PREP SOFTBALL | CLASS 4A STATE FINALS

LOWELL | Before every game, Lowell's Red Devils have huddled and put their hands together. Every game they've yelled the same thing.

"1200 NGSR."

It stands for 1200 North Girls School Road, the address of Indianapolis Ben Davis High School, where the state softball championships are held.

But as Lowell prepares for tonight's state semifinal against top-ranked Hamilton Southeastern at Carmel's Cherry Tree Complex, the Red Devils probably should yell something else: "Hidden Heights Fastpitch Softball."

Without the latter, the former would've been impossible.

"I was looking for a house about 12 years ago and I bought this one because of the pole barn," Lowell coach Pete Iussig said. "I visualized the whole thing."

When he first walked on the farm property southeast of town, the pole barn, which he nicknamed, "Hidden Heights", was being used by a truck mechanic. But Iussig looked beyond the oil spots on the cement floor, and saw a way to make an awful softball program into a power. It took the 1973 Merrillville grad only two weeks to have a pitching machine inside.

Before long, the girls and their families were inside the barn, working for a dream that took 18 years for Iussig to realize.

"If they didn't go 3-for-3, they'd skip dinner and be out here hitting until they got tired," said Gary Fletcher, whose oldest daughter Nicole Fletcher graduated last year. His freshman daughter Jacki is playing second base for the Red Devils this year.

"I've been coming here since I was 6," Jacki said. "We've been here in blizzards in the winter, on holidays. The girls in Lowell are lucky. This place is a big team bonding experience. We're here all the time and this place has helped us get where we're at now."

After attending Indiana University, Iussig was hired at Lowell in 1978. He's coached just about everything, including the 1984 baseball sectional championship team. But after four years, the stress of winning and losing began to have lunch on Iussig's soul. So he stepped down.

"I was afraid I was going to have an ulcer," he said.

He assisted Lowell's softball program for a couple years, taking over in 1990. The team won 30 games in his first four seasons. The Red Devils have 30 wins this year, with a chance to win two more. His first winning season was in 1995, the year he bought "The Barn."

"I wanted my own batting place," Iussig said. "I know it keeps kids interested. Instead of watching TV, they take swings. Instead of spending $20 at a batting cage, they come here."

While Lowell always has been known as a hitting team, Iussig also has two pitching rubbers in the pole barn. There is a wood-burning stove for when the air turns cold. And there's almost a never-ending ability to work on the game for each player.

"I've been in bed at midnight and heard, 'Whhmmpp. Whhmmpp. Whhmmpp,' in the barn" Iussig said with a smile.

His niece, Kristina Kuzma, remembers when all it was a dirty garage 12 years ago. Now, it's the fuel the Red Devils will burn as they drive to Carmel's Cherry Tree Complex for tonight's state semifinal.