Preview: Twin Lakes Invitational

5-6-2009

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

Twin Lakes Invitational
Twin Lakes High School, Monticello, Indiana - 20 miles east of I-65 at US 24
Fields: (1) varsity, (2) JV  Fields 3 and 4 are at Voight Park, 3 blocks southeast of the school

WEATHER:  I may have to eat these words, but two different forecasts say there is little chance of any heavy, consistent rain in Monticello Friday and Saturday.  Last week was the 'opening weekend' of the summer run of the popular 'Indiana Beach' resort (on Lake Shafer) but there may not be a lot of people out there this weekend.  High temperatures may reach the low 70s Friday, but will not get out of the low 60s Saturday and Sunday.

THE VENUE:  Monticello is a very small place, about half the size of Cedar Lake.  The big deal is the 'twin lakes' of Lake Shafer and Lake Freemen.  You need to go to the waterfront to see what it's all about.  Some teams go home Friday night and come back Saturday morning and that's unfortunate because there are a lot of nice places to stay in Monticello.  If you can find somebody who owns a place in this area, that's the place to stay Friday night.  One other thing: This is a resort area and they opened for the summer last weekend.  If you can't find some place to eat, you aren't really trying.

TWIN LAKES INVITATIONAL
May 8-9, 2009 in Monticello, Indiana

POOL (1) ONE:  Twin Lakes (11-4), Pioneer (5-6), Maconaquah (0-10), CROWN POINT (13-2)
POOL (2) TWO:  Eastern, LOWELL (13-6), Benton Central  and McCutcheon (11-6).
POOL (3) THREE:  Munster (6-10), Western, (West Lafayette) Harrison (11-1) and Frontier (10-6)
POOL (4) FOUR:  Lewis Cass, Jefferson (1-11), HANOVER (9-3), ANDREAN (14-4)

All Times listed are Eastern Daylight Time
FRIDAY, May 8, 2009 (4 fields)
Harrison vs. Frontier - 5:00 p.m.
Jefferson vs. Lewis Cass - 5:00 p.m.
Maconaquah vs. Twin Lakes - 5:00 p.m.
CROWN POINT vs. Pioneer - 5:45 p.m.
Western vs. Munster - 6:30 p.m.
Eastern vs. McCutcheon - 6:30 p.m.
HANOVER CENTRAL vs. ANDREAN - 6:30 p.m.
LOWELL vs. Benton Central - 8:00 p.m.


SATURDAY, May 9, 2009 (4 fields)
Pioneer vs. Twin Lakes - 9:00 a.m.
Eastern vs. Benton Central - 9:00 a.m.
Munster vs. Harrison - 9:00 a.m.
Jefferson vs. ANDREAN- 9:00 a.m.

CROWN POINT vs. Maconaquah - 10:30 a.m.
McCutcheon vs. LOWELL - 10:30 a.m.
Frontier vs. Western - 10:30 a.m.
Lewis Cass vs. HANOVER CENTRAL - 10:30 a.m.

Maconaquah vs. Pioneer - 12 noon
Benton Central vs. McCutcheon - 12 noon
Munster vs. Frontier - 12 noon
ANDREAN vs. Lewis Cass - 12 noon

CROWN POINT at Twin Lakes - 1:30 p.m.
Eastern vs. LOWELL - 1:30 p.m.
Harrison vs. Western - 1:30 p.m.
Jefferson vs. HANOVER CENTRAL - 1:30 p.m.


SEMI-FINALS - 3:30 p.m.
POOL 1 winner (Twin Lakes or CP) vs. POOL 2 winner - (LOWELL, BC or McCutcheon)
POOL 3 (Harrison or Munster) winner vs. POOL 4 (Cass, HC or ANDREAN) winner - (JV field)

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME - 6:00 p.m. (varsity field)


MONTICELLO (5-8-2009) Only rain (light rain is forecast for Friday) could spoil this wide-ranging match up of softball teams from the top half of the state on the shores of "Indiana Beach".  The addition of Crown Point to the 16-team Twin Lakes field (replacing Merrillville) boosts the strength of the tourney in a year when perennial powers Munster and Lewis Cass are under .500.  Understand that Monticello is on Eastern Standard time.  Crown Point's opening game with Pioneer actually begins at 4:45 Crown Point (Central Daylight) time.  Hanover's game with Andrean begins at 5:30 p.m. Lake County time.  It's a two-hour drive from Route 30 in Lake County to Monticello because you must slow down on US 24 (a two-lane road) when you go through small towns like Wolcott.

Ignore the giant 'Indiana Beach' sign.  Some of the younger girls may not know this, but Monticello is the home of the 82-year old Indiana Beach resort, the largest amusement park in Indiana.  'Indiana Beach' is actually a combination amusement park, water park and family vacation area on Lake Shafer, which is one of the original reasons the 180-year-old town is where it is.  Lake Freeman is a man-made.  The 'Twin Lakes' resort grew out of a fishing and swimming area when Lake Freeman was created in the 1920s.

But you folks don't have time have time to go fishing or camping, ride in the paddleboat, walk the beach or ride the roller coasters. (Psssst.  They'd like you to come back during the summer and do all that stuff!)

This is a long tourney, but if you lose the first game, you're basically playing for fun after that.  You have to win your pool to advance to the semifinals and you must go 2-1 or (more likely) 3-0 to win your pool.  The top game on opening night is probably the late match of Benton Central and Lowell (13-6).  Benton Central is one of the tournament favorites led by senior Abby Tolen, who won 20 games in 2008.  Lowell battles McCutcheon at 10:30 a.m. (EDT) Saturday morning.  Andrean (14-3) has never played 2A No. 5 Hanover Central (9-3) twice in the same season, but they meet for the second time Friday at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time on Voight field.

Harrison right-hander Morgan Stephens (7-1) has not allowed an earned run all year and she has 87 strikeouts in 47 innings.  Stephens struck out 16 Tuesday night in a 1-0, 10-inning win over Zionsville.

Crown Point's Taylor Perry (7-0) has allowed just two earned runs all year and the Lady Bulldogs may need Perry and junior Jackie Beilfuss (6-2), who struck out 13 in a win over Michigan City on Monday (5-04-2009) to get past the host school at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.  Twin Lakes will pitch right-hander Abby Dilling (8-3, 1.81 ERA last year) to catcher Sarah McGrath (.400, 27 runs scored last year), both seniors.  CP must beware of shortstop Katie Reiff, who hit seven home runs and drove in 24 for Harrison, which was 21-7 last year.

The Devils have a tough turnaround from the late game Friday to a Saturday morning match with defending 4A state champion McCutcheon (10-6) at 10:30 in the morning.  The Lady Bulldogs will play all of their games at Twin Lakes high school because they are in the same pool as the host team.  That's a break for CP fans and players.  Fields three and four at Voight Park are not high quality surfaces.  Hanover will play all their pool play games on field four.  Good luck, girls.

McCutcheon starts six seniors who played for the Mavericks' state championship team last year.  Pitcher Brittany Keller was 8-2 in a backup role last season.

Only the four pool winners advance to the semifinals.  Everyone else goes home Saturday afternoon.  All games have a 90-minute time limit after which the "international tie-breaker" comes in to play.  All innings after the 90-minute mark begin with a runner at second base and nobody out.  The Twin Lakes Invite doesn't have the top 4A teams like the Carmel Invitational does, but the rapid fire nature of play turns this into an endurance test.  Rain can turn it into a long day Saturday. They'll finish under the lights no matter how long it takes.

What does this tourney mean for state title hopefuls?

Historically, not much.  McCutcheon won the 4A state title last season after losing twice at the 2008 Twin Lakes Invitational.  Andrean won the 2007 Class 3A state crown after losing to McCutcheon in the 2007 Twin Lakes semifinals.

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