.

Softball
vs. Central Michigan (DH)
Today, 3 p.m.
Mount Pleasant,

SPORTS

Football
vs. Washington State
Saturday, September 4th, 1 p.m.
Michigan Stadium

Softball's long haul
could end with a title

by Scott Burton
Daily Sports Writer
Thankstoarecenthbtstreakthathas
2eenit take sevenofeightgames thelast
two weeks, the Michigan softball team
(9-3 Big Ten, 25-9 overall)has poised
itself to make a run at the Big Ten
championship.
Of course, just because the No.19
Wolverines have the Big Ten title on
their minds, doesn't mean they are tak-
ingtoday's game against unranked Cen-
tral Michigan lightly.
"Although (the Chippewas) have
struggled somewhat this year, they al-
ways seem to play their best against
Michigan," Wolverine coach Carol
Hutchins said. "It's an in-state rival, so
they're always fired up against us. So I
am excited to go up there and play
them."
The Chippewas are one of only two
teams who have played Michigan at
least ten times and compiled a winning
record (21-17).
"'They have excellent bats, and re-
ally good offensive speed," Hutchins
said. "They really keep you on your
toes."
After the Wolverines' doubleheader

Blue baseball
rallies to beat
Indiana, 3-2

with Central Michigan, they will take a
week off for finals. But then, beginning
with a series with Penn State on April
30, Michigan will have 22 games in a
three-week period. Included among
these contests will be key games against
Iowa and Ohio State that should deter-
mine the Big Ten champion.
"The upcoming season will be
tough," Hutchinssaid. "Wehave alotof
games and two games that, confidence-
wise, are our toughest opponents -
Iowa and Ohio State.
"But I like the idea of playing non-
stop," Hutchins added. "You can really
get yourself on a roll."
The Wolverines have two concerns
for the late-season stretch: fatigue and
motivation. The 22-game marathon will
be a heavily demanding schedule and
could prove especially troublesome to
work-horse pitchers Kelly Kovach and
Kelly Forbis.
"Our biggest concern is not to chill
out," Hutchins said. "They are really
fired-up now, but we got to make sure
we don't lose our fire. I worry about
whether our pitchers can hold up, but
they are both in excellent condition so it
shouldn't be a problem." .

Michigan lefty Chris Newton pitches earlier this year. The Wolverines beat
Indiana yesterday, 3-2.

;3

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IiII~L~I4Ih l:

A city upon a hill.
There's some historical significance to that
simple little phrase, I think. Something about the
Puritans. Or maybe it was a quote from Thomas
Jefferson. Whatever. It's just another random
offering from my education, something I learned
somewhere along the line in high school or in
;college.
. The point? Well, basically, that I found it.
w Perched at the highest point on campus, tucked
wvay near the back of Forest Hill Cemetery, is that
ty upon a hill. That place - a shrine, if you will
- where the mystique of two distinct colors and a
ight song originates.
. I WISH TO REST WHERE THE SPIRIT OF
.eICHIGAN IS WARMEST
3 That is the inscription on the tombstone next to
tbe grave of Fielding Harris Yost, a man who lives
ip Michigan lore as coach of the legendary Wolver-
one "point-a-minute" football squads.
Not far away - facing Yost's tombstone in fact
-is that of another Maize and Blue hero, Bob
jfer, a man who will always be remembered as the
,yoice of Michigan football and as the torchbearer
r something called the Michigan spirit.
;; We paid them a visit over the weekend. Being
geniors -two of us - suddenly on the verge of
raduation, we felt it was the least we could do.
" Pay them a visit. Check in, in a way, before
checking out.
I'...
- Four years ago -it seems like yesterday, really
'- I came to this University knowing that football
was king, basketball was a newly crowned champ,
end that I was about to become a part of it all.
College, of course, means different things to
, ifferent people. But for me, and for countless
others, the football Saturdays and the Final Fours
are what will stay with me forever. There will be
pathers, sure. But few memories, at least for this
Wolverine, will stand out more blatantly than these
eve: "
- "The Fab Five's First Final Four: Yes, it ended
-wvith a disheartening thud. But the adrenaline rush

On spirit and spirits:
Mihi memories

by Antoine Pitts
Daily Baseball Writer
Good pitching can do wonders for a
team.
The Michigan baseball found that
out again yesterday afternoon against
Indiana. The Wolverines (5-10 Big Ten,
13-25 overall) defeated the Hoosiers (8-
7, 26-13), 3-2, in extra innings at Fisher
Stadium.
Michigan has now won eight of its
last ten games.
The Wolverines came from behind
to win their second straight against Indi-
ana. Anothergreatpitching performance
held Michigan in the game. Heath
Murray allowed two early runs but
blanked the Hoosiers the rest of the way
to earn his third victory of the year.
Michigan struck for single runs in
the sixth, seventh, and finally in the
eighth for the victory. It was Murray's
steady pitching, giving up just three hits
in eight innings, that gave the Wolver-
ines a chance to win.
"Heath Murray did a good job to-
day," senior co-captain Scott
Timmerman said. "He kept us right in
there. We knew we were going to get to
their pitcher."
Indiana pitcher Chris Peters (4-1)
cruised through the first five innings
before Michigan could get to him,
though. He ended up going seven in-
nings, allowing all three runs and five
hits.
The Wolverines bounced Peters from
the game when their leadoff hitter
reached in the eighth with the potential
winning run. Reliever Chris Koehler
could not get the Wolverines out, and
they scored to take the game.
The late rally gave the Wolverines a
3-2 victory in the weekend series.
Murray's great outing follows on
the heals of Ray Ricken's complete
game victory Sunday. Ricken mowed
down the Hoosiers for a 2-1 victory.
After a very rough start (5-23), the
Wolverines have put it together and
have been on aroll. One-run games that
Michigan lost earlier in the year have

)

recently belonged to the Wolverines.
In a span of a week, Michigan has
won three of those one-run games.
'We all knew that we were capable
of winning," Timmerman said. "In the
beginning of the season we were facing
tough opponents and we were losing the
close games. Now we know how to win

Timmerman

*

they provided on the way was, in a word, fabulous.
I remember Juwan Howard proclaiming at Media
Day that year, when he was all of 18 years old, that
'We're on a mission." Everyone just smiled and
nodded. Little did we know. The "kid" knew what
he was talking about. Months later, there we were
after a victory over Cincinnati at the Final Four,
dancing in the streets in Minneapolis - celebrating
the fact that five freshmen had just gone out and
proved everyone wrong. Forget Duke, and consider
it mission accomplished.
" The Second Chance: No tears. No regrets. It
was a great run. They will never get anywhere near
the amount of credit they deserve. Lost somewhere
amid the black socks and sinister smiles and "lazy"
play was an unbelievable show of fortitude and
concentration. Never again will there be a group,
like this one - so loved and so hated by so many.
Some will call the UCLA game "luck." Fine, then. I
will simply cling to the win over Kentucky, another
one which they miraculously rescued from the fire,
and I will cherish it --81-78 in overtime - as the
high-point of my Michigan career. It was one for
the ages.
" The Catch: Tucked away neatly in the middle
of my four years here is that magical catch in the
corner of the endzone. Desmond Howard, our
Heisman winner, jumped, stretched and then
landed. And we all waited for a split-second. Did he
hold on to it? Did he ever.
" The Penalty: The Catch was justice served, in
my deluded opinion. Payback for the two Rocket
Ismail kickoff returns in the steady, cold rain my
freshman year. And payback for The Penalty, the
one that wasn't called, on the last-second two-point
conversion my sophomore year against Michigan
State. Over a hundred thousand fans watched Eddie
Brown trip Howard in the endzone - the same
endzone where Howard would later make The
Catch - but the referees, unthinkably, weren't able
to see the same thing. Or didn't have the guts to
throw the flag. Regardless, there went the game:
MSU 28, U-M 27. And there went our No. 1
ranking along with all our national title hopes.

a victory, though. Not just any old win, either. A
Rose Bowl victory. After four seasons of unprec-
edented success - we did win four Big Ten titles
while I was here - all I could think of as I sat
there before the game in Pasadena was how every
triumph seemed to be followed all too closely by
disappointment. This time we went out on a good
note.
There were others, certainly. Bo's retirement,
the hockey playoffs two years ago, the overtime
win over Duke at Crisler in '89. But the greatest
memory is more of an intangible. A "certain
intangible," as Ufer would say. "Some call it the
Michigan spirit."
Truer words have never been spoken.
On a campus as diverse and fractured as this
one, there is maybe just one common denominator.
The spirit, the colors, the fight song, the walk to
the stadium on football Saturdays. Everything,
basically, that helps create that "certain intan-
gible."
That Michigan spirit.
Which is why we went to say "Goodbye" on
Sunday. And "Hello," really. Because, as I am now
beginning to realize, this Michigan thing isn't over
by any means. Yost and Ufer are still with us. In
spirit. It lasts a lifetime.
But college only lasts a handful of years. We
come and, before we know it, we are going.
Names on a page.
I will take many memories with me when I
leave in a few weeks. But something that Jimmy
King, a good basketball player and a fellow
alumnus someday, said during the Final Four this
year will stick.
"Life's a big game," he said, explaining the
beyond-their-years wisdom that the Fab Five
brought with them to Michigan. "You do your
tricks. Everybody wants to succeed. That's what
it's about."
Well, this is my last trick.
It is time to move on.
Tune to reminisce.

and we feel that we shouldn't lose a
game.
"We've had more solid games as far
as pitching and defense goes,"
Tunmerman continued. "It's just all
come together at once."
Tunmerman went 3-for-4 to improve
his batting averagein conferencegames
to .455. The senior second baseman
scored two of Michigan's runs from the
leadoff spot in the order. Thnmerman
also had a double and a stolen base to
help the Wolverine cause.
The Wolverines take a break from
the Big Ten schedule with a double-
header this Saturday againstFerrisState
The Wolverines battle the Bulldogs at
Fisher Stadium before taking on Ohio
State in their next conference game
Saturday, May 1, in Columbus.

I,

Men tumblers bow out
early at NCAA meet

..

by Scott Burton '
Daily Sports Writer
Although the Michigan men's gym-
nastics team did not compete as a team
in last weekend's NCAA champion-
ship, Wolverines Kris Klinger, Raul
Molina and Rich Dopp competed indi-
vidually in Friday's preliminaroes.
None of the Wolverines qualified
for Saturday's finals, but each gymnast
fared well. Molina, a sophomore, com-
peted in the floor exercise and finished
16th with a 9.55. Klinger, a freshman,
received a 9.3 on the high bar, good for
24th. The sophomore Doppregistereda
9.1 on the high bar, placing him 30th.
"(Dopp's) score was not what he
might have wanted," Michigan coach
Bob Darden said. "Buthe earned raved
reviews forhistriple-full dismount.Only

a few other gymnasts do that, so it was
very impressive."
Equally impressive for the Wolver-
ines is the fact that next year's team will
feature eight gymnasts with NCAA fi-
nals experience. Brian Winkler, Royce
Toni, Jorge Camacho, Ben Verrall and
Mike Mott have also been competitors
at the finals.
Stanford won the team competition
on Saturday with a 276.5. Nebraska
came in second with a 275.5 and Ohio
State took third with a 274.05.
Minnesota's John Rothlesberger
won his third-all around individual title
with a 58.05. He joins Illinois' Joe
Gillumbardo and Stanford's Steve Hug
as the only gymnasts to achieve that
feet. UCLA's Chainey Humphrey fin-
ished second with a 57.85.

II I : I I ! +II
MCHlGAN
RECORDS
1140 South University
(Above Good-lime Chadey's)
- Ann Arbor, M148104
-. Pit:3-5800
Hours: Mon.-Thmus. 9 a.m.-10 p.m.
Fn:. Sat. 9 a.m.- 11 p.m.DEN
- SuI.1l a.m: 8 p.m.
- m
HE A TEA VISA ENT C
TICKtET CENTIN tr~s
BLNrAE
THTAR N TC

I


PRESIDENT CLINTON'S
SUMMER OF SERVICE
PROGRAM
at the
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
:30}0 full-time paid psitions
" an additional $1,0}00 educational stipend4