4B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - April 10, 2000 Wisconsin 2 Wolverines 1 Wolverines SI Minnesota 4 Wolverines 0 & Minnesota 0 1 I t f Team W L P 1. Iowa 4 0 1.0 2. Penn State 3 0 1.0 3. Michigan 6 1 .8[ 4. Northwestern 3 1 .75 5. Michigan St. 3 2 .6 6. Wisconsin 2 3 .4 7. Purdue 2 4 .3 8. Indiana 2 6 .2 8. Ohio St. I 2 .3 10. Minnesota G 7 .0 Yesterday's Big Ten resu N1 cHKAU 1-4, MsNNEoTA 0-1 P;RiLis.AT PI NN STATI, m > NCILLbd) (Tnrougnyeste Player Mack Kosanke Taylor Young Volpe Kollen Murdock Doe Moulden Eisner Lappo Gentile Tune Bugel Conner Garza Totals Opponents rdays Avg. .429 .396 .342 .326 .325 .293 .285 .273 .272 .250 .238 .223 .202 .167 .156 .154 .286 .165 games) AB R 7 96 111 101 83 116 7 11 99 4 21 85 89 6 32 70 928 936 6 17 25 11 17 23 0 0 15 0 2 9 4 10 6 11 156 46 H 3 38 38 33 27 34 2 3 27 1 5 19 18 1 5 12 266 155 (Through yesterday's games) Player ERA W-L IP H Barda .35 104106.0 52 Eiland 91 2-1 23.0 29 Young 1.31 10-171.1 38 Gillies 1.49 61 47.0 36 Totals .87 287247.1 155 Opponents 2.97 7-28239,1 266 MICHIGAN 1, MINNESOTAE MICHIGAN MINNESOTA Player -AB R H B1 Kollen, 2b 3 0 0 0 Taylor, rf 3 0 0 0 Volpe.dh 2 0 0 0 Young p 3 02 0 Mack.pr 0 0 00 Moulden. 1b 3 0 1 0 Kosanke. 3b 3 0 0 0 Gentile, c 1 0 0 0 Bugel.pr 0 1 0 0 Tune.ss 2 0 0 0 Garza, cf 2 0 1 0 Conner, if 0 0 0 0 Totals 221 4 0 Player 1 Hays. cf Roberts, rf Braden, lb Nygren, 2b Nichols. ss Hafemeyer.p Holden. If Ballard. dh Smith, c Fisk. 3b Recknor, p ct. Overall 00 24-7 )00 21-8 57 28&7 '50 12-15 00 25-14 00 24-16 33 23-20 50 11-24 33 17-15 00 22-19 rots itis HR RBI 88 0 2 1: 31 21 11 0 1 8: S2 28 8 '3 23 17 j 0 4 6 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 16 7j 0 1 0 0 3 1 4 19 10 0 10 1 0 1 0 '0 4 1 !1 8 2 12 143 74 6 39 57 ER BB SO 6 20 82 3 3 7 12 19 74E 10 13 22 30 57 185 99 76 1407 AB R H BI 3 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 2000 prO 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 2000 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 220 2 0 gan 7 R -none SH - B SO 9 4 an (1st), AB8RH8 3000 3 0 0 0 dh2000 3010 .prO 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 13000 2000 0000 0000 21121 sota 1. LOB- B - none HR - olden. Fisk SF BB SO 3 6 4 7 Wazur (1st ), 2 p.m. p.m. L5 ".m. 6 ".m. it 1 If turning on an offense was as easy as flipping a light switch, the Michigan softball team proba- bly would have done so earlier to cure its hitting woes. While the answer to Michigan's problems is obviously not so simple, the Wolverines made it seem that way with their performance in the sec- ond game of yesterday's doubleheader against Minnesota - Michigan's performances in the first and second games of the doubleheader were as different as light and dark. After struggling to a combined total of only four hits and one run over the first two games this weekend, Michigan turned it on for eight hits and four runs in the finale. And the differences were evident right from the first inning of yesterday's nightcap. The Wolverines loaded the bases with one out in the first inning, capitalizing on each way possible to put runners on base - walks, hits and errors. Michigan coach Carol Hutchins attributed the difference to the fact that Minnesota's starting pitcher, Angie Recknor, had also started the after- noon's first game. "We'd seen that pitcher and we got on her," Hutchins said. But when Wolverines leftfielder Melinda Moulden hit a sharp liner that was barely caught by Recknor, who proceeded to pick off right-field- ei Melissa Taylor at third base, it appeared to be business as usual for Michigan. Hutchins, however, took the disappointment in stride. "Moulden hit the ball well," she said. "That stuff happens." But early difficulties weren't going to stop the Wolverines' newfound offense. After the Gophers Offense finally turns on as Wolverines triumph 0 By Jon Schwartz Daily Sports Writer snuck a run home in the second, Michigan pitcher Marie Barda caught fire and Minnesota didn't get another hit for the remainder of the game. At the same time, Michigan's bats became a force to be reckoned with. With six hits over the next six innings, Michigan refused to let its early failure get in the way of putting runs on the board. The Wolverines chipped away at Recknor, E pitched a total of 14 innings by the end of the day. A run in the third, another run off of a Melissa Gentile homerun in the fourth and two more runs in the fifth gave the team something that it hadh't seen in quite some time - a comfortable lead. It all went back to Michigan's basic philosophy - whether hard or easy, pretty or ugly, just win. "I think our team just knows what we need to do to win ball games," freshman pitcher Marissa Young said. "We did what it took today." But for yesterday's improvements to become tomorrow's victories, the Wolverines need to build off of what they achieved. The season-long struggle to hit the ball will not vanish with one impressive performance. There are bigger problems, most of which are fixable. "Some of our hitters take too many pitches and think too much," Hutchins said. "We need to stop taking good pitches and swinging at bad ones." In a sense, it's mind over matter - the Wolverines clearly can hit the ball. They proved that yesterday. But the mental problems don't fix themselves with one good day, especially as the season wears on and the games become more important. In the meantime, the Wolverines just need to heed the word of Hutchins - they just need to relax. They need to keep up what they've been doing and keep putting runners on base, because the one- run victories won't last forever. DANNY KAUCK/ Daly Despite contributing solid defense throughout the season, Rebecca Tune has struggled at the plate. She went 0-4 on the weekend and brings to the plate an unintimidating .202 batting average. Bizarre streaks end for Wolverines Totals Don't judge a book by its cover E - Nichols (2). OP - none LOB - Michig Minnesota 4 28 - Moulden 38 - none H Holden. Tune SF - none IP H R ER B Michigan Young W(10-1) 7.0 2 0 0 2 Minnesota Recknor L(17-17) 6.0 4 1 .0 3 Umpires." Bryan Smith (Home), Kevin Rya Michael Mazur (3rd) At: Alumni Field Attendance: 256 Start: 1:10 Time: 1:48 Y d 0second_ MICHIGAN 4, MINNESOTA I MICHIGAN INDIANA Player AB R H BI Kollen, 2b 4 2 1 0 Taylor, rf 3 1 2 0 Volpe, dh 3 0 2 2 Young, 1b 2 0 0 0 Bugel, pr 0 0 0 0 Moulden. If 4 0 0 0 Kosanke, 3b 4 0 10 Gentile. c 2 1 1 1 Tuness 2 0 0 0 Murdock.ph 1 0 0 0 Garza. cf 3 01 0 Barda p 0000 Totals 2848 3 Player Hays, cf Roberts, rf Braden, 1/i Nygren, 2b Hafemeyer Nichols. ss Holden. If Ballard. dh/ Smith. c Towne, pr Recknor, p By Jon Schwartz Daily Sports Writer Lost in the success of the Michigan softball team this season has been some dubious achievements that it was finally able to kill over the weekend. Coming into their first games of the season at Alumni Field, the Wolverines were suffering through an l8-inning home scoreless SOFTBALL streak that was extended to 31 Notebook before the team finally sent a run- ner home in the fifth inning of the yesterday's first game. It was a stretch that included a four-game home losing streak which extended back through the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Regional last year, both of which were held at Alumni Field. Even though freshman Marissa Young did not experience the entire streak, even she realized that it's good to return the word "advantage" to the home field. "It's good to be back at home," she said. TALLYING THE SUCCESSES: While some poor streaks were coming to their much desired end over the weekend, the Wolverines were able to add some impressive numbers to their list of achievements. The two wins on Sunday added up to the team's 50th and 51st all-time victories over the Golden Gophers since 1983- against only 21 losses.. Only three Big Ten teams have lost more games to the Wolverines. Also, in yesterday's second game, the Wolverines won at home for the Team 1 Penn State 2 Michigan 3 Iowa 4 Michigan St. 5 Ohio State 6 Minnesota 7 Wisconsin 8 Purdue 9 N'Western 10 Indiana Avg. .303 .291 .290 .270 .262 .258 .257 .252 .247 .223 Hits RBI Sig % 218 96 .392 252 140 .385 241 104 .394 259 108 .362 188 109 .382 255 98 .345 265 128 .325 260 106 .340 177 66 .312 174 73 .287 For all the talk about Michigan's sometimes banal offense, the Wolverines have been surprisingly successful compared to the rest of the Big Ten. As of this weekend, Michigan boasted three of the top nine run producers in the confer- ence's RBI leaderboard. In addition, the Wolverines had the second-best bat- ting average of any Big Ten team (.291), trailing only Penn State. Totals E - Young, Nygren, Nichols DP - Minne Michigan 9. Minnesota 5 28 - none 38 Gentile SH - Taylor. Gentile. Nichols, H - none IP H R ER 8 Michigan Barda W (10.4) 7.0 2 1 1 3 Indiana Recknor L (17-18) 7.0 8 4 3 4 Umpires - Kevin Ryan (Home). Michael M Bryan Smith (3rd) At: Alumni Field Attendance: 278 Start: 3:30 Time: 2:08 Upcoming sche Tomorrow at Central Michigan (DH Friday, April 14 OHIO STATE (DH), 2 Saturday, April 1 PENN STATE, 2 p. Sunday, April 16 PENN STATE, 1 p 4.. i ... ; SOFTBALL Continued from Page 1B "It's hard because my muscles started getting tense and sore," Barda said. "I just tried to run back to the dugout and warm myself up as much as possible. "It was okay in the beginning, because when I'm pitching out there, I get warmed up. It's when I'm sitting on the bench for a long period of time that I get kind of cold." Yesterday's weather - which was by no means balmy - was still an improvement over the quagmire that engulfed Alumni Stadium on Friday afternoon. Although low wind chills nearly forced the cancellation of the double- header, the teams played on. Michigan responded in the opener with a dominant pitching perfor- mance courtesy of freshman Marissa Young, who pitched a complete- game, two-hit shutout. "I thought Marissa was really on," Hutchins said. "She was staying ahead of the batters, and I thought she pitched well." Player R81's 1 Nygren, Minnesota 32 2 Young; Michigan x 28 3 Phillips, Mich. St. 26 4 Bashor, Iowa 24 5 Crabtree, Purdue 22 5 Barth, Wisconsin 22 7 Kosanke, Michigan 21 7 Volpe, Michigan 21 9 Roth. Ohio State 20 10 2 tiedat19 Young's two-hitter was immediate- ly followed up by Barda's two-hi er in the second game. But, in spitf the great pitching, Michigan still struggled to come away with two vic- tories over the Golden Gophers. Again, the problems can be traced to the Wolverines' suspect offense. Even though Michigan currently sports a respectable .286 team batting average, the Wolverines have strug- gled to score consistently. Evidence of this can be found in Michigan's schedule, which has been littered with 1-0 and 2-1 games. 9 While these kinds of scores mright be exciting for the fans, the team would prefer to win more comfort- ably. But, in order to do so, Michigan simply has to find a way to get more people across the plate. "If we work more on our offense, we'll do just fine, Barda said. "I think that we need to be more focused when we're up to bat - just gip there swinging." "Our team knows what we need to do to win ballgames," Young added. "We're going to pick it up the rest of the season." DANNY KAICK/ Daily Marissa Young gets tied up with Minnesota thirdbaseman Allie Fisk during yester- day's doubleheader. The wins were Michigan's 50th and 51st all-time over 250th time in the 18 years since Alumni Field was built. Barring the possibility of Michigan hosting one or both post-season tournaments, the team could end the season with 260. NoT SO CLUTCH HITTING: Hitting in clutch situations has been at a pre- mium all season for the Wolverines. The troubles continued over the weekend as the team rarely came through with runners in scoring posi- tion. Of the 23 runners that the Wolverines left on base in the three game weekend, 17 of them were in scoring position, six of whom got as far as third base. While the team was able to capi- talize on their opportunities yester- day against Minnesota, making the most of their potential situations could certainly have helped them in Friday's 2-0 loss to the Badgers. The Michigan Daily softball writers' picks for the three stars of the weekend's games: Marissa Young, Fr., pitcher/first base Marie Barda, Jr., pitcher Melissa Gentile, Sr., catcher < Young's complete game victory and two hits led Michigan to a 1-0 victory over Minnesota yesterday. in 14 innings this weekend, Barda gave up only three runs, while striking out fifteen batters. Gentile's blast over the centerfield wall yesterday gave the Wolverines a lead they would not squander. I I Team 1 Michigan 2 Iowa 3 Wisconsin ERA .87 1.04 '.57 H 147 146 193 ER 28 33 60 Be so 48 160 41 195 69 251 "In,1 (Forty or more at bats) Player A' 1 Kosanke, Michigan .4 2 Bashor, Iowa .4 1 T.i.an. Pe nn.ate -G vg. 409 07 Atni Player 1 Nygren, Minnesota 2 Phillips, Mich. St. 3 Bashnr Iowa HR 10 10 8 .:. r __ . ; __ _ ., ,. _, I E } XH. i