Chesterton, Crown Point to meet for third sectional final

Updated: May 28, 2011 12:20AM

CROWN POINT — It never hurts to get a second opinion.

And in this case, it turned out to be the right call.

Crown Point coach Brett Crutchfield decided to stay with sophomore Siena Gyure in the fifth inning with the bases loaded and two outs and she delivered with the game’s biggest hit.

Gyure, who also pitched a complete-game victory for the Bulldogs, smacked a three-run bases-clearing double to erase a 2-0 deficit and lift the team to a 5-2 Class 4A Crown Point Sectional semifinal win on Friday.

Chesterton also advanced to today’s sectional final with a 1-0 win over Portage in the nightcap.

Gyure, who struggled at the plate in her first two plate appearances, was on the bench giving encouragement to pinch hitter-to-be Mandey Shrader before Crutchfield changed his mind and decided to stay with Gyure.

Crutchfield looked over to assistant coach Russ Serrato for a quick “What do you think?” and the change was made.

“I can’t take credit for that (decision),” Crutchfield said. “I have to give coach Serrato credit for that because I was hitting for her.

“She wasn’t seeing the ball very well and we loaded the bases and I was going to pinch hit for her — I had the pinch hitter on deck — and I looked over at Russ and he gave me the ‘shake off’ sign. He just had a hunch and I went with it and he was right.”

Chesterton pitcher Megan Tymorek didn’t need a ton of offensive support to nail down the victory for the Trojans (19-7). The sophomore pitcher allowed just two hits and struck out nine for the complete-game shutout.

Jaren Lynch and Taylor Harlow were the offensive stars each recording two hits.

Chesterton coach LouAnn Hopson hoped to see her score more runs, but she’ll take the win.

“When I got here (to the field) Valpo had just scored their second,” she said. “I put a note in my pocket before I left to stay calm, not to let the kids worked up about errors and the last thing I wrote is that there’s no lead that’s insurmountable (Friday).

“I thought my seniors did a nice job of leading and we’ll look forward to tomorrow.”

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