I SPORTS michigandaily.com sportsdesk@umich.edu FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2002 8 k What a day for a ballgame 'M' primed and ready for opener By Kyle O'Neill Daily Sports Writer Michigan's softball team couldn't have asked for a tougher four-game stretch to open its Big Ten season - or for that mat- ter, its first four home games of the year. The 13th-ranked Wolverines (21-6) host Penn State (12-11) today at 0El A 3 p.m. in the ALUMNI FIELD first of a two- game, two-day Who:No.13Michigan (21.6) ges.Thewida vs. Penn State (12-11) and series. They will No.25 Ohio State (27-5) then play a dou- When: 3 p.m. today, 2 p.m. b 1 e h e a d e r tomorrow, and noon Sunday. against Ohio. Latest: Michiganjunior State (27-5) at Marissa Young was named Alumni Field on Big Ten Pitcher of the Week Sunday begin- thisweek. ning at noon. What makes these two matchups so diffi- cult can be seen from last year's results. In Michigan's final game against the Nittany Lions and in its only two games against Ohio State, the Wolverines were 3-0, but won all three games by a total ofjust four runs. "The entire Big Ten is really good this year, everyone is pretty even," Michigan assistant coach Jennifer Brundage said. "Every Big Ten gane is going to be a tough battle. And it's just going to be who gets the clutch hits at the right times and whose defense really comes through." Penn State, which has had to rely on its pitching a great deal this season, looks to have its best chance to get its second win in school history over the Wolverines, who have won 31 of the 32 contests ever played between the schools. Penn State is led by its pitching staff, which has performed much better than the individual records show. The Nittany Lions' Marisa Hanson is just 6-4 but has an ERA of 0.45 with 51 strikeouts. Tina Skelly is 0- 5 but has allowed just three more runs than Hanson has. Penn State has not been able to Hawkeyes' visit allows Blue to forget about early woes FILE PHOTO Michigan junior Melinda Moulden and the Wolverines will need their best performance to knock off the surging Buckeyes in a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon. By Charles Paradis Daily Sports Writer The Michigan baseball team (3-12) has the chance to put its poor beginning of the season behind it when it hosts Iowa (6-8) in its Big Ten opener this afternoon at 3 p.m. The Wolverines need to forget about the start FISHER STADIUM of their season and Who:Michigan(3-12)vs. focus in on the confer- Iowa(6-8) ence schedule ahead. when: 3p.m. today,1p.m. It's what happens in the trThe2 ovp.munday next few months that entertoday'sgameinlast will dictate the success place in the Big Ten in bat- - or failure - of the ting average, earned run Michigan squad. average and fielding per- "We have 32 (confer- centage. ence) games, and these are the games that our season hinges on," inter- im coach Chris Harrison said. "It doesn't matter if we come into these games at 15-0 or 0-15. We're at the same spot with regards to the Big Ten season. Everybody's 0-0." While the Big Ten teams may have equal records right now, statistically they are not equal, and Michigan is at the bottom of most of the important categories. It owns the worst ERA (7.01) and the worst batting average in the Big Ten at .259. The Wolverines have a lot to improve upon if they want to claim equality with the other teams in the Big Ten. They can take great strides in doing so by downing the Hawkeyes this weekend. Senior captain Bobby Korecky (1-2, 7.28 ERA) will take the mound this afternoon. The Wolverines' ace has faced Iowa three times in his career, w'inning two of the contests in com- plete games. Korecky has already completed two games this season including one shutout. He is the only Wolverine to accomplish either feat this season. Michigan faces a potentially dangerous oppo- nent in Iowa this weekend. While the Hawkeyes have not been at the top of the Big Ten in recent years, Harrison still respects the threat that Iowa brings to The Fish. "They've always been a tough team," Harri- son said. "We've had good games against j dl score runs, as its batting average of .267 and its 85 runs are about 30 points and 40 runs less, respectively, than what Michigan has produced offensively. If Penn State is to win, it will need all the help it can get to stop Michigan from scoring, as it is unlike- ly the Nittany Lions will have much success against Michigan's aces, Marissa Young and Nicole Motycka. The two hurlers have combined to hold opponents to just a .187 batting average this season. "We're working on being aggressive but also making sure that we're hitting good, hittable pitches," Brundage said. "Hopeful- ly, what we've been working on in practice will carry over into the games. Both teams have some good pitchers with some very impressive statistics." No. 25 Ohio State, unlike the Nittany Lions, has had production from all aspects of its lineup this year, and propelled itself into the top 25 this week for the first time all season. The Buckeyes also return the core of last year's lineup in pitcher Katie Chain, catcher Stacy Roth and pitcher/first baseman Wendy Allen - all of whom have earned Big Ten Player or Pitcher of the Week honors in the past two weeks. Ohio State also comes in with wins in 18 of its past 20 games and has already set the school record for home runs with 31 before the halfway mark of the season. The Wolverines can have a little sigh of relief as Alumni Field's fences in right and left field are 10 feet deeper than those at Ohio State's Buckeye Field. Brundage said that she only expects the Wolverines' pitching staff to do what it's done all season to prevent an offensive explosion by Ohio State. "We just want them to hit their spots, mix up their pitches and keep the teams off bal- ance by changing speeds," Brundage said. "For Nicole, we're expecting her to make them hit the ball on the ground, and Maris- sa will make people swing and miss." DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily Michigan pitcher Tim Leveque has struggled out of the gate with an ERA of 8.25 In 12 innings. of work. them, since I've been here. The games have all been tight." The Hawkeyes will bring some power into the series that should provide for some exciting games. . "They've got some guys who can swing the bat," Harrison said. "They have some pop in the middle of their order, and usually they have pitched pretty well. Especially the first two games of the series, I look to be real tight close games. That's been the history of it." With four games this weekend against Iowa, Michigan could come away with three or four wins to start out conference play. But like all coaches, Harrison is just taking the season one game at a time and trying to improve every game. "Let's take Friday's game first," Harrison said. "We're hoping to play well and win the game on Friday." 6 Icers' success begins behind the scenes State edges netters by taking last match Vaughn returns to lineup, replaces Duprez By Seth Klempner Daily Sports Writer A coach's daily schedule in the post- season starts in the wee hours of the morning and finishes well into the night. In between exclusive interviews with ESPN and the local media, and conference calls with the NCAA, just about everyone is pulling him in a dif- ferent direction. And he still needs to find time to coach the team. Luckily for Michigan coach Red Berenson, he has one of the best staffs in college hockey with more than 25 years experience and 14 Frozen Four appearances between his two assistants - Mel Pearson and Billy Powers. He also has a complete staff to breakdown and disect a season's worth of game film for Michigan's three possible opponents next weekend. "Obviously, we are building up for this all year," Berenson said. "We have been taping teams off the (satellite) dish for months. We probably have more tapes of Minnesota than we do of Michigan. "As a head coach, I have a lot of confidence and trust in our staff and know they take a personal pride in doing a good job." Berenson said that his coaching staff has a plan for who will handle what video responsibilities before the week begins, so that the work is evenly dis- tributed. Aiding Berenson and his staff is the modern availability of satellite dish networks, which broadcast college hockey games. These networks allow Michigan to readily scout and collect game film of opposing teams well in advance of a game. Prior to this telecommunications tool, the staff would have had to request a game tape from an oppo- nent's opponent, which would likely be several months old. Now, the Wolver- ines are able to watch film of the last time their opponent played before every game. But Berenson warns that tapes are not the end all, rather they are used to make Michigan more aware of its opponent's tendencies. "(Tapes) are done just so there are no surprises, but they will throw (in) some wrinkles in our game, and we may do the same," Berenson said. With a season's worth of videotape to go through, Berenson has adminis- trative assistant Brian Wiseman and video coordinator Ryan Rezmierski working overtime analyzing game film. Both came to Michigan three years ago and are familiar with the coaching staff. The day before each game, Wise- man, who played for Michigan from By Brian Schick Daily Sports Writer DANNY MOLOSHOK/Daily Michigan coach Red Berenson has coached his Wolverines to the CCHA regular season and tournament championships, as well as a trip to the Frozen Four. 1991-94, and Rezmierski prepare a tape for the team to view that typically showcases tendencies on a breakaway or a forecheck. At the same time, they make an effort to inform the Wolver- ines of players that must be keyed on. "We will show clips of individuals if we see that they are doing some special things out there, and we want our play- ers to really pay attention," Wiseman said. "We single (out) guys like (Min- nesota defenseman Jordan) Leopold (a Hobey Baker Award finalist) to let our players know that he is an offensive threat and tries to jump into a play whenever he can but is still a great defensive defenseman." This scouting has already paid off for the Wolverines this postseason. The staff noticed that Denver goaltender Wade Dubielewicz liked to go down when a shooter came in close. That piece of insight allowed freshman Eric Werner to shoot high when he received a feed from junior Mike Cammalleri in tight for the game-tying goal. "I think it is a great advantage that a program like Michigan has over some other programs that don't have the resources to bring in outside help to do some of the work," Wiseman said. "Normally, a lot of the burden would fall on the coaches themselves. It allows them to focus throughout the year on other things like recruiting and practice schedules or traveling" CoFFEE TALK: Berenson will be avail- able to talk with fans live on ESPN.com today at 1 p.m about Michi- gan's upcoming trip to the Frozen Four. EAST LANSING - If there was ever a doubt whether the Michigan and Michigan State women's tennis teams were equal, those doubts were put to rest last night. In a match that lasted more than four and a half hours, Michigan (1-4 Big Ten, 7-7 overall) dropped a heavily contested contest, 4-3, at the Michigan State University Tennis Facility. The match was tied 3-3 as the No. 1 singles match between Michigan sophomore Kavitha Tipirneni and Michigan State's Dora Vastag went into a third set. Vastag won the first set 7-6, but Tipirneni fought back and won the second 7-5, leading most of the way. The third set was back and forth the entire way, often with several rallies lasting more than a minute. In the end, Vastag had more energy and stamina, pulling out the 6-3 victory to secure the meet for Michigan State (2-3, 10-7). "Hats off to State," Michigan coach Bitsy Ritt said of the loss, her first to Michigan State in 14 sea- sons. "They stepped it up and played well when it counted. They out- played us in the close matches." The Spartans kept pace with the Wolverines throughout the meet. What led up to this final showdown of No. 1 players was a dramatic comeback at No. 4 singles and two other matches that went to three sets. Sophomore Kim Plaushines, in her second singles match since Janu- ary, blew by her opponent 6-3, 6-1. Plaushines returned to action as a result of junior Jen Duprez sitting out the match due to a hip injury. Another Wolverine seeing more playing time as a result of Duprez's injury was senior Jen Vaughn, who played in her second match of the season. Vaughn has been plagued with a hip injury for most of the sea- son, but she got her chance when paired with Plaushines at No. 2 dou- bles. Their match was called while being down 6-5 in the interest of time, as Michigan had already sealed the doubles point with two victories. Nevertheless, Vaughn was happy to be back in action. "It's really exciting and makes me feel like the hard work has paid off," Vaughn said. "It was hard to think that I would get to this point, because it was going on for so long. "On the other hand, I'm disap- pointed that the reason I can play is because of Jen (Duprez's) injury. It's See SPARTANS, Page 9 NNW I 40 The Balcony By Jean Genet Directed by Mbala Nkanga A controversial portrait ofpower and sex set in a brothel. March28-30&Aoril4-6at8pm The Michigan Daily Disp playTeam Q ' L, low r. mis =*-1. wi