The Michigan Daily - Thursday, April 18, 1996 - 13A
.Hohnes rej
confidence
5ris
now
in her
victory
y Andy Knudsen -
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan softbal
sfruggled against a first-year)
sin team last weekend.
Yesterday, the Wolverines
ateam with three times as mu
rience and Michigan play
times better.
in their sweep of yest
doubleheader with Purdue, t
Wolverines (13-2 Big Ten
overall) had little trouble scori
up only one run and collectiv
"Error-free is the
Way for me."
The fact that
Michigan
bounced back
from abelow-av-
erage weekend
ith yesterday's
rong perfor-
mance is the
mark of a good +
team readying
itself for the stretch run of the
ence race. (The fact that they
their game and still swept a
series is a pretty good sign, t
With two important road se
sus third-place Indiana and fi
Minnesota looming on the
ow is the time to work any k
the system.
Which is exactly what pitch
Holmes (14-5) started to do
day.
Holmes struggled last wee
It's not fair to say she was
ing, but she didn't have her b
as they say.
She was pulled in favor
Griffin (22-5) in two of her thr
d gave up five earned run
innings to Wisconsin.
But yesterday she got back
spreading out seven hits ov
innings, allowing only one
getting a complete game win
Her worst inning came in th
when she gave up consecutiv
to Jenny Schoen and Jean Ma
grounder to second moved
ners to second and third, and
rounder to second scored
olmes had trouble getting f
out, walking Kimberly Den
Jody Meister. Was this a dej
ning or what?
But with the bases loaded
over Purdue
Angie Myers to whiff - Holmes'
second of three strikeouts on the day.
I team It was only Holmes' second deci-
Wiscon- sion in four games.
"It feels good, especially since it
took on was a win," Holmes said. "(It) erases
chexpe- all the bad feelings I've had. (I'm)
ed three just telling myself I can still do it."
The May 4-5 weekend series at Min-
erday's nesota will be the most telling week-
he No. 8 end in Michigan's quest to repeat as
, 36-10 Big Ten champions.
ng, gave The No. 13 Gophers (11-1, 33-7)
ely said, are the top hitting team in the Big
Ten, with a .363 batting average go-
ing into this week.
But as the Atlanta Braves taught us
in last year's World Series, good pitch-
ing beats good hitting.
The Wolverines are second in the
conference to Iowa in pitching with a
1.45 team ERA. And Michigan coach
Carol Hutchins has said all year that
she has two top-notch pitchers, not a
1-2 punch.
But as Griffin pitched 18 of 23
e confer- innings over the weekend, it was ob-
were off vious who was king of the hill - or
weekend the mound in this case.
too.) "(Holmes) just needs to get her con-
riesver- fidence back, and this will help,"
rst-place Hutchins said yesterday. "She had
horizon, good command and her change-up
kinks out was very effective."
Holmes normally has two off-speed
ier Kelly pitches in her repertoire, but yester-
yester- day decided to use only one of them.
"We decided to just go with the
k. backhand change-up because it's more
s slump- consistently a strike," she said.
est stuff, The Purdue hitters usually laid off
the pitch, and when it was on, they
of Sara could do nothing but watch it fall into
ee starts, the strike zone. Most of the brave
s in five souls who tried to whack it were way
ahead of the pitch.
on track, Holmes also got a little help from
er seven her friends behind her. Michigan
run and played a perfect game in the field and
n. relaxed her on the mound by scoring
e fourth, early and scoring often. Her team gave
e singles her a 2-0 lead in the third and a 4-0
arkert. A lead in the fourth.
the run- By definition, it will take a few
another more games for Holmes to get her
Schoen. consistency back, but yesterday was
the third the necessary first step for Michigan
mis and to regain its two-ace pitching hand.
ja vu in- If the Wolverines play their cards
right, the pot of gold will be within
she got reach.
CHI PPEWAS
Continued from Page IA
hits and two walks in the victory.
Senior Mark Temple started for the
Wolverines and threw one perfect in-
ning. After him, a trio of freshmen
held the Chippewas in check. Luke
Bonner threw three innings, and Pete
Martay pitched one. Then Brian
Berryman took over, pitching four
innings to pick up his first career win.
The righthander walked none and
struck out one, while allowing just
one hit.
"I was real pleased with our pitch-
ing," Zahn said. "Those were fresh-
men keeping us in that game through-
out the whole time. Berryman threw
very well. He was tough at the end,
and that won the game for us."
Michigan's offense came entirely
from the middle of the lineup, as the
Nos. 3-7 hitters each notched one hit.
Derek Besco's triple was the only one
that went for extra bases, and Bryan
Besco collected two RBI to go with
his single.
The Wolverines won't take any time
off to relish the win: play host to
Eastern Michigan today. The Eagles,
coming off a 13-6 loss to Michigan
State yesterday, will visit Ann Arbor
for a 3 p.m. makeup. The game was
originally scheduled for March 20,
but was postponed because ofinclem-
ent weather.
i1 2R 1T1T
JOSH BIGGS/Daily
Michigan freshman Pete Martay threw one inning in relief yesterday. Other first-
year pitchers, Luke Bonner and Brian Berryman, saw action as well.
OlItAsioY11sf
PAogliciavl
PURDUE
Continued from Page UA
record to 22-5, surpassing her win total
from 1995.
Michigan coach Carol Hutchins
couldn't help but be pleased with her
team's opportunistic play.
"We played pretty much errorless
ball," she said. "I credit our defense and
our pitching (with the victory.)"
The win was a milestone for Wolver-
ine softball. The squad recorded the 600th
win in the program's 19-year history.
In the second game the Wolverines
came out watching instead of swinging.
Eight of the Wolverines' first nine
outs were on strikes and Hutchins told
her team to go after the ball.
"Early, we'd take two pitches and get
one cut," she said. "We started swing-
ing earlier in the count and, once we
started doing that, we scored."
And score they did. In the middle
innings, Michigan scored five runs to
break the game open.
The rallies were highlighted by two
hits by Griffin, who had been hitless in
the first game. She knocked in Conrad
with a double to the walk in the third
inning and singled in the fourth advanc-
ing Kellyn Tate to third base.
In between the Michigan's scoring
outbursts, Purdue pitcher Jenn Markert
was putting on a show of her own.
Markert struck out 11 Wolverines, sur-
passing the total of 10 by Sacramento
State in Michigan's opening game of
the season.
When the game was over, the
scoreboard read 6-1 in favor of the
Wolverines, and Kelly Holmes had her
first complete game in a week.
"Our pitchers did a nice job, giving
up one run in two games," Hutchins
said. "Once we get ahead, our defense
has to show up because the pressure is
on them."
The Wolverines improved their
record to 13-2 in Big Ten play and 36-
10 overall.
Appearing Soon At ..
The First Annual
Biursley .Street
Party
Tuesday, April 23rd 3-9pm
Front Lawn - Bursley Hall
...
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