Crown Point opens Girls Softball 2008 season with 6-2 win at Hobart

A USA-365 special report by Mark Smith

3-26-2008

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
CROWN POINT (1-0)	0	0	0	0	2	1	3	6	9	1
HOBART (0-1)	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	2	3	1

Monday, March 24, 2008 - at Hobart Girls Softball Complex in HOBART, IN - season opener

WP - Jackie Beilfuss (1-0) CG, 10 Ks, 5 walks, 2 earned runs
LP - Brittany Spears (0-1) CG, 10 Ks, 5 walks, 4 earned runs

CROWN POINT (1-0)
Allison Adank (2B) 2-for-4
Amber Pierce (LF) 1-for-3, walk
Amy Fairchild (C) Double, walk
Jessica Martinez (SS) 1 for 4
Lindsey Gurnenz (1B) 2-for-4, 2 RBIs
Jackie Beilfuss (P) 1-for-2, 2 walks, RBI
Kara Gulvas (3B) 0-for-3, bunt sac
Amiee Favia (RF) 1 for 2, walk, RBI
Allison Amodeo (DP) 0 for 3

HOBART (0-1)
Megan Olsen (SS) 0 for 3
Alisha Brook (LF) 0-for-4
Sarah Adams (C) 1 for 2, triple, walk, runs scored
Abby Adams (2B) 0 for 3, RBI
Brittany Spears (P) 0 for 3
Caitlin Smith (1B) 0 for 2, walk
Michelle Miller (3B) 0 for 3
Hillary Cherry (RF) 1 for 3, RBI
Ashley Oliver (CF) 0 for 1, walk

HOBART, IN (3-24-2008) - It was important to get the game in. Not just because Tuesday's game was rained out and there were no other games for a week. Not just because it was 42 degrees (and that may have been generous) at game time. But because nobody on the Crown Point roster had ever won a varsity season opener. Not one girl.

"I don't think we did," said Amber Pierce, who played as a varsity freshman in 2005. "It's always Hobart. But we're seniors now."

The last three season openers saw Hobart beat CP 10-3 (2005) 11-1 (2006) and 7-1 (2007). Seriously ugly defeats.

"I didn't know that," said CP's second year coach Brett Crutchfield, who only saw last year's game. "Getting off to a good start was a point of emphasis this year. Get comfortable. It's a 30-game season, but you need to start strong so they can finish strong."

The Bulldogs started strong Monday, rallying to beat Hobart 6-2. Sophomore pitcher Jackie Beilfuss struck out 10 and first baseman Lindsay Gernenz had two hits and two RBIs.

"I think we can get to the state finals and hang a banner," said CP senior catcher Amy Fairchild. "That's my goal for this team. Those (Portage and Chesterton) are good teams with good skills, but we have a good team with good skills. I do think it's our turn."

The head coach doesn't mind high goals being set.

"Good," he said. "I hope they feel that way. They took some beatings last year and I was hoping that came out of last year. Hopefully, they've learned from the losses and they don't like it. Hopefully they take the bull by the horns and go from there."

It didn't look like a great day for Crown Point when Lindsay Gernenz' deep line drive to right center hit the top of the fence and bounced back into play in the second inning. Gernenz only got to second base on the drive and never scored in the inning.

Two Lady Bulldog runners were called out for leaving the base before the pitch, a violation in softball, killing CP rallies in the second and fourth innings. Then Hobart took a 1-0 fourth inning lead when Hillary Cherry singled to center with two out, scoring pinch runner Angela Jarosz.

CP rallied in the fifth inning. Amiee Favia walked, stole second base with one out and went to third on a passed ball. Allison Adank hit a slow roller to third base where Abby Adams threw the ball past first, allowing the tying run to score. Pierce then smacked a soft single to center to give CP a 2-1 lead.

Favia's RBI single against Hobart right-handed Brittany Spears gave CP a 3-1 lead in the top of the sixth, but Sarah Adams' triple created a sixth inning Hobart run to cut the lead to 3-2. But CP, which was 16-14 last season, scored three times in the seven after Adank singled and Pierce walked. When Jessica Martinez' one out single filled the bases, Gernenz singled to center, scoring two more runs and Beilfuss, batting sixth in the order for the first time, grounded to short to score the sixth CP run.

"I didn't bat last year when I pitched," she said. "I like it. You forget about pitching when you're batting. Instead of just watching, I felt like I was more of a part of it. I can take out my frustrations at bat."

Like all teams with indoor field houses, CP has held unofficial workouts since the first of the year. But Beilfuss, who pitched in 14 games last year as a freshman, said that time has gone quickly.

"It just felt like two days ago when we saw the list of players on coaches' door," she said. "We're ready to go. It was a little tough to find the strike zone. Too many walks, but my teammates were great today scoring runs."

"There were some situations where she nibbled too much," said Crutchfield. "And we talked about that. More to Amy (catcher Amy Fairchild) than to Jackie. There are situations where you don't care about location. Don't worry about being too fine. Let the defense play and don't try to strike everybody out."

"We have some things to work on, but it was good to win."

LADY BULLDOG NOTES: The New Hobart high school is more than 50% completed on 10th street on the east side of Hobart. It is almost twice the size of the present Hobart high building and resembles Crown Point and Chesterton. Presently, softball, baseball and football cannot be played at Hobart because there are no fields at the high school. When the new school is completed (the earliest opening date is January of 2009) all team sports will be held at the high school, including football.

Hobart has only two seniors on the roster. Brittany Spears, one of those seniors, stuck out 16 against CP last season in the 7-1 Hobart win. Hobart beat CP 11-1 at Hobart in 2006.

The CP pinch runners were Tori Connelly and Allison Amodeo. Ashley Aomodeo was a senior softball player in 2003, the final year of the old Crown Point high school.