The 2A game ran longer than expected so the 59ers won’t start until nearly 3:40 Region time. That gives us enough time to update you with today’s lineups.

West Vigo (28-1)
RHP Jordan Penson
3B Cameron Fagg
SS Tyler Wampler
C Jeremy Lucas
1B Aaron Welch
LF Brodey McCalister
2B Scott West
RF Cody Thornton
CF Dylan Aff

Andrean 59ers (32-2)
 CF Kyle Kovach
SS Ryan Dineen
RHP Adam Norton
C Kevin Franchetti
3B Kenny Mahala
2B Mike Pokers
LF Evan Rapacz
DH Tyler Ochi (1B Matt Doolin)
RF Thomas Polus
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Neither team would make excuses, but there was a marked impact on both Bishop Noll and Crown Point after the wash out Saturday changed the location of the semistate baseball games from Coveleski Stadium in South Bend to Clay Field.

For the Warriors, in their 9-6, 11 inning loss to Cass, two home run balls were hit at the 329 mark that would have been routine fly balls in the Cove. Instead, it meant five runs — including the game winner in the 11th inning — at a Clay Field with a 311-foot left field wall, 380 to center and 313 to right.

For the Bulldogs, the play at night, under the lights, had a differing effect on how they saw the ball.

“For me, I prefer to play during the day,” said third baseman Mike Kozlowski, who went 2-for-3 against a Fort Wayne Snider pitcher who K’ed 14 Bulldogs batters.

Had the game gone as scheduled on Saturday, the Bulldogs would have played at an estimated 1:30 start time.

The teams were also given packets of information prior to the semistate that said that if the games were to be moved, one of two locations would be selected: Either Clay Field, southwest of SB Clay High School, or Notre Dame. The logistics of moving the game to Notre Dame were deemed too much for the Clay staff that ran the semistate tournament, so on Saturday the determination was made to switch the games to the high school surface with an all-grass infield.

-Hillary Smith

Chesterton junior golfer Nick Stasil’s 2-under-par 34 didn’t just rank high at the LaPorte Regional. The regional medalist also tied for the lowest back-nine score in the state, tying with Indianapolis Cathedral’s Brad Gehl.

Defending state medalist Corey Ziedonis, Gehl’s teammate, had the low nine-hole score of the day, opening with a 32 and finishing with a state-low 67.

– Jim Hunsley

Chesterton coach John Sparks wasn’t too pleased with his team’s performance on the first nine holes at Friday’s LaPorte Regional.

The only question remained as to what the Trojans actually scored on the front nine. If you took the four lowest nine-hole scores, Chesterton would’ve had a 157, which would’ve been the lead. The problem is that Ryan Grassel ended up edging teammate Josh Kalita 79-80 over 18 holes. That means that Grassel’s 43 would be counted as the nine-hole score, not Kalita’s 39. Chesterton was actually at 161, tied with Penn and two strokes behind LaPorte.

– Jim Hunsley

Munster senior Mary Hill capped her prep tennis career as the sport’s first individual state champion from Northwest Indiana.

Hill defeated Columbus North junior Caroline Hedrick — who incidentally upset Hill in last year’s individual semifinals en route to the 2008 crown — in three sets, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.

Hill and the Mustangs went to state as a team each of her four years but came away without a championship each time.

Halfway through the Class 3A state championship game 2007 champion Andrean trailed 2008 champion New Palestine 1-0 at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. Then came the bottom of the fourth inning.

Andrean allowed nine runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and couldn’t get anything going in the top of the fifth as New Palestine won 10-0 in five innings to repeat as state champion.

In earlier games, Madison-Grant won the Class 2A title, the school’s first state championship in any team sport. In Class A, the team that beat Whiting in 17 innings on Friday night (or Saturday morning, depending how you look at it), Tecumseh, defeated Indianapolis Lutheran.

While Class 2A and 4A northern semistates were rained out, Andrean defeated Delta 14-3 in five innings Saturday in the Class 3A North Semistate at Kokomo to advance to next weekend’s state finals at Victory Field in Indianapolis.

Bishop Noll (2A) and Crown Point (4A) will have to wait till Monday to play their semistate games.

The Class 2A and 4A baseball semistate games slated to be played at Coveleski in South Bend are moved back an hour with the threat of rain.

Bishop Noll vs. Cass will begin at noon region time with Crown Point against FW Snider to follow.

… New update as of 11 a.m. Region time, the games have been delayed another half hour after a short rain shower is expected to be followed by more sitting on the county line. Stay tuned as this continues.

… The rain continues in South Bend, now an hour away from the second start time and the tarp is no closer to leaving the Coveleski Stadium Field. The rain appears to be about 1/2-hour to an hour away from receeding. The first game could start at 1 p.m. Region time, nearly two hours after its original first-pitch.

… Add another half hour, the rain keeps coming. If you’re in the Region and it just ended, add about an hour and that’s when it’ll clear up here. The officials just announced a 3 p.m. Region time start for the Bishop Noll game.

… Bishop Noll and Crown Point are both postponed to Monday at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Region Time at South Bend Clay Field. The field was too wet, with too much water that to clear it and clean it would have started the first game as late as 8 p.m. local time.

The only run scored in the Andrean softball team’s 1-0 victory against Gibson Southern in Friday’s Class 3A state semifinal game was as weird as it gets — well, almost.

You see, Andrean junior pitcher Alyssa Moseley led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a deep drive to center field. Gibson Southern junior center fielder DanYelle Bigham raced back and initially appeared to make a great catch, but the ball ricocheted off her glove and over the fence at Pike High School in Indianapolis, giving Andrean the only run it would need to advance to Saturday’s Class 3A state championship game.

There’s no question about it: The play was odd, and the 59ers benefited greatly from the bounce.

“I was jumping up and down and yelling for it to get out,” Andrean sophomore catcher Kelly Ryan said. “But it was just one of those things that you’re looking at and you can’t believe it just happened. (Moseley) killed that ball, and she deserved the home run. But it’s just one of those weird things that doesn’t really happen.”

The only homer of a more bizarre nature that I’ve seen occurred in Major League Baseball. Remember when the ball bounced off Jose Canseco’s steroid-enlarged head and went over the fence? Yeah, freaky.

But apparently odd homers aren’t that rare for Andrean. 59ers coach Russ Serrato said junior shortstop Audrey Bickel hit a similar home run that bounced off a glove before leaving the field of play earlier this season against Northwest Crossroads Conference rival Lowell.

- Nate Ulrich

Class 4A state semifinal at Ben Davis High School, Indianapolis

Center Grove 2, Lowell 1 (8 innings)

Class 3A state semifinal at Pike High School, Indianapolis

Andrean 1, Gibson Southern 0

Junior pitcher Alyssa Moseley had Andrean’s only two hits, including a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Moseley allowed no runs, five hits and struck out seven in en route to the win.

Class 2A state semifinal at North Central High School, Indianapolis

Linton-Stockton 5, Wheeler 2

A five-run fifth inning ruined Wheeler’s first trip to state. A two-run single by Meghan Zappia in the bottom of the fifth was all the Bearcats could muster for a counter.

Class A state semifinals at Hamilton Southeastern High School, Fishers

Tecumseh 3, Whiting 1 (17 innings)

The Braves broke through against Mel Dumezich in the longest game in state finals history.

In the bottom of the 13th inning the game had to be stopped when the home plate umpire fell ill and complained of dizziness before being taken to the hospital.

Andrean catcher Kevin Franchetti was projected to be selected as early as the ninth round in the MLB Entry Draft, but after the 30th round was selected Wednesday, his name was still uncalled.

Franchetti said he watched the first couple rounds because he knew some of the names who were high on the list, but wasn’t too worried, so he didn’t pay too much attention after that.

Franchetti’s stock rose after the 59ers May 5 game played at Notre Dame. That’s when Franchetti’s name made its way into a memo from the MLB Draft site counting him as a catcher-to-watch.

Rounds 31-50 begin at 10:30 a.m. Thursday.

Wayland Roach pitched all seven innings for Boone Grove in Saturday’s 5-4 Class 2A Jimtown Regional semifinal win over Central Noble, but the Wolves lefthander didn’t throw every pitch. With one and one out in the seventh inning, coach Rollie Thill brought in Nick DiMarco, who threw one pitch, plunking Trevor Pulver. Back came Roach, who after his only walk of the game, retired the next two hitters, the second with the tying run 90 feet away to save his own win.  Thill said he planned to bring Roach back to face the left-handed hitting Tipton, regardless of what DiMarco did with Pulver.  “It didn’t bother me,” Roach said. “It was more nerves than anything.” — Jim Peters

Lakes of the Four Seasons is Boone Grove’s home golf course, but coach Gary King only considers it half of an advantage for the Wolves when it comes to the sectional.

“We don’t get to play the back nine too often,” King said after Boone won its third straight title. “Most of the time, we play and practice on the front.  (The back) always gives me concern.”

Friday’s round offered a mixed bag. Taylor Noel (36-38=74) and Tyler Nicol (37-40=77) went up a combined five strokes on the back nine, while Drake Devereux (44-40=84) and Rick Gayda (40-39=79) went down a combined five. Fifth man Jimmy Kraushaar shot 42-43=85.

“We had five good, solid rounds of golf,” King said. 

Aaron Mercer of Roosevelt rode a 39 on the front nine at the Lakes of the Four Seasons to finish with an 84 in Friday’s Boone Grove Golf Sectional.

“I thought good things that made me laugh,” said Mercer, explaining his rebound. “My mom doesn’t know anything about golf, but she says things that help me out.”

The score earned him the third and final individual qualifying spot for the LaPorte Regional. Mercer, playing in his fourth and final sectional, is believed to be the first player to accomplish the feat from his school, which certainly isn’t known for its golf prowess. 

“It means a lot to me, it means a lot to my coach,” Mercer said.

Mercer was in position to qualify last year after starting out with a 42 on the front, but finished in the rain on the back nine with a 52 that left him out of the mix at 94.

“I was in very good position,” he said.

Mercer, who also teaches tennis in the summer, bounces around different courses to work on his game.  He’s closest to South Gleason Park in Gary but it only has seven holes and the flat layout doesn’t offer him much of a challenge. He practices at the driving range in Griffith and also plays at Turkey Creek in Merrillville.

His brother Timothy golfs for Vincennes University, though he did not play for Roosevelt.

– Jim Peters

Nick Grubnich’s three-under par 69 at Friday’s Boone Grove Sectional wasn’t the Crown Point sophomore’s best round ever. It actually ranks third. Grubnich shot a 67 at the state finals last season and a 66 during a casual round of golf in Pennsylvania.  Unlike three of  his teammates, Grubnich does not live in Lakes of the Four Seasons, so he doesn’t chalk up his performance to home cooking.

“I don’t play here that much,” he said.

“Nick’s just an amazing player,” Boone Grove coach Gary King said.

– Jim Peters