The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, March 6, 1995 - £ ,Softball off to 2-1 start in UCLA tourney By Danielle Rumor. Daily Softball Writer The No. 10 Michigan softball team may very well have been singing the children's, and Harry Caray's, famous rhyme 'Rain, rain go away.' The Wolverines were unable to play their final game against No. 15 .'outh Carolina yesterday at the UCLA aston/Reebok Invitational due to the .weather. Michigan compiled a 2-1 -record in the tournament up to Sun- day, but began to ride a hot streak .after its continual improvement throughout the weekend. "This was our toughest tourna- ment," Wolverine coach Carol Hutchins said. "Every team in the tournament we faced was ranked (be- Ore the tournament began)." Michigan (9-3) lost to No.5 UNLV, 4-0, Friday evening. They were shutout for the first time this season. The Wol- vprines entered the tournament averag- ing eight hits per game. However, Michi- gan was only able to muster two hits against the Runnin' Rebels, compared to UNLV's 10. TheRebels' first, and winning run, *ccurred in the fourth inning when pitcher Sara Griffin allowed three walks and a base hit. UNLV added a run in the sixth and two in the seventh. Michigan loaded the bases in the fourth inning, but could not capitalize because of hot pitching by Amie ,Stewart, who registered five K's. The Wolverines played a double- header Saturday againstUtah and No.2 UCLA. Michigan came from behind to defeat the Utes,4-3. Utah wentup 2-0 in the second inning on scores by Cyndee Bennett and Karen Bono. Pitcher Griffin walked Bennett, who then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Bono walked and Pam McKissick knocked in Bennett with a single. Bono advanced to second and scored on the next play when Andi Moore singled. Michigan brought the score to 2-1 after senior Lesa Arvia scored on a pop fly to right by Bono. Utah scored in the third inning, but then the Wolverines went on fire. Senior Michelle Silver and sopho- more Jessica Lang scored on junior Cheryl Pearcy's double in the bottom of the fourth. Senior Kelly Kovach singled in the bottom of the fifth inning and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Ali Andrus. ,Arvia singled, advancing Kovach to third, who then went on to score the winning run after a base hit by Lang. The Wolverines returned to old form, registering 11 hits against the Utes. Griffin collected the win, in- creasing her record to 3-2, while Andrus dropped to 4-6. Michigan faced the Bruins later in the afternoon. The Wolverines won, 5-4, late in the eighth, handing UCLA its first loss of the season. UCLA went up 3-0 after the first five innings before the game was post- SOFTBALL NOTEBOOK Big Ten to sponsor tournament, Purdue fields second-year team FrILE PHOTO The No. 10 Michigan softball team began its tournament season Friday. poned due to rain. Alleah Poulson homered with Ginny Mike on first. Then, Kelly Howard doubled and ad- vanced to third after Kathi Evans was thrown out at first. Howard scored after Jennifer Brundage singled. The rain appeared to rejuvenate the Wolverines, who scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth. With the bases loaded, Pearcy scored after Grif- fin walked and then Tracy Carr scored after Lang walked. Kovach scored after an Arvia pop fly. Griffin scored on a freshman Kellyn Tate single. "Kellyn had a real hot start," Hutchins said. "She's shown that she can hit. She's a gamer." Kathi Evans tied it up for the Bruins after scoring at the top of the seventh, but could not score in the eighth. Kovach, the game's winning pitcher (4-0), once again scored the winning run for the Wolverines from third after Arvia singled behind the UCLA third baseman. "We're playing good softball, I have to admit," Hutchins said. "Our team is very excited." By Danielle Rumore Daily Softball Writer The crack of the bat and the over- abundance of mitts in the locker rooms means only one thing. The softball season has arrived. The 1995 season brings two changes to the Big Ten conference. The first is the addition of Purdue to the Big Ten. The Boilermakers are abrand-new pro- gram under the tutelage of head coach Carol Bruggeman, a former Wolver- ine assistant coach for five years under Michigan coach Kovach Carol Hutchins. Purdue fin- ished the 1994 season 21-17-1. Michi- gan travels to the Varsity Softball Complex to kick off the Big Ten sea- son against the Boilermakers, Mar. 25-26. "They're going tohaveagood,solid program," Hutchins said. "(Bruggeman) is a good coach. I expect them to be tougher than most would expect. We know that they can hit the ball and they're going to show up." Secondly, this will be the first year that the Big Ten sponsors a cham- pionship tournament in softball. This year, the regular-season titleist will serve as host of the four-team tourna- ment held May 13-14. The tourna- ment winner will receive an auto- matic berth to the NCAA National Tournament. "Ourconferenceis tough," Hutchins said. "What it will add is that you will have more teams vying for a chance to compete in the Big Ten tournament. It's going to add a lot more excitement to the entire season." OOOOHKLAHOMA!: This is the last chance for Michigan seniors Kelly Kovach, Michelle Silver and Lesa Arvia to secure a spot in the NCAA World Series, to be held this year in Oklahoma City. The three seniors are part of the most successful Wolverine softball class ever. They won the Big Ten Conference championship in 1992 and 1993, reached the NCAA Region 2 Tournament in 1992, reached the NCAA Region 8 in 1993 and col- lected a slew of individual honors. Kovach was a 1994 GTE Academic All-American and led the Wolverines in hitting(.306)andpitching(1.30ERAI 116K). She is second in strikeouts (374} and shutouts (25) and third in wins (54) on the Michigan career records list. In 1994, Silver played in England at the World Championships and led the team in stolen bases (16). She is tied for second in doubles (12 in 1993) and is fourth in stolen bases (16 in 1994) on the Michigan season records list and is seventh in batting average (.302) on the career records list. Arvia was named the Big Ten player of the week Mar. 31, 1993 and has started in outfield for the Wolver- ines the past two seasons. "I think this team can go to Okla- homa City, but it all comes down to putting it out on the field," Hutchins said. SIZZLING HOT: Kovach is 4-0 on the season after last weekend's UCLA Easton/Reebok Invitational. She was the winning pitcher after defeating No. 2 UCLA Saturday and scored the winning run in both victories over Utah and UCLA Saturday. Kovach, whose record stands at 58-33, is set to become the winningest pitcher in school history. Eight more wins on the season will put Kovach over current leader Vicki Morrow (65). i1inmons not enough Baseball falls to FSU, LSU, Minnesota By Nicholas J. Cotsonika Daily Baseball Writer If Brian Simmons could only pitch. Thejunioroutfielderdidjustabout everything else for the Wolverines *his weekend, but in the end, his hero- cs were not enough. The Michigan baseball team (4-7) dropped three straight games in the Hormel Foods Baseball Classic held in Minneapolis' Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, losing to Florida State 17-6 yesterday, Louisiana State 11-9 Saturday and Minnesota 7-4 Friday. Simmons won the tournament's Most Valuable Player award for his eord-setting performance. The pre- season All-American hit .462 for the three-game set, upping his season average to .341, and showed some power as well. He hit a tournament-best three homeruns, including a415-foot bomb and a shot that rang off the scoreboard, and was one short of the runs-batted- in record with 10. The RBI record was set in 1986 by another Michigan player, Casey Close. His performance propelled the Wolverines to three straight wins and a tournament championship that year. Simmons' performance gotMichi- gan nowhere. His brilliance could not overcome the combination of poor pitching and sloppy defense that did in the Wol- verines. For example, Michigan made four errors while having their caps spun by the Seminoles. Florida State capitalized on a five- run seventh inning last night, in which they scored no earned runs, and a six- run fourth. Senior righthander Matt Ferullo took the loss to drop his record to 1-1. Junior righthander Mark Temple also appeared and gave up six unearned runs. Saturday saw much of the same, as Louisiana State's first three hitters tagged sophomore righthander Brian Steinbach for three runs and never looked back. They built a 10-0 lead after five and held Michigan scoreless through five behind winning pitcher Jeremy Tyson, who went six innings and gave up two hits and an earned run. Michigan was able to stage a late comback, scoring once in the sixth then five times in the eighth on a two- run single by junior infielder Andy Wade and a two-run double by Simmons. Simmons also hit a three-run shot in the ninth, but it was too little too late. A short changed pitching staff didn't have arms as strong as Simmons' bat and the Wolverines were forced to go home winless. The loss to the Tigers dropped Steinbach to 0-2. TRACK Continued from page 2 compete in the mile at nationals, ex- plained. "Four minutes is relatively easy for me to hit. I just wanted to hit the automatic qualifying standard." What made this race more reward- ing for the Wolverines was that the distance medley relay team was able to qualify in spite of All-American Scott MacDonald's season-long in- jury. With MacDonald, who was re- placed Saturday by Forsyth, the relay team placed third last year at nation- als. "I was feeling a lot of pressure about (the race) so it was nice to get it off my back," Forsyth said. "I was surprised we went so fast. The crowd was very supportive." Another runner who was deter- mined to qualify for nationals was Neil Gardner. Gardner, who has spent the season trying to overcome the lingering effects of a groin injury, aimed for the automatic standard in the 55 meter hurdles. Despite falling short of that quali- fying mark, Gardner won the race with an impressive time of 7.32, im- proving his previous seasonal best of 7.38. In addition, Gardner's time met the provisional qualifying standard, leaving him with a realistic chance of going to Indianapolis. "I'm pretty satisfied coming down with a better time," Gardner said. "The time that I ran put me in the mix to make it. (If I make nationals), I should make finals and possibly even score." In addition to dominating the hurdles, Gardner also leaped a 24-9 to win the long jump. Other victors for the Wolverines were Chris Lancaster (52-4) in the shot put and Ben Ludka (7-1/4) in the high jump. I U Join The Arthritis itAjicwcjuLy Foundation In Starting An STRUCTURED SHUFLEAnn Arbor Area COMMUNITIES. St. Patrick's Day Tradition Sunday, March 19th Hudson Mills Metropark Dexter, Michigan 10:30 a.m. A 5K Run/Walk to benefit the Arthritis Foundation, Ann Arbor Branch $12.00 pre-registration/$15.00 day-of $18.00 to receive a Shamrock Shtiffle t-shirt Registration/check-in will take place in the Activity Center between 9:00 - 10:15 KATZ LECTURE To receive an Entry Form, callAWEDNESDAY 572-3224MARCH 8, 1995 RACKHAM AMPHITHEATRE Proceeds to benefit the programs and services of the Ann Arbor American RECEPTION FOLLOWS Juvenile Arthritis Organization, a council of the Arthritis Foundation devoted ALL LECTURES ARE OPE TO THE PUBLIC to serving the needs of children, teens and young adults with arthritis. PRESENTED BY LS&A In 0% FAT (and proud of It!) Efficiency is our goal. You'll be in and out in no time! 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