Softball Basebai
at Central Michigan (DH) vs. Indiana (DH)
Tomorrow, 3 p.m. Today, noon
Mount Pleasant Fisher Stadium
h M i , Ai 1, 1, P 1
AROUND THE HORN
Good field, good
pitch propels 'M'
by Charie Breitrose
Daily Softball Writer
Softball rallies to
take three of four
from Indiana
You need to have good pitching to win- this is the
clich6 that is heard over and over about baseball. But
the thing that pitchers have to get to be successful is
solid fielding.
The Michigan softball pitchers benefit greatly from
their infielders' play.
"Yeah, (our infield) is really solid," Wolverine
pitcher Kelly Kovach said. "I have a tendency to throw
a lot inside, so a lot of balls get hit at Tracy Carr and
Mary Campana, and Tracy's just been great at third, so
that's like my dream..
"It's just really relaxing knowing that I can throw in-
side and worry about killing them down there," she con-
tinued.
The beginning of the season was a bit rough for the
team, with 20 errors in 11 games during the team's first
tournament in Arizona. Four of Michigan's nine losses
came during this excursion to the desert.
Mary Campana, who Michigan coach Carol Hutch-
ins calls "the key to our defense," has improved her
play at shortstop considerably during the conference
schedule. She and the rest of the infield - Carr at third,
Kathryn Gleason at second and Michelle Silver at first
- all have fielding percentages over .950.
As a result, the Wolverines are second in the confer-
ence standings.
Kovach said she has been saved numerous times by
her shortstop.
"(Mary) took this one ball, it ricocheted off my leg,"
Kovach recalled. "I mean it was hit hard right at me -
it went over to Mary, she saved it, threw it to first base
.. totally out by a couple of steps.
"She is just playing awesome, she's been great for us
at short," Kovach said.
The performance for the infielders is more impres-
sive, considering half of them are freshmen. Carr and
Gleason have come into their first season and played
See FIELDING, Page 17
by Jesse Brouhard
Daily Softball Writer
The sky was the limit yesterday.
Well, maybe not, but at least it was
sunny and blue at times.
For the Michigan softball team,
though, things really didn't cheer up
until the top of the seventh.
The Wolverines entered the top
of the seventh trailing Indiana (4-8
Big Ten, 18-14 overall) by a 5-2
margin. With the help of a seldom-
used freshman and the clutch hitting
of two veterans, Michigan (9-3, 25-
9) made a furious five-run comeback
to defeat the Hoosiers, 7-5.
Combined with their doubleheader-
opening 6-2 victory, Michigan man-
aged to take three victories in the
four-game weekend series at Alumni
Field.
"We needed to win three of the
four games at a minimum,"
Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said.
"This weekend was real important
for us."
The seventh started off with
freshman Cheryl Pearcy pinch-hit-
ting for second baseman Kathryn
Gleason. Pearcy proceeded to find a
gap in shallow centerfield and se-
nior Kari Kunnen followed with a
single to continue the Wolverine
rally.
Shortstop Mary Campana
scorched her second hit of the game;
a two-run triple, deep into right field
Pearcy and Kunnen both came
around to score on the blast.
In total, five Wolverines scored
in the inning. Kelly Forbis' im-
proved pitching in the bottom of the
inning clinched the win.
Forbis was also credited with the
win in the first contest of the day
also, a 6-2 Michigan victory. Overall
Forbis finished the day giving up
two earned runs while pitching nine
and two-thirds innings. According to
Forbis, the relief appearance
definitely was the finer of the two.
"I didn't really feel that good be-
fore the game today," Forbis said.
"By the second game, though, m
arm did feel better."
The first two games of the series
were not stellar ones for the
Wolverines. Michigan managed to
split the doubleheader 3-0, 7-1. The
Wolverines suffered a monstrots
collapse in the sixth inning of the
second game to seal their defeat. Sis
Hoosiers crossed the plate in the in-
ning.
"I think we pitched very well the
first game. I don't think we pitched
well the second game. We gave
them too many chances," Hutchins
said. "That last inning there they got
See SOFTBALL, Page 17
Kelly Forbis pitched twice Sunday, earning two victories in Michigan's doubleheader sweep.
Baseball splits two with Indiana
by Antoine Pitts
Daily Baseball Writer
Home sweet home.
After eight consecutive weekends
on the road, the Michigan baseball
team stayed home for a weekend se-
ries at Fisher Stadium. The
Wolverines' doubleheader against
Indiana yesterday was their Big Ten
home opener.
Michigan (4-10 Big Ten, 12-25
overall) had its five-game winning
streak snapped in the opener, 6-0,
but came back to edge Indiana (8-6,
26-12)2-1, in the second game.
Another great pitching perfor-
mance by starter Ray Ricken (2-4)
held off the Hoosiers in the finale to
get the Wolverines back on the
winning track.
"Ray Ricken pitched, another
outstanding game," Michigan coach
Bill Freehan said. "That was a good
one-run win - we haven't had that
yet in the Big Ten."
Ricken allowed just five hits in
seven innings for the Wolverines. A
fine defensive play in the second
inning by centerfielder Brian
Simmons took the Hoosiers out of
the inning and kept Michigan on top.
With runners on first and second
and nobody out, Indiana's Joe Sturtz
attempted to move the runners over.-
The first pitch from Ricken sailed
out of the strike zone and the
Wolverines had a chance to nail
Kyle Kramer straying off of second.
Catcher Scott Niemiec's throw
bounded past second baseman Scott
Timmerman into centerfield. Kramer
tried to advance to third base but
Simmons' throw reached third in
time to get Kramer.
"Brian Simmons made just one,
hellacious play," Freehan said. "He's
got an outstanding arm and it
showed today."
"I was just backing up second
base in case there was a play there,"
Simmons said. "The ball got through
and they took a chance to try to get
to third. I was fortunate enough to
make the play."
Ricken went on to retire the next
two batters to retire the side and al-
lowed only one hit and one walk for
the final five innings. In the final in-
ning, Freehan had a pitcher warming
up but elected to stay with Ricken.
"I had Todd Marion in the pen
but I wanted to see what Ray could
do," Freehan said. "The last two
games I've seen (Ricken) pitch in-
stead of throw. Early in the season
(he) was more like a high school
pitcher. I've seen more of a college
pitcher the last two games out." d
Indiana opened the game with a
run in the first inning on two hits, an
error and a hit batsman. It looked as
if the Hoosiers would keep on at-
tacking Michigan's pitching likb
they had in the opener.
See BASEBALL, Page 17
0
Sean Coston goes down on strikes in a game last week. This week saw Coston hit his first two collegiate homers.
Men golfers finish seventh'
at Firestone Invitational
WHO: Beth Wymer
TEAM: Women's Gymnastics
HOMETOWN: Toledo, Ohio
YEAR: Sophomore .
ELIGIBILITY: Sophomore
WHY: At the 1993 NCAA championships at Oregon State, Wymer became Michigan's first-
ever national champion. She scored a perfect 10 on the uneven bars to tie Agina Simpkins of
Georgia for the title. Wymer placed fifth in the all-around and sixth in the uneven bars a year
ago.
BACKGROUND: Last year, as a freshman, Wymer was named the Wolverines' Most Valuable
Performer after earning All-American status in the all-around and on the uneven bars. Those
accomplishments earned Wymer Big Ten gymnast-of-the-year and freshman-of-the-year
honors. Wymer also earned an Athletic-Academic Achievement award and All-Big Ten honors
in her rookie campaign. Wymer is a graduate of Sylvania Southview High School in Toledo,
Ohio.
S
by Elisa Sneed
Daily Sports Writer
They just weren't on fire at
Firestone.
Last week, after the Michigan
men's golf team's disappointing
performance in the Marshall
Invitational April 9th and 10th,
coach Jim Carras was finally given
the opportunity to hold a qualifier of
his own to choose the top five
Wolverines for last weekend's event,
the Firestone Intercollegiate
Invitational Golf Tournament.
However, even after getting a
chance to play for the spots, the five
Wolverines who made last week-
end's traveling squad - senior
cocaptains James Carson and An-
thony Dietz, senior Bob Henighan,
junior Mike Hill, and sophomore
Bill Lyle - were still unable to play
to the level they needed to at Akron
to secure a place at the NCAA re-
gionals in May.
With three other Big Ten teams
playing in the event - Indiana,
Michigan State and Wisconsin - it
was especially important for
Michigan to play well. Unfortun-
ately for the Wolverines, though,
they finished in a tie with Miami
(Ohio) for 7th. Their team total of
924 put them 22 strokes behind the
winner, the Kent State Golden
Flashes.
The individual champion was
also a member of that team. Kent
State's Kevin Kraft won with a score
of 218, 12 shots ahead of the top
Wolverines. Lyle and Henighan led
Michigan with totals of 230 strokes,
putting them in 19th place. Carson
and Dietz finished in 26th with 232's
and Hill finished in 73rd with 242.
Even though they haven't played
like they think they can, the
Wolverines still have three more
events to play up to their potential,
including Big Tens.
I_
Wyiner
U I
DEPARTMENT OF
RECREATIONAL
SPORTS
INTRAMURAL SPORTS PROGRAM
SPRING/SUMMER
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PRESIDENT CLINTON'S
SUMM ER OF SE RVICE
FROG RAM
at the
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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Casting Film
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Ann Arbor late June - early July. Award winning director from NYU's grad film
program and U of M Alumni.
CASTING UNION / NON UNION ACTORS:
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