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MAJOR LEAGUE
BASEBALL
Chi. White Sox 8,
BALTIMORE 2
FLORIDA 12,
Philadelphia 4
Milwaukee 5,
MONTREAL 3 (14 inn.)
Chi. Cubs 8,
NY METS 4
ST. LOUIS 5,
Arizona 4
Arizona 8,
ST. LOUIS 2
Los Angeles 4,
COLORADO 3
NHL
HOCKEY
Pittsburgh 3,
CAROLINA 1
Montreal 2,
OTTAWA 0
Philadelphia 7,
FLORIDA 3
NY ISLANDERS 4,
Tampa Bay 0
COLORADO 3,
San Jose 1
New Jersey at
CHICAGO, inc.
2e £kIMian J dl
The Student Athletic Advisory Council will hold a car
wash from 12-6 p.m. this Sunday in the Yost Ice Aren4
parking lot. Donations will go toward a scholarship 4
fund established in memory of Jefferey Reese, the
Michigan wrestler who passed away in December.
Friday
April 17, 1998 10
Highs and lows for Michigan gymnasts at nationals
Lrn? A+1t ,= all,1 A n + Balance beam miscue ends NCAA title hopes
By Nita Srivastava
and Vaughn R. Kug
Daily Sports Wtriters
LOS ANGELES - One slip was all it took to
crush the hopes of advancement for the Michigan
women's gymnastics team and the NCAA champi-
onship at UCL Es Pauley Pavilion.
The downfall for the Wolverines was the balance
beam, where a 47.725 marked the round's worst
score for the event.
Despite the dramatic improvement by Michigan'A
in the last three events, the Wolverines will not be
represented at the Super 6' for the first time in five
years. This unforeseen reality was hard for
Michigan to grasp. They failed to advance by a
heartbreaking margin -- 0.25 points.
"It is hard to believe we won't be competing
tomorrow," Michigan coach Bev Plocki said. "I
cannot believe our season is over"
Failing to place a gymnast in the top 20 on the
balance beam, Michigan saw its top score, a 9.750,
mustered by sophomore Sarah Cain.
Fighting for survival after the disaster on the
beam, the Wolverines showed vast improvement on
their next two events. They finished third on the
floor exercise, and displayed a second-place perfor-
mance on the vault.
"I was extremely proud of the way they never
gave up," Plocki said. "After haying a horrible bal-
ance beam score, we could have just packed it in.
But they showed why they have been successful all
year.
Junior Nikki Peters was key in Michigan's turn-
around effort with a first-place score on the uneve
bars, tallying a 9.950.
Michigan's Heather Kabnick, Cain and Peters
had strong performances in the competition, thus
the all-star trio will advance to the individual event
finals tomorrow evening - making each one an
All-American.
"They performed just as I expected them to,"
Plocki said. "They have competed at this type of
competition on many occasions and are mentally
focused on the situation."
Kabnick will compete in floor exercise and vauh
while Peters and Cain will try their luck on uneven
bars and floor exercise, respectively. After a notable
turnaround, the Wolverines headed into their final
event, the uneven bars, with an ultimatum upon
which the fate of the 1998 season hinged --- score a
49.425 or become a spectator at the 'Super 6.'
Michigan responded with the second-highest
score on th uneven bars in NCAA championship
history, but a 49.400 wasn't enough.
JOHN KRAFT/Daly
The Michigan women's gymnastics team failed to qualify for the NCAA
Tournament's 'Super 6' yesterday in Los Angeles for the first time in five years.
'M' softball loses no-hit bid,
sweeps Western Michigan
jy Uma Subramanlan
Daily Sports Writer
While both of yesterday's softball
games ended by the mercy rule, in the
innings that were played, the Michigan
softball team showed no mercy. The
Wolverines solidly whipped Western
Michigan, 10-0 in the first game and 9-1
in the second.
It was a day when everything clicked
for Michigan and everything went sour
for the hapless Broncos. Both teams
were coming oft conference losses and
1iooking for a win. But for the Wolverines
( 12-1 Big Ten, 37-4 overall) the errors
that plagued them against Michigan
State were nonexistent. T'he Broncos (7-
7 MAC, 13-15 overall) learned that
errors are unacceptable against the No. 2
team in the nation.
Western Michigan committed two
crucial errors that led to six unearned
runs for the Wolverines. In game two of
the doubleheader, two errors by Western
Michigan shortstop Jodi White led to
two Michigan scores by Sara Griffin -
the NCFA National Player of the
Week- and Traci Conrad.
In the first game, an error by the
Broncos' first baseman, Chassity
Lowder, allowed Lisa Kelley to reach
base. Kelley scored, leading off
Michigan's offensive explosion that saw
23 hits in the two games.
"Our offense was on," Michigan
coach Carol Hutchins said. "But, you
just can't let a team like us jump on the
ball like we did because we're tough to
keep down anyway. They basically
opened up a door for us."
Once again driving the offense was
catcher Melissa Gentile, who hit her
13th career home run (seventh of the
season). Gentile now leads the all-time
career and single-season home run lists.
Yesterday's doubleheader was a
chance for Michigan to regain its charac-
teristic confidence after Tuesday's loss.
"I was hoping we'd come out and play
with confidence, IHutchins said. "'to
play with confidence is just as important
as playing well. We could certainly have
lost our confidence, and we didn't.
That's the mark of a good team."
As well as being important for team
morale, the victories were important ftor
Michigan's younger pitching duo of
Jamie Gillies and Marie Barda to get
some practice on friendlier turf.
For Barda, the second game of the
doubleheader her first time in the
pitching circle at Alumni field was an
impressive performance. Pitching a
complete game, l3arda gave up just three
hits and one run. She carried a no-hitter
through four innings and also recorded a
career high five strikeouts.
"I just wanted to start pitching again,"
Barda said. "It was kind of like my
debut, so it was really exciting. It was
important for us to win these games so
we can get back in the groove,"
'Ihe games also allowed several sel-
dom-used players to shine. In the first
game, sophomore Lisa Beard pinch hit
for Big 'en player of the week Cathy
Davie and got her first hit as a
Wolverine. Beard hit an RBI double,
scoring the final run of the game. She
then garnered her second career RBI in
game two with a sacrifice fly that scored
Conrad.
The Wolverines hope to ride the
momentum of these victories into the
I 1-game Big'len stretch.
"We realize that everyone is coming
out to beat us,' Conrad said. "It was
important to come out and make a state-
ment that one loss doesn't ruin our sea-
son.
PAUL TALANIAN/Dail
Michigan first baseman Traci Conrad made several crucial defensive stops in Michigan's doubleheader against Western
Michigan. The games were important moral victories for the Wolverines, who were coming off a tough loss to Michigan State
on Tuesday.
I I
Tennis falls to Irish
1 -
Let us
ship your
mail parts!
(oh yeah, and everything else too!)
By Mark Francescutti
and Stephanie Offen
Daily Sports Writers
It would be an understatement to say
the Michigan men's tennis team was
frustrated against Notre Dame yesterday.
John Long slammed his racket on the
ground, Matt Wright yelled as loud as he
could and Arvid Swan was speechless.
The objective was supposed to be
easy - win the doubles point. After all,
Notre Dame had lost its past two match-
es after losing the crucial point.
Yesterday, the Wolverines did just that,
taking a 1-0 advantage. But in the tight
singles matches that could have gone
either way, the close points didn't fall to
Michigan's side of the court and the
Wolverines fell to Notre Dame, 5-2 at
the Varsity Tennis Center.
Michigan "has been pretty much
steamrolling people lately," Notre Dame
coach Bobby Bayliss said. "I have to
give them a lot of credit - we have won
the doubles point in about 90 percent of
our matches."
Notre Dame (15-6) and Michigan (6-
0 Big Ten, 11-4 overall) are ranked 3rd
and 4th, respectively, in their region. The
teams mirrored each other throughout
the match, trading wins at the beginning
of the singles play.
Michigan senior Dave Paradzik was-
n't able to hold up against last year's ITA
regional rookie of the year, Ryan
Sachire, losing 2-6, 2-6.
Michigan senior Brook Blain contu*
ued his comeback with a solid 6-4, 6-4
win over Matt Horsley.
Junior Will Farah, Swan and Long
came close in their matches, but Notre
Dame crept away with all three victories.
"It's such a fine line, everyone's with-
in two percent of each other, so it comes
down to execution and game plan. And I
think they just they did that better on the
bigger points," Long said.
With Notre Dame already capturinb
the win at 4-2, Wright's play deteriorated
in his match and a 4-4 tie turned into a 6-
4 third set loss.
"I'd take our team any other time
against them," Long said. "I'd take our
team against any team in this regioli
when it's on the line."
Michigan coach Brian Eisner thought
this could be a wake-up call for his team,
which has struggled in close matches
against quality teams such as Notfl
Dame.
"They had more left in crunch time
then we did," Eisner said. "We didn't
play the kind of tennis we can and have
been playing."
Bayliss said he was extremely relieved
that his team earned the victory and
thought the match could have been won
by either team.
"It could have easily been 5-;
Michigan," Bayliss said. "They're figh
ing as hard as any team in this part of the
country."
Think ahead!.
FESTIFALL 1996~
We at Student Activities & Leadership (SAL) are
already thinking ahead to the 1998 Fall semester.
Friday, September 11, 1998 hundreds of organizations
will converge on the Diag for Michigan's biggest
student organization festival. Registration begins now!
Who's invited? Any campus organization or
university department.
DANA LINNANE/Daily
Senior David Paradzik and the rest of the Michigan men's tennis team couldn't
outlast Notre Dame yesterday. The 5-2 final score didn't tell the whole story, as
five of the six singles matches went down to the wire.
1998 Law Schoof Prep Program
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
If you have been accepted to law school..
this program is for you!
You have spent thousands of dollars on college. You are about to
spend thousands more on law school. Make it count by attending
the 1998 Law School Prep Program. This program provides
first-year law school students with a competitive advantage in the
most competitive of professions.
Imagine the advantage of:
" attending a program based on materials and preparation
techniques utilized by the vast majority of law schools
" understanding the basic legal concepts involved in each
of those courses
Secod Canc. M coingsoon.