4B-The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - April 19, 2004 41 Players of the Illinois series Players of the Iowa series Erin Montgomery (Illinois) Montgomery hit a game-tying two-run homer in the second game of the series, bringing the score to 2-2 in the third inning. FRIDAY'S GAME Michigan 4 WP: N. Motycka (13-3) Illinois 2 LP: A. Fortune (17-8) Nicole Motycka (Michigan) In the first game of the series, Motycka drove in Michigan's first three runs, including a two-out, two-run homer late in the game. SATURDAY'S GAME Michigan 2 LP: J. Rifer (15-4) F Illinois 3 WP: A. Fortune (18-8) Ali Arnold (Iowa) Hitting 2-for-3 in the second game of the series, Arnold also held Michigan to only three runs from the pitching mound. YESTERDAY, GAME 1 Michigan 3 WP: J. Ritter(16-4) OPP Iowa 1 LP: L. Birocci (14-8) Angie Churchill (Michigan) Replacing Jessica Merchant at shortstop in the second game, Churchill hit an RBI single in the bottom of the first inning. YESTERDAY, GAME 2 Michigan 3 WP: N. otycka (14-3) Iowa 1 V LP: A. Arnold (0-1) YESTERDAY, GAME 2 Michigan 3, Iowa 1. In jury strikes home run queen Michigan (38-7, 11-1) Player AB R H BI Haas 2b 4 0 1 1 Doe cf 4 22 0 Motycka p 3 01 0 J. Ritter p 0 0 0 0 Olds 1b 1 00 0 Merchantss 0 0 0 0 Churchill ss 2 0 1 1 Leutele 3b 3 0 1 0 Schock c 2 0 2 0 Beraw pr 0 100 Betley rf 2 0 1 0 MilianIf 1 0 0 0 Holland ph 1 0 0 0 Iowa (29-17, 8-2) Player AS R H BI Johnson rf 3 1 2 0 Murraydh 3 0 0 0 Gerlick 2b 2 0 0 0 May ss 3 0 1 1 Baugh c 3 0 0 0 Thomson lb 3 0 0 0 Arnold p 3 0 2 0 Hentges If 2 0 0 0 Birocci ph 1 0 1 0 Ruff 3b 2 00 0 Heidgerken ph 1 0 0 0 Sprattph 1 0 0 0 Chipmancf 0 0 0 0 Total 23 3 9 3 Total 27 1 6 1 E - Michigan 1; Schock: Iowa: 0. DP -none. LOB- Michigan 7; Iowa 5. 2S5- Michigan 3: Doe, Motycka, Schock. Iowa 0. 3B- Michigan: 0 Iowa: 0. HR - Michigan 0: ; Iowa: 0. BB-Michigan 2:Olds, Churchill Iowa0:.SB - Michigan 2: Doe, Olds; Iowa: 2: Johnson (2). CS-Michigan 1: Churchill; Iowa 0. Michigan 100 Iowa 000 Iowa IP Arnold (L, 0-1) 6.0 Michigan Motycka (W, 143) 6.0 J. Ritter 1.0 R H E 0 011 X- 3 91 0 001 0- 1 60 H R ER BB SO 9 3 3 2 3 5 1 0 0 10 1 0 00 3 By James V. Dowd Daily Sports Writer IOWA CITY- It was a moment when everyone at Pearl Field winced and then went silent. As Iowa leadoff hitter Natalie Johnson slid into second base on an attempted steal, Michigan junior shortstop Jessica Merchant lunged for senior catcher Monica Schock's throw. Merchant and Johnson collid- ed and Merchant went down in a heap, resulting in a severe sprain of Merchant's left ankle in the first inning of the second game of yester- day's doubleheader. Although Merchant was able to walk off the field with assistance, after being observed by both Michigan and Iowa trainers and coaches, she was transported to a local hospital for X-rays. The initial thought was that she may have some sort of fracture, but the X- rays were negative, showing a bad sprain - still far from good news for the Wolverines. Merchant, who broke Michigan's single-season home run record last week and is closing in on the career mark, provides a spark for the Wolverines, whether in action and not. But her presence was missed for the rest of the day, and the Wolver- ines were very emotional during their post-game cheer following the 3-1 win. "We always do our cheer, and (Merchant) is the one who says the '1,2,3'," Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said. "Somebody else had to pick it up, and it made us get all upset." Michigan junior Nicole Motycka, who was pitching in the game, was visibly upset after the incident, but held strong for her 14th victory of the season. "(After. Merchant got injured,) I wasn't really thinking anything about the game," Motycka said. "I just wanted her to be OK. She is a big part of the team, and I almost want to say the heart and soul, because she loves the team more than anything else in the world. So to see her not be able to play in one of the biggest games of the year was kind of heartbreaking." As she was leaving for the hospi- tal, Merchant left no doubt about what was on her mind. "She wanted us to win, and that's the last thing she said before going off to the hospital," Motycka said. "So we wanted it pretty bad." Beyond playing through concern for their teammate, the Wolverines also had to rely on Merchant's replacement, senior Angie Churchill, to come in ready to play. Churchill certainly did, putting on a performance that, according to Motycka, merits the title "MVP of the day." Churchill was 1-for-2 at the plate, drove home a run and made several key defensive stops. Her biggest highlight was a div- ing stop of Iowa first baseman Sarah Thomson's line drive in the top of the second. Churchill's stab prevented a base hit and probably further damage. Once it got going, Iowa was difficult to stop, and this key out destroyed any chance of the Hawkeyes building rallying in the second. "I'm really pumped up after I make a play like that," Churchill said. "It's really important that we make plays like that and we make the routine plays, because maybe when the pitchers aren't blowing it by them or hitting their spots, they have to have confidence that they can put it in there and we will make the plays." As of yesterday evening, there was no timetable for Merchant's recovery, so the Wolverines may need continued success from Churchill if they hope to continue their run for the Big Ten title. 40 At -Pearl Field, Iowa City Time- 2:00 YESTERDAY, GAME 1 Michigan 3, Iowa 1 Michigan (37-7, 10-1) Player AB R H BI Haas 2b 4110 Doe cf 2 02 0 Schock c 4 0 0 0 Oldsl1b 3 1 20 Bercawib 0 100 Merchant ss 3 0 2 1 Motycka dh/p 3 0 2 0 Leutele 3b 2 0 0 1 Betley rf 3 0 0 0 Milian If 3 0 0 0 3. Ritter p 0 0 0 0 Iowa (29-16,5-1) Player AS R Johnson rf 3 0 Hentges If 3 0 Murray dh 2 0 May ss 3 0 Spratt pr 0 0 Baugh c 2 0 Birocci p 2 0 Thomson 1b 3 0 Chipman cf 1 0 Heidgerken ph 1 0 Arh 1 0 Gerlick 2b 2 0 Ruff 3b/pr 0 1 H Sl 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 S0 0 0 0 0 0 0 WILLA TRACOSAS/Daily Michigan's Jessica Merchant sprained her ankle early In the second game against Iowa. aJbeLrign&iI The Michigan Daily softball writers evaluate the team's performance in this weekend's road trip against Illinois and Iowa. The categories include defense, pitching and offense. For each category the team will receive a grade between one and five 'M' logos, with five being the highest. Total 27 3 9 3 Total 231 3 1 Diamond Stars E - Michigan 0. Iowa: 0 DP - Michigan: 0. Iowa: 0 LOB - Michigan 5; Iowa 4. 2B- Michigan 3: Olds (2), Merchant,. 3B- none. HR - none. B- Michigan 1: Doe; Iowa 1: Birocci. SS8- Michigan 1: Doe; Iowa 0:. CS - None Michigan Iowa Michigan J. Ritter (W, 16-4) Motycka Iowa Birocci (L, 148) 200 001 0 - 3 9 0 000 000 1- 1 3 0 IP 6.2 .1 7 H 2 1 R 1 0 ER 1 0 BB 1 0 so 7 0 9 3 3 1 4 At.- Pearl Field, Iowa City Time -1:45 Attendance - 731 BIG TEN Team Michigan Iowa Illinois Northwestern Minnesota Wisconsin Ohio State Penn State Michigan State Purdue Indiana STANDINGS Conference Overall W L W L 11 1 38 7 8 2 29 17 7 3 29 15 7 5 24 13 7 .5 27 16 5 7 25 21 4 6 27 16 4 6 18 25 4 8 24 19 2 8 25 19 2 8 25 25 Yesterday's results: Minnesota 6, INDIANA 4 MICHIGAN 3, Iowa 1. Penn State 6, MICHIGAN STATE 1 NORTHWESTERN 5, Ohio State 3 Wisconsin 4, PURDUE 2 INDIANA 1, Minnesota 0 MICHIGAN 3, iowa 1 Penn State 11, MICHIGAN STATE 6 NORTHWESTERN 5, Ohio State 3 PURDUE 3, Wisconsin 2 Saturday's results: NORTHWESTERN 2, Penn State 0 PURDUE 2, Minnesota I Wisconsin 1, INDIANA 0 Ohio State 8, MICHIGAN STATE 7 lilnois 3, MICHIGAN 2 Friday's results: NORTHWESTERN 4, Penn State 1 Minnesota 2, PURDUE O INDIANA 3, Wisconsin 2 MICHIGAN STATE 4, Ohio State 2 MICHIGAN 4, Illinois 2 ON DECK: CENTRAL MICHIGAN Michigan returns to Alumni Field to take on the current Mid-American Conference lead- ers. Central Michigan's record includes a victory over Michi- Defense: After committing just two errors in its last nine Big Ten games, Michigan had- three defensive miscues in its 3-2 loss to Illinois. How- ever, the defense rebound- ed against Iowa. Pitching: Coming into the week- end, Michigan's pitchers had served up 59.2 con- secutive scoreless innings. With the bases loaded in the seventh inning of the second game of the Illinois series, sophomore pitcher Jennie Ritter allowed the game-winning run to score after hitting the batter. Offense: Though Michigan's offense continued to pro- duce runners, five strand- ed Wolverines in the team's loss to Illinois proved to be the difference in the game. loss at Illinois on Saturday. They came from behind to beat Illinois on Friday 4-2, but could not hold onto a lead dur- ing Saturday's game and lost 3-2. The loss snapped a 19-game winning streak for Michigan, and Hutchins said that it made the games against Iowa even more important. "We really rebounded," Hutchins said. "And we have shown great char- acter this weekend. We were behind in the first game against Illinois, and we came back. We dropped one yesterday that we certainly had an opportunity to win, but I thought that we have shown great character, and we're going to need that." Motycka added that the Wolverines really wanted to get Iowa back for last year when the Hawkeyes beat out Michigan for the Big Ten conference title. She added that the team had been waiting for this opportunity. "We felt that this was a game that we really needed to win if we wanted to think about winning the confer- ence championship," Motycka said. Iowa City fans no match for M' HAWKEYES contInued from Page 1B Pitchers prove dynamic duo against Big Ten foes By James V. Dowd and Ian Herbert Daily Sports Writers IOWA CITY -With the nearest major professional sports teams more than 200 miles away, Iowa City locals turn to University of Iowa sports - the tra- ditionally "small sports" included - to share their love. Fans packed Pearl Field to near its capaci- . d The Michigan players dealt with the hostile crowd well. Michigan senior Angie Churchill thinks it helped the team in crucial wins. "Iowa is an intense place to play," Churchill said. "I mean, they always get a big crowd and they are always kind of rowdy and yelling. You know what, I think that pumps us up, too." Michigan sophomore Jennie Ritter, the winning pitcher in game one, also said the pro-Iowa sentiment is exactly what she needed to pump herself up. "We knew when we came in that it was going to be a tough game and it was going to be a tough crowd," Ritter said. "We talked about the crowd and I had told my coaches I feed off people who don't like me. So I go in there and feed off what they say, and I just do better." DYNAMIC Duo: They weren't able to pitch any shutouts like they had for the previous eight games, but the Michigan also said that she was pleased with her performance. "I thought I pitched pretty well," Motycka said. "I let a few slip in there that they hit, and they are a good hitting team. But I was really ready for the challenge today." Michigan is a team that has three strong starting pitchers - Motycka and Ritter, plus freshman Lorilyn Wil- son - but has gone primarily to the two veterans over the last couple of weeks. Yesterday, when Ritter got into a jam in the first game, Hutchins went to the bullpen and brought in Motycka, even though she was scheduled to pitch the second game of the doubleheader. "I really felt like we could get out of it," Hutchins said. "But, you know what, we were a bit behind in the count, and, sometimes, your gut says that you better make a change and be sure. We weren't ahead by enough to mess In the first game of the day, it was mostly the outfielders helping out Rit- ter. With a strong wind blowing out to left-center field, more balls than usual were being hit into the grass. The first batter of the day, Iowa's Natalie John- son, hit a pop-up into right field that was dying fast. Senior Courtney Betley made a diving catch to get the Wolver- ines off to a good start and Ritter went on to pitch a perfect game through the first 13 batters. The game ended much the same way it began - with spectacular fielding. Iowa was rallying in the seventh inning when pinch hitter Ali Arnold stepped to the plate. The Hawkeyes had already scored one run and had runners on first and second with two outs. Arnold hit a fly ball just over second base, but sen- ior captain Megan Doe ended the game with her diving grab. The Wolverines (11-1 Big Ten, 38-7 overall) were coming off of a tough ty Sunday afternoon to see their beloved Hawkeyes step up to the plate against Michigan, and the more than 700 fans were loud and dressed to impress. One local, who is known unanimous- ly as "Smiley," brought along two cus- tom-made hats. One read "I (heart) (Iowa center- M",