The Michigan Daily - Thursday, April 17, 1997 - 11A ~M' softball lacking that killer instinct DeGraw, Haro head to Nationals By John Friedberg Daily Sports Writer '.Many call it killer instinct. Others call i garing down in the clutch. Currently, SMichigan softball team is struggling to bring runners home from scoring position. Yesterday's second game was a good news-bad news situation for the Wolverines at the plate. The good news: Michigan's leadoff hitters reached base in five-straight innings. Eleven hitters reached base against ntr a I nhigan starter Anne Foster. The bad news: Michigan batters stranded _ runners at third in all five innings in a 5-3 loss to Central. "In my opinion, you have to swing at a good pitch and, you know, make good contact," Michigan coach Carol Ochins said. "You (as a hitter) are always supposed to focus on hitting the ball hard." In total, Michigan stranded 10 runners in the second game. Twice, Michigan hitters came to the plate with the bases loaded. Twice, Michigan failed to capi- talize. In the second inning, catcher Jen McKittrick came up with three Wolverines on base and one out. After p ing the count to 3-1, McKittrick hit a easy grounder to Central's third base- man Dawn Thompson. Thompson started ab inning-ending five-two-three double play to extinguish the Michigan threat. The Wolverines tallied two runs in the bottom of the third inning, but the dam- age could have been much greater. Traci Conrad was caught in a run- down between third and home. After Melissa Gentile and Lisa Kelley singled, the bases were loaded for Jessica Lang. Instead of applying the knockout punch to Foster and ending the inning with a bang, Lang hit a roller to Thompson who threw her out at first to end the threat. "They knew what their focus was sup- posed to be, making solid contact," Hutchins said. "In my opinion, they just didn't get it done, and when you don't get it done, you lose.' Unfortunately for the Wolverines, hit- ting was not the only area where they failed to finish off Central. Freshman pitcher Jamie Gillies did a fine job of getting the first two outs of innings, but the third was much tougher. Gillies allowed Thompson to knock in the second run of the game with a two- out single. That was just the start. Gillies allowed four of her five runs with two outs in her four innings. "With two strikes and two outs, (Gillies) has got to be able to shut the door to an inning," Hutchins said. "When she gets that done, she'll be a better pitcher." This is not to say that the doublehead- er was without its positives for the Wolverines. Michigan's defense was outstanding. The Wolverines had their first error-free doubleheader since March 29 against Wisconsin. It was the Michigan defense and the pitching of senior Kelly Holmes that kept the day from being a total wash for the Wolverines. Holmes continued to sparkle as she did not allow a run to score in her 10 innings yesterday. Holmes has now pitched in the By Sara Rontat Daily Sports Writer - One meet, two individuals. The meet is the NCAA men's gym- nastics championships in Iowa City. The individuals are Michigan's Jose "La Lo" Haro and Timothy DeGraw. They will try to make the finals in a com- petition, touting the best gymnastics tal- ent in the nation, including an Olympian. The NCAAs promise enough excite- ment to make even the laziest person do flips. And flips are what the competitors are going to have to land if they want to be champions. Although he sustained an ankle injury midway through the season, DeGraw, junior transfer, hopes that the pressure of the biggest meet of the season won't get in the way of completing his floor exer- cise. He is the third-ranked individual on the floor, qualifying with a score of 9.65. Michigan coach Kurt Golder sees the nationals as a chance for DeGraw to improve. "I think he could become an All- American,' Golder said. "He needs to work on his strength skills and dismount. If he can hit, with those improvements, he should be an All-American." Still, competing against the best talent in the country isn't easy. Golder hopes DeGraw can hold his own. "Once you get into the finals, it's any- one's game," Golder said. "Tim has had good practices all week, and (Monday) he had the best routine I have ever seen him do." Unfortunately, his ankle injury may slow him down a bit. "He has a 10 start value for his floor exercise, which is the highest, but he can't do all of the difficulty possible because of his ankle;' Golder said. It doesn't, however, seem that the injury has slowed him down completely, DeGraw placed fifth in the regional meet in the floor two weeks ago, and his third-place ranking is his highest since' the injury. All that suggests that DeGraw has the capabilities to finish strong today. DeGraw's teammate, Haro, is the other Wolverine who qualified for the national championships. Haro had a solid regional meet, plac- ing third in the all-around, ahead of Olympian Blaine Wilson of Ohio State. In the regional, Haro also placed third on the parallel bars and tied DeGraw for fifth in the floor exercise. Entering today's meet, Haro is theNo. 1 seed in the all-around. In fact, Haro has previously beaten three of the top four competitors in the all-around The fourth still remains to be beaten., Ohio State's Drew Durbin. He is a senior on the top-ranked Buckeyes. "Drew has the reputation of a senior," Golder said. "He is surrounded with a good team, which always helps. "The meet all depends on who has the best day." Haro, a 22-year old freshman from Mexico, is adding the necessary disci- pline and athletic performance that this struggling Michigan team needs. "(Haro) looked real good in practice, considering he has exams and gets his work done beforehand," Golder said. With two weeks between regionals and nationals, Haro has had the rest and practice time necessary to perform well. "He doesn't need time now," Golder said. "He needs the right focus and prop- er mindset to have a good meet.' .- 5L J . ... ~ . MARKFRIEDMAN/Daily Kelly Holmes has been a positive for the Michigan softball team lately. Yesterday against Central Michigan, she did not allow a run in her 10 innings on the mound. last dozen games for Michigan. "I think Holmes did a great job;' Hutchins said. "And she'll be rested for two days." But if Michigan is to return to the top of the Big Ten standings, it must improve on its 2-for-13 performance with runners in scoring position in the second game. Michigan also struggled to deliver clutch hits in the first game as hitters left three runners in scoring position. If Holmes had not pitched a magnificent three-hit shutout, Michigan would be staring at a two-game losing streak. Instead, the Wolverines have a simple goal: to come through in the clutch. sitting fru By Tracy Sandier Daily Sports Writer KALAMAZOO - When a base- ball player is experiencing a slump, he often tries to overcompensate. All of a sudden, he's tense at the plate. He might take a pitch that he would normally hit, cause he's ner- vous, or he might 1 e 4 swing at a terrible pitch, because he's ) desperate. Iistead of work- _ ing his way out of the slump by doing what comes natu- rally, he tries to force his way out. The aforementioned scenario sms to be the current problem with Michigan baseball team. Until recently, hitting has not been the stration grij Wolverines' main area of weakness this season. "We're frustrated, because we know that the score should be the other way," Michigan coach Geoff Zahn said. "We should be hitting the ball, and we should be pitching better and doing things right. We didn't do them the last two days, and that's frustrat- ing." In the past two games, Michigan has manufactured four runs on eight hits, shaking the confidence of the Wolverines' lineup. That lineup will travel to Bloomington this weekend to face the Hoosiers and to try to maintain a first-place ranking in the Big Ten. After Tuesday's loss, Zahn talked to the team about the importance of keeping focused, a theme which need- ed to be reiterated after yesterday's Michigan baseball game in Kalamazoo. "Coach Zahn touched on it today" third baseman Mike Cervenak said. "He thinks we're trying too hard. We're getting up there; we're tight; we're tense. "We're just not being confident in our abilities and just letting every- thing flow. 1 think that's the biggest problem right now." Adding to Michigan's worries is its record in mid-week, non-conference games. The Wolverines are 2-5, after loss- es this week to Bowling Green, 16-3, and Western Michigan, 7-1, respec- tively. Although the Wolverines are sitting atop the Big Ten with an 11-3 confer- ence record, their performance during the week is a cause for concern. "They are frustrated about their mid-week record," Zahn said. "We just talked about the difference between trying too hard and playing hard. Trying hard is someone who tries to do something they can't do, they lose their focus, and they get frustrated. Guys who play hard knows how they did the things right, and they concentrate, they stay relaxed and they go ahead and do them. "We just have to regroup, stay together and remember that we're 11- 3 in the Big Ten. Things could be a whole lot worse. We're going through a tough time right now, and we'll see how we battle out of it." DOUBLE-TROUBLE: First baseman Bryan Besco is one double away from tying the Michigan record. He has 18. Besco produced the Wolverines' only run yesterday, hitting a seventh- inning homer. SHORT STOP AT FIRST: Western Michigan designated hitter Bill Chepulis grounded out six-three in three of his four at bats. He did have an RBI, but he struck out in his last time at the plate. Yesterday's game MICHIGAN Player AB Cervenak 3b 3 Scales dh 4 AlcarazlIf 41 0. Besco If 4 B. Besco lb 4: Kalczynski ss 41 Beermann 2b 41 Kalahar c 2t Buch cf 21 Berryman p 01 Kelley p 01 Wozniak p 0 Hribernik 0 Totals 31: Michigan Western Michigan Michigan Berryman L, 2-3 Kelley Wozniak Hribernik Western Michigan Stewart W, 26 Busch Blomshield IR 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 H tI 00 10 10 00 S1 00 1 0 00 00 00 00 00 00 WESTERN MICHIGAN Player AB RH Sachs3b 5 1 Devissercf 3 1C Holyszke 2b 1 0C Gundrun rf 5 0 Chepulis dh 3 32 Shelley ss 5 11 Tocco lb 0 0 Seestadt c 4 2 L'schwgr ph/c 2 0C Hayerf 4 12 Stewart p 0 0 Bucshp 00 Blomnshield p 0 0C H BI 2 1 0 0 0 0 00 2 2 1 2 0 0 3 2 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 00 C C G i M i 141 Totals 34 7117 1 IIP 4 1 2 1 5 3 1 000 000 100--7 300 310 OOx-1 H R ER 85 SO 74 2 2 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 002 5 0 000 1 0 10 0 150 A DV E R T I S E M E N T UNIVE SITY OF MIHIGA V-VARSITY C=CLUB IWINTRAMURAL [END 19 MEN'S BASEBALLN AT INDIANA, 3:00 PM MEN'S OUTDOOR TRACK/V AT KANSAS RELAYS LAWRENCE, KS MEN'S GOLFN/ AT LEGENDS OF INDIANA FRANKLIN, IN MEN'S BASEBALL/V AT INDIANA, 1:00 PM WOMEN'S TENNISN VS. PENN STATE VARSITY TENNIS CPLX, 10 AM MEN'S TENNISN VS. NORTHWESTERN VARSITY TENNIS CPLX, 1 PM WOMEN'S SOFTBALL/V VS. MINNESOTA ALUMNI FIELD, 1:00 PM W/OUDOOR TRACK/V AT MICHIGAN STATE INVIT. MEN'S OUTDOOR TRACK/V AT KANSAS RELAYS LAWRENCE, KS MEN'S GOLFN AT LEGENDS OF INDIANA FRANKLIN, IN WOMEN'S CREWN/ AT IOWA DUEL 20 MEN'S BASEBALL/V AT INDIANA, 1:00 PM MEN'S TENNIS/V VS. WISCONSIN VARSITY TENNIS CPLX, 1 PM WOMEN'S SOFTBALLN VS. MINNESOTA ALUMNI FIELD, 1 PM BROOMBALL/I PLAYOFFS, YOST MINI-SOCCERN PLAYOFFS, COLISEUM LET YOUR NIKE STUDENT REP KNOW THE TIME AND LOCATION OF YOUR EVENTS. REACH HER AT JEN.LINDER@NIKE.COM MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily The Wolverines weren't celebrating yesterday, after failing to Westem Michigan, 7-1. r aIi EF I N D Y o UR S E L F Israely 4. '"_. $ABOVE AV ZAF PAY *CONCSION SALES COMMISSION *AL B NMFIT *RE.TRM TPLAN (R0OW $1=0flN $$$ FOR COLI"S( *TRAININ IMIONEY HANDLING, CAST & CImW VMOPP AGOCOT f PPS STAR ThEATRES It ____ ____ _ iIt