Thursday
April 15, 2004
sports.michigandaily.corn
sports@michigandaily. corn
OReTStidmin awat
LOA
- ---------- -- -
Eastern
has no
answer
for Blue
By Jamie Josephson
Daily Sports Writer
YPSILANTI - With the bases
loaded in the second inning, Michigan
softball senior Jennifer Olds would not
let Eastern Michigan off easy. Facing
two outs early in the second game of
yesterday's doubleheader in Ypsilanti,
Olds drove a pitch
to deep right-center
field. E
Olds was tagged
out trying to stretch
her hit to a triple,
but not before three
Wolverines crossed the plate to give No.
9 Michigan an early 4-0 lead.
Michigan's defense took over after
this offensive spark, as the Wolverines
went on to win 5-0. The Wolverines
took the first game of the doubleheader
by the same 5-0 count, and Michigan
used a familiar formula of nearly-flaw-
less defense and early run production to
extend its current winning streak to 18
games in the second contest.
"I think some of the kids are pressing,
and some of them are playing with a lot
of confidence," Michigan coach Carol
Hutchins said. "I told them that going
into the weekend, we just want to work
on getting better every day ... just to
execute and stay sharp."
The Wolverines wasted little time
getting on the scoreboard in the sec-
ond game. After junior slugger Jessi-
ca Merchant was intentionally
walked, junior Nicole Motycka
ripped an RBI single in the first
inning with the bases loaded. In the
fifth inning, Merchant got her
revenge on a pitch she hit to deep
right field, which was good enough
See EAGLES, Page 12A
Meet the Mets ... and
to hell with the Yanks
TREVOR CAMPBELL/Daily
Michigan senior center fielder Meghan Doe bats during the Wolverines' win over Eastern Michigan yesterday. Doe garnered a
hit during Michigan's 5-0 victory.
'M'pitchers move
shutout run to.5
By Ian Herbert
Daily Sports Writer
DAN ROSEN
Days of Thunder
nstead of trying to sum up four
years of college in one sitting, I
thought I'd do something a little
bit different for my final column. I
only have about 750 words left with
this paper to get my two cents into
print. So what I'm going to do
instead is write this last piece Gold-
en Apple-style.
This is my ideal final column -
the one argument about sports that I
think trumps them all. For a tragi-
cally Mets-obsessed New Yorker,
that can only be one thing: The Evil
Empire.
Come on, I had to do it. I've been
itching to rip through some Yan-
kees' pinstripes since, well, as long
as I can remember.
What's not to hate? Their fans are
arrogant. Their players are ... well
they're damn good. But, for crying
out loud, they paid Roger Clemens.
A team deserves to be torn apart
just for that.
It's not that the Yankees break
the rules. They play, or should I
say pay, straight by the book - as
my roommate Mike has always
made sure to tell me since he
decided to root for them. That
doesn't mean that I, or anyone,
should support the Yankees,
though.
Believe it or not, I pity those that
do. They have less fun.
I can remember talking to all my
Yankee-fan friends a few months
into my freshman year here, when
my beloved Mets made a Herculean
run all the way to the World Series
and lost to that team in pinstripes.
It was a great October that I'll
probably remember for the rest of
my life. I still wake up screaming
about Benny "The Hawaiian Punch"
Agbayani (who I insist bears a stun-
ning resemblance to the smiling,
red cartoon Kool-Aid pitcher guy)
burying a 13th-inning home run
into the bleachers at Shea Stadium
in Game Three of the Divisional
Series against the Giants.
Or Edgardo Alfonzo hitting just
about everything that came out of a
St. Louis Cardinals pitcher's hand
into the gap for a double during the
Championship Series. That guy was
an incredible player before he got
hurt.
But all that the Yankees front-
runners could think to say to me on
the phone was that it must have
been a miserable year to root for
New York's other baseball team.
No, it wasn't. It was ridiculously
fun.
That's the Yankee mindset,
though. If your team doesn't win it
all, it's misery. People get canned.
Payroll gets doubled.
They can't appreciate it at all -
the magical season that you can't
believe, when your team scratches
out key victory after key victory;
when 30th-round draft picks like
the aforementioned "Hawaiian
Punch" (who is playing for former
Mets manager Bobby Valentine in
Japan right now, by the way), that
have no business making it to the
playoffs, play like heroes for a few
weeks.
As a Mets fan, I've seen a year
like that just once that I can
remember: 2000. I like to pretend
that I can recall the '86 Series and
Bill Buckner - but I was four.
What I know about that year, I've
seen on ESPN Classic. (That said, I
do like my dad's suggestion of
turning the Ted Williams Tunnel in
Boston into the Bill Buckner Tun-
nel, complete with a statue of the
first baseman preparing to receive
a ground ball. That way, cars would
drive right under his glove, just
like Mookie Wilson's bouncer).
See ROSEN, Page 13A
0
YPSILANTI - Fifty-five.
That's the number of innings the Michigan softball team has
played without allowing a single run. Yesterday, the Wolverines won
both games of a doubleheader against Eastern Michigan by a 5-0
mark, extending the scoreless streak.
Solid pitching has been the key to Michigan's success all season
long. Yesterday, sophomore Jennie Ritter led the way with 15 strike-
outs in the second game. She pitched a complete game shutout,
allowing just two hits and four walks.
"(The difference was) movement," Ritter said. "I have had prob-
lems with my movement in the last couple of games."
Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said that she thought it was one
of Ritter's best games, admitting that she didn't even keep track of
the actual number of strikeouts Ritter had.
"Her ball was really biting, and therefore moving a lot," Hutchins
said. "And she really had some good pop. I was pleased to see that.
See PITCHING, Page 12A
A
TREVOR CAMPBELL/Daily
Michigan sophomore pitcher Jennie Ritter struck
out a career best of 15 against Eastern Michigan.
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