Page 10 -The Michigan Daily - March 30, 1993
HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
Black Bears dominant
over CCHA opponents
by Trim Rardin
Daily Hockey Writer
The only mutual opponents between Michigan and its NCAA semifinal
opponent Maine have all come from the CCHA. While the Wolverines have not
played any teams this season from Hockey East, league of the No.1 Black Bears,
Maine has played five different CCHA squads.
Like Michigan, the Black Bears beat two of the lesser teams of the CCHA,
Bowling Green (8-1, 6-2) and Ohio State (9-4), in fairly convincing fashion.
Maine also ousted Western Michigan, 4-1, and Lake Superior, 3-2, in the Great
Western Freeze-Out Dec. 19-20. The Wolverines, by comparison, were 1-1-1
against Western and 2-2 against the Lakers this year. Maine also nipped Miami,
who went 1-1-1 against Michigan this season, 3-1, at the Dexter Hockey Classic
in early January.
UP A NOTCH: Ten players have surpassed their season statistics of a year ago
so far this season. Senior center Mark Ouimet has experienced the most dramatic
turnaround. Ouimet, after a subpar 29 points last season, has exploded for 60 this
season, good for second on the team. Junior forward Cam Stewart (57) is close
behind with a 29-point improvement,
while senior right wing Dan Stiver (44) FIN A L FO U R
and sophomoreMike Knuble (42) have
upped their point totals by 28 and 27
respectively. In addition, sophomore
center Ron Sacka, who played spar-
ingly last year en route to just two
points, has upped his total to 16 in 27
games this year.
BATTLE OF LEGENDS: Saturday's
game between Michigan and Wiscon-
sin was more than justachance to reach
the NCAA semifinals. It was also a'
clash of two storied collegiate hockey
programs. The Badgers had won arecord 28 NCAA tournament games, while the
Wolverines, who are now 24-10 in tourney play, boast the most national titles (7)
since tournament play began in 1948. Wisconsin has five NCAA titles to its name.
HOTEL WISCONSIN: If you're planning to go to the NCAA hockey champi-
onships in Milwaukee Thursday and Saturday, and you don't have anywhere to
stay, there is hope. The Ramada Inn in Milwaukee is allotting 95 rooms to
Michigan fans for the weekend, available for $75 a night. The Ramada phone
number is (414) 272-8410, and rooms must be booked by 3 p.m. today.
WHAT ABOUT NEXT YEAR?: The 1994 NCAADivision I Hockey Champi-
onship will beheld at the St. Paul Civic Centerin St. Paul, Minn. It will be the third
time in the past six years that the 15,000-seat Civic Center has hosted the event.
The total attendance record for the championship was established in St. Paul in
1989, as 62,336 people witnessed the games in all.
DOUGLAS KANTEW/Daily-
Goalie Steve Shields and the Wolverine defense guard against Wisconsin in Saturday's NCAA contest..
Nebraska stops softball march early
by Scott Burton
Daily Sports Writer
Riding the potent combination of the three fundamentals
of softball - hitting, pitching and defense - the # 9
Michigan softball team (14-6) streaked to three wins in two
days at the National Invitational Softball Tournament in
Sunnyvale, Calif.
Unfortunately for the Wolverines, two things prevented
them from achieving their tournament goal of reaching the
championship bracket -Nebraska and rain.
Because of a Michigan loss to the Cornhuskers in its
second game of the tournament, the Wolverines failed to
qualify for the championship bracket of the 16-team field.
And after rain fellSaturday, Michigan's tournament play was
done with a 3-1 record.
"I thought we really played well," sophomore pitcher
Kelly Kovach said. "But we were kind of hoping to make the
championship bracket and we were disappointed because the
teams in the finals we felt we could play with."
The Wolverines ended their tournament play Saturday
afternoon on a high note, blanking #20 Bowling Green, 2-0.
The team was led to victory by Kovach's, whose pitching
stymied the Falcon bats by allowing only four hits while
striking out seven batters.
"My ball was moving real well," Kovach said. "And
(catcher) Karla Kunnen called a great game and keptmy head
in the game."
Earlier in the day, the Wolverines disposed of another top
20 team by beating #15 Utah State, 1-0, in eight innings.
Again, Michigan's good fortunes were due to a fine pitching
performance. Senior Kelly Forbis yielded only three hits in
picking up the win.
"I knew I just had to keep shutting them down because I
knew my team would eventually break through and score,"
Forbis said.
Michigan's lone loss of the tournament came Friday
evening atthehands of unranked Nebraska, 3-1. Cornhusker
pitcher Cody Dusenberry baffled the Wolverines offense,
staking them one run in the first inning, before shutting
Michigan out the rest of the way. The Wolverines managed
only one hit off Dusenberry.
"We had some problems adjusting to the Nebraska
pitcher," said Kovach. "She had more movement than what
we had seen."
Michigan had no problem scoring in its previous game
against Santa Clara, however. It exploded for eight runs on
twelve hits, en route to a 8-0 win. But as noteworthy as the
offensive production was, the day's highlight was provided
by Forbis, who tossed a perfect game.
"It was really exciting - it's been three years since I've
had a perfect game," Forbis said. "It was just a matter of
zoning into the hitter's weaknesses."
Patti Benedictmatched Forbis'perfect day on themound
with a perfect day of her own at the plate. She went 3-for-3.
Baseball
shown the
broom by
Gophers
by Paul Barger
Daily Baseball Writer
Some things just never seem to
change. Since the beginning of the sea-
son, the Michigan baseball team (5-17
overall, 0-4 Big Ten) just can't put to-
gether a game in which it hits as well as
it pitches, or vice versa.
In game one of last weekend's four
game series at Minnesota (13-6, 4-0),
the Wolverines lost 7-3. Although they
were defeated in the contest, the squad
outhit the Golden Gophers by an 8-7
tally. Later that same afternoon,
Michigan's pitchers threw well - giv-
ing up five runs - while the team
committed no errors. However, the
squad went cold at the plate, scoring no
runs on one hit.
To keep the trend alive, Michigan
lost a tight contest to begin the Sunday
double-dip. The pitching staff, led by
Heath Murray, gave up three runs on
four hits. But - you guessed it - the
Wolverines crossedtheplateonly twice
Minnesota's winning hitcame with one
out in the final inning.
Michigan was red hot at the plate in
the final game of the weekend series
smacking Minnesota pitching around
for nine runs on 13 hits. The home team
countered with an 11 run, 11 hit perfor-
mance to complete the sweep.
"When our pitching was there our
hitting wasn't," second baseman Scott -
Timmerman said. "When the hitters
came along, the pitching fell apart."
This run of games was very similar
to previous contests. In the very first
game of the season the offense pro-
duced 9 runs, but the team was still
bettered by one. Later in the season, the
team pitched very well, giving up one
earned run in two games, and lost both.
Minnesota managed only one more
hit than the Wolverines over the week-
end, but still gained four games in the
win column.
Fewer base-runners were left
stranded in the Metrodome with the
Wolverines leaving 20 aboard. Michi-
gan also improved from a defensive
standpoint committing sixerrors. How-
ever, team members said they were
upset with the final results.
.... 1000...... 101..I-N-S-1... 00 ..IMS- - ......
WING IT:?
SATI
1 1
15 Wings
1 1
$3.25/Pitcher
1 1220
. ..... .. Bud Fam ily...... .......... ...... -I665
Men spikers caught looking by CMU
by Jeremy Strachan
Daily Sports Writer
Sometimes bad things come to those
who wait.
This was certainly the case for the
Michigan men's volleyball team this
weekend at the Midwest Intercollegiate
Volleyball Association championships
held at Tri-State University. The Wol-
verines came outflatin the quarterfinals
againstCentralMichigan, losing in three
straight games after a six hour-long
courtside wait Saturday.
The loss was especially bitter for
Michigan because the Wolverines beat
the Chippewas the day before in pool
play. Michigan played well in its round
robin action, and was given a bye and
seeded eighth in the third round of the
tournament. But, Central didnotfare as
well in pool play and was seeded lower
in the tournament. As a result, the
Chippewas played two straight matches
before beating the Wolverines.
"We made it to the final sixteen,"
Michigan coach Pam Griffin said. "But
I think part of (the loss) wasbecause we
waited over six hours to play."
The first game went to the
Chippewas, 15-10. The Wolverines
came out slow again, falling behind 10-
2, tied it at 12, but lost, 15-12. Despite
great passing from the back row, the
Wolverines could not dig out the third
game, losing 15-13.
"On Friday (in pool play), we were
up for the game, and were ready to play
and we beat (Central) because we played
together,"Michiganmiddle ToddCoffey
said. "But on Saturday Central Michi-
gan had just beaten Illinois State and
came upstairs to play us.
"It was 6:30 and we had been sitting
at courtside since 11:30 because we did
not know when we would be playing.
They were all warmed up."
I
r
REWARD
Y OURSEL F!
'We didnotplay well,"Timmerman
said. "I thought that our pre-season
schedule would have us well-prepared.
They just outpowered us. I wasn't
pleased with our performance at all."
Michigan coach Bill Freehan said
that this game was supposed to be a
gauge for the rest of the season. But for
this year to be considered a success, the
pitchers and hitters will need to aid each
others performance through timelier
hitting and clutch pitching.
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