12 - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, April 13, 1995 Californians sizzling at Michigan Griffin, Lang and Smith adjust to Midwest and spark Blue to 27-7 record ]. By Tim Smith Daily Softball Writer When somebody is a called a wimp, images of a trembling, bespectacled recluse may immediately pop into mind. Images of a.400 hitting star pitcher andshortstop for aDivision 1 power are not what most people would'envision. For Michigan freshman softball player Sara Griffin, however, hitting .400 and having an 11-4 record are not good enough reasons to escape ridicule from teammate Kelly Kovach. "Sara was a big wimp in batting practice because she said (her hands) stung," Kovach says with a laugh when recalling how Griffin described her hands during a cold weather practice. "We teased her and called her a wimp." No one can blame Griffin, though, for being a little unused to the cold weatherthata Michigan April can pro- duce. Griffin, from Simi Valley, was born and raised under the warm rays of California's sunshine. The fact that California is a world away from Michigan has not stopped Griffin from becoming a Wolverine nor has it halted her teammates, Jennifer Smith and Jessica Lang, who hail from Ridgecrest and SantaCruz respectively. The threesome has come a long way to wear the Maize and Blue, they each have travelled different paths to become one-third of Michigan's start- ing lineup. Coming from California, one would expect the three to have different styles then their predominantly Midwestern teammates. Kovach says, however, that is far from the truth. "(Coach Hutchins) is really careful about bringing girls way out here so far away," Kovach says. "She knows the type of girls that she can bring out to Michigan that can fit in and adjust to the weather and the tough academics. With powerhouses UCLA and Ari- zona in the Califor- nia natives' back-v yard, itwould seem that Michigan would not be the first option on their lists of schools. But becoming Wolverines pro-f;: vided a chance to escape thefamiliar-G ity of the west coast. "I really wanted to leave Califor- nia for a change," Lang says. "I really liked the school (Michigan), and I liked the program and felt really com- fortable when I came in." Lang, now a sophomore, looked more than comfortable as a freshman last season. She played in 56 games and finished with the team's fourth- best batting average (.272) and had 22 RBI, second on the team. This season, Lang has continued her hot hitting with a.273 average and is third in RBI with 23. She was named the Big Ten Player of the Week last week after going 8-for-15(.533) with fourdoubles,12 RBI and six runs scored in a four-game sweep of Indiana. Smith is also a sophomore and is starting her second season as the Wol- verines' catcher. Although she played good defense in her first season that enabled her to be named U-M Rookie of the Year, she struggled at the plate with a .191 average. "Last yearIused to worry about my hitting and to begin this year I was in a really bad slump," Smith says. "I was worrying about it too much andI wanted to be better then I was last year and I think that just made it worse. "But once we went to Florida (for the Lady Seminole Classic in March), my confidence has gone up a whole lot." Smith has improved her average 50 points, and with her excellent de- fense and improved hitting, she has entrenched herself as Michigan's catcher for a few more years. Smith did not expect to be a four- year starter when she arrived in Ann Arbor as a freshman. It looked like she would learn the ropes fromj unior Mary Clark for a couple of years. When an injury forced Clark to quit, however, the position fell right in Smith's lap. "It's a tough to put a young catcher behind the plate because there is a lot of adjusting," Hutchins says. "She's a good, solid catcher. Catching all those games last year has made her that much better this year." While Smith and Lang have both had successful careers as Wolverines so far, the arrival of the freshman Grif- fin has made the most profound impact. Griffin has not just emerged on the scene - she has exploded. She has needed little time to adjust to the college game, and outside of some small problems with the cold weather, has been unfazed. Griffin leads the team with a .404 average, five home runs and 31 RBI. She is also tied with Kovach for the team lead in wins with 11 and is second in the Big Ten with a 1.34 ERA. "Sara is the typical California pitcher," Kovach says. "She hits the high balls and pitches the up balls." There is nothing typical about some- one with her skills, however. Her five home runs ties her with Alicia Seegert for Michigan's single-season record and already puts her at No. 5 on the career home run list. "We expected her to be a candidate for Big Ten Freshman of the Year, but you never know how good they're go- ing to be as a freshman," Hutchins says. "She's an excellent baserunner, she's obviously an excellent pitcher and she hits the ball. She does it all." That includes beating the always powerful UCLA squad, 5-4, in March. "It was like winning the national championship," Smith says of the upset victory over the Bruins. "After being from California and always hearing about UCLA and Arizona, to come to Michigan and beat UCLA was great." 0 MICHAEL FITZH Thanks to the presence of three California natives on its roster, the Michigan softball team has raced to a No. 9 national ranking. 0 Softball Top 25 Jordan helps Bulls bury Pistons Here is the USA Today/National Softball Coaches Association Coaches Top 25. Record 1. UCLA 28-2 2. Arizona 39-4 3. Cal State-Fullerton 25-11 4. Fresno State 32-8 5. UNLV 30-9 6. SW Louisiana 35-6 7. Cal State-Sacramento 27-7 8. Cal State-Northridge 28-11 9. MICHIGAN 27-7 10. California 28-9 11. South Carolina 37-9 12. Missouri 40-5 13. Florida State 35-11 Pts. 475 456 417 416 384 346 322 338 322 305 286 287 253 LW 2 1 3 .4 6 9 5 8 5 10 11 12 13 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. Record Hawaii 33-15 Nebraska 24-14 Illinois-Chicago 23-6 Nicholls State 24-11 Oklahoma State 23-14 Washington 29-18 Oklahoma 30-17 Notre Dame 23-9 Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo18-9 Princeton 26-6 Iowa 22-13-1 Kansas 14-12 Pts. 226 185 161 151 142 124 112 99 83 70 56 24 LW 14 15 16 19 17 18 22 21 20 23 NR 24 AUBURN HILLS (AP) - It didn't take long for Joe Dumars to remember how tough it is to guard Michael Jordan. "It wasn't a bittersweet moment, because there was nothing sweet about it," Dumars said after Jordan scored 29 to lead the Chicago Bulls over the Detroit Pistons 124-113 Wednesday night. Jordan hit 12 of his 23 shots and added nine rebounds and nine as- sists as the Bulls improved to 9-3 since his return from retirement. The Pistons cut Chicago's lead to 99-94 with 8:20 to play, but the Bulls iced the game with a 9-3 surge. Jordan scored the final five points of the spurt. Jordan's performance showed how much energy he brings to the game, Pistons coach Don Chaney said. "He's got a huge advantage, be- cause he's played 11 games, and everyone else has played over 70," Chaney said. "He's fresh, both physically and mentally." Detroit made another run, pull- ing to 116-110 with 2:30 to go, but Steve Kerr's 3-pointer extended the Bulls' lead again. Ron Harper and Will Perdue added 16 each for Chicago, which was without Scottie Pippen, who had the flu. Allan Houston led the Pistons with 31 points, and Terry Mills, who played his college ball at Michi- gan, had 20. Chicago led 62-57 at the half, but Detroit came back to tie the score at 70 behind seven points from Mills. But Chicago put together a six- point run, and got 10 points in the quarter from Perdue to lead 94-85 entering the fourth quarter. Jordan missed all four of his out- side shots in the first quarter as Chicago took a 30-29 lead. The Bulls started the second pe- riod with a 12-2 run, including four more from Harper, and led 42-31. That lead quickly vanished, though, as Houston hit two straight 3-pointers, and Dumars added a third for a nine-point run in just 43 sec- onds. The game was tied at 50 with four minutes left before halftime, * but Chicago scored the next five points, including a 3-pointer from Jordan, and the Bulls were still ahead by five at the half. Houston scored 19 in the half, including five 3-pointers. It's One Of The Most Useful Credit Cards On The Planet. Unless You've Stolen It. Your MasterCardis stolen. You panic.You get angry.You panic some more. Then you call and cancel it. 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