (3B) Double, 2 RBIs
Adam Kennedy (C) 2 singles, RBI
Andrew Higgins (2B) Double, RBI
CROWN POINT (20) 9 , Marysville, OH (79) 6
7-31-2005 Great Lakes Regional title game
Team (Record) / Inning | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E |
Marysville, OH Post 79 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 3 |
Crown Point Post 20 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 13 | 3 |
WP - Chris Saroff (10-2) 4K, 2 walks (6 inn.)
(SP) Andrew Higgins (Save #2) 1K, 1 walk (1 inn.)
LP - Landon Clayford (M) CG, 5k, 1 walk
Marysville (31-14)
Brad Fox (1B) 2 singles
Jerod Guy (3B) Double, single
Kyle Feucht (DH) Double, walk, 2 runs scored
CROWN POINT (25-10)
Chris Saroff (P-SS) Double, 2 singles, 2 RBI
Tommy Parks (3B) 2 singles, RBI
Matt Dobin (LF) Double, single, RBI
LANCASTER,
OHIO (7-31-2005) Crown Point's American Legion 'B' team won't ever
know if they could have competed in the national finals or the American Legion
World Series.
But they don't have to ask if they had a good team. Not after 11
post-season wins in a row. Especially not after winning the Great Lakes Regional
Sunday with championship round wins over Kirkersville, Ohio 8-2 and Marysville,
Ohio 9-6.
The Post 20 'B' team (ages 17 and under) won five times in four days to take the title and the only reason they won't play for the national championship is, there is no national finals for the 'junior' bracket of American Legion play.
"We put it all together and we never looked back," Samano said. "The state title was our goal. There was talk about how we might not go to the regional (in Ohio) but the boys wanted to go and 15 of the 16 did go."
CP
(25-10) found a formidable foe in Marysville, Ohio Post 70 (31-14), a team that
was 3-2 at the regional, losing twice to Post 20.
Crown Point trailed only 1-0 and 4-2 in the opener against Urbana, IL. After
that 7-4 victory Post 20 was the frontrunner, scoring 56 runs in five games. At
the state finals in Evansville from July 22-24, Post 20 had outscored three foes
39-8.
Samano knew his team got hot at the right time.
"In the last two tournaments," he reports, "I had coaches coming up me and saying, 'We haven't had anybody hit us like that all year.'"
"I
thought we were the best team in each tournament. I really did," radiated
Samano. "We won 15 of our last 16. We lost 11-0 to Mishawaka but we came
back and beat them twice. I thought we were the better team."
Crown Point high school junior Chris Saroff (10-2) pitched six innings for the
championship victory Sunday evening after Tommy Wise (3-2) had pitched a
complete game 8-2 victory over Kirkersville in a mid-day semifinal.
Saroff, who batted in the leadoff position, had five hits Sunday in seven
at-bats to finish the season with a team leading batting average of (61-122)
.500. Wise, who didn't play for the CPHS varsity this past season, drove
in eight runs Saturday with three extra base hits in a 16-11 pool play victory
over Marysville, which had opened their tourney with a 5-0 win over Bowling
Green, Kentucky and an 8-2 victory over Urbana, Illinois.
Wise did not pitch much of the summer with a sore arm but rest and treatment got him ready to win three games at the state and national regional level. His manager didn't know what he'd get after Wise chose not to play for Crown Point high school this spring.
"He's
always played well for me," said Samano, who completed his fifth year as
'B' team manager with his first state title. "He's
quiet and unemotional but all the other kids like him. He really had a great
tournament for us."
Crown Point rallied with six runs in the sixth inning to take down Urbana in the
pivotal opening game Thursday, July 28. Trailing 4-2, Matt Dobin doubled and
Andy Stalbaum drove him in with an RBI single. One out later, Adam Kennedy
walked and Wise tied the game with an RBI double.
After
an intentional walk to Jeff Strbjak, little used 15-year-old Jack Standley, one
of two Munster players on the Post 20 roster, put CP ahead with a two-out RBI
single. Saroff followed with a two-run single increasing the lead to 7-4.
Stalbaum hit a three-run homer in Friday's (July 29) 16-3, five-inning win over
Bowling Green, Kentucky. This was a crucial win because it saved innings for
pitcher Saroff, who left after four frames with a 10-3 lead.
Stalbaum
was a key player for Post 20 because he adjusted to a new position.
"After we lost twice to the 'A'; team (Post 20's 19-and-under squad), I
changed the lineup around," said Samano. "I moved Matthew Schweitzer
to right and Andy Stalbaum to first. And I put Andy Langbehn in center and Tommy
Parks in at third."
"I
didn't know he could play third but the kids told me he does a pretty good job.
But when Adam Kennedy was catching, we didn't have a first baseman. So, I put
Andy there and we had to work with him because he'd never played the position
before."
"But he turned into one of the best first baseman I've had."
Samano
also dropped Kennedy from fourth to sixth in the order and the right-handed
hitting catcher responded with all kinds of base hits, finishing with a .330
batting average.
"He saw a lot of breaking balls batting fourth," Samano said.
"They threw him a lot of junk. Hitting sixth, he saw a lot more fastballs
and Adam has no problem hitting fastballs."
It's ironic that this was the year that CP won. In the first three years of the
'B' team, Crown Point advanced directly to the state finals because there were
no other 'B' teams in NW Indiana.
In 2005, CP had to defeat both Hammond Post 168 and Mishawaka Post 161 (twice)
just to advance out of regional play.
"This
was the toughest year to get to the finals and this is the year we finally won
state," said Samano. "That's always been my goal since I started
coaching. Now, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Almost all these guys are
going to be playing for the 'A' team next year and I don't know who's coming
up."
"I'm not even sure we're going to have a 'B' team next year. We'll just
have to wait and see who signs up. There are some folks at the post who don't
like the expense of having two teams," noted Samano. "But Post 20
baseball is at a peak right now. We have to be right up at the top of all the
American Legion posts in the state."
REGIONAL NOTES: Crown Point high school coach Steve Strayer traveled to
Lancaster, Ohio to watch the 'B' team win last Thursday (July 28) even though
only seven of the 15-man roster is from Crown Point.
There is a hope that Wise, who was a top pitching prospect as a sophomore, will
be back on the CPHS varsity in 2006, but that is not at all certain.
There is more of a chance that Schweitzer, who also chose not to play for
Strayer in 2005, will return to the CPHS ball diamond next year as a junior.
The Post 20 success bodes especially well for Hebron high. Top pitcher Andrew
Higgings (5-2) and speedy center fielder Ryan Langbehn are Hawks for two more
years. Andy Stalbaum has a senior season yet at Hebron.
It is not certain whether anyone has ever batted .500 or better over a 35-game
season (.515 on base percentage) as Chris Saroff did for Post 20 this summer.
Matt Dobin, who split time between Post 20 and KV's summer team, came on late to
hit .336 but he struck out only nine times in 134 at-bats.
Crown Point Post
20 (25-10)
'B' team - 2005 - Final
Statistics
Batting Leaders
Chris Saroff (CP) 61-122 (.500) 16 doubles
Matt Schweitzer (CP) 20-45 (.444), 10 doubles
Tommy Wise (CP) 30-79 (.380) 3 HRs
Andy Stalbaum (Hebron) 34-96 (.354), 21 walks
Matt Dobin (KV) 39-116 (.336) , 15 doubles
Adam Kennedy (CP) 31-94 (.330) 3 HRs
Tommy Parks (CP) 22-70 (.314)
Henry Hamman (Hebron) 11-40 (.275)
Andrew Higgins (Hebron) 18-67 (.269) 27 runs
Pitching Leaders
Chris Saroff (10-2) 74Ks, 39 W (67 innings)
Andrew Higgins (5-2, 2 saves) 29K, 19 W (48 innings)
Dustin Gibbon (1-2) 19 Ks, 24 innings
Tommy Wise (3-2) 18K, 14 walks (23 inn.)
Matt Dobin (4-0) 22K, 23 W (23 innings)
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Revised: August 11, 2005.