IAN HERBERT Can there ever be a reason to root Alk PLANE ON FIRE for the Spartans? PAGE 3B The SportsMonday Column Travel complications nearly prevented the men's tennis team from even making it to Iowa but didn't stop them from winning. PAGE 6B .4 SPORTS l DAY 1 April 4, 2005 lB ate firot anot, totm Gone MIcHIGAN 2, streaking again 0 0 ' MICHIGAN 3, MICHIGAN 8, J :,MICIGAN 10 Blue bounces back after Iowa loss By Kevin Wright Daily Sports Writer It just wasn't her night. During Friday's game against No. 24 Iowa, sophomore pitcher Lorilyn Wilson faced a dif- ficult situation in the top of the second inning. After Wilson sat down the first three Iowa hitters, Iowa's Sami Baugh started off the sec- ond with a double off the leftfield fence. Then, after Wilson struck out Brandi Sargent with a curveball, she gave up a base hit to Kylie Mur- ray. With runners at first and third and one out, Wilson got Natalie Johnson looking on an out- side fastball, and it seemed like she might escape without any damage. But Wilson couldn't cap- ture the final out and gave up five runs before Michigan coach Carol Hutchins pulled her in favor of junior Jennie Ritter. The Wolverines eventually lost the game, 5-2, with junior Grace Leutele fueling Michigan's sole offensive pro- duction by hitting a two-run homer in the bot- tom of the second inning. Michigan (3-1 Big Ten, 35-2 overall) finished the weekend 3-1 with a split against Iowa and yester- day a sweep of Illinois. But during Friday's game against Iowa (2-2, 28-8), the Hawkeyes snapped the Wolverines' 32-game winning streak and lowered Wilson's record to 13-1. "Lorilyn had a lot of doubt for some reason on Friday," Hutchins said. "She had no reason to doubt herself. She needed to trust what she was capable of, go back to the basics and not get caught up in Iowa or the Big Ten race." Bouncing back from the tough loss on Friday, Ritter and the Wolverines took care of business on Saturday with a 3-1 win over Iowa. Wilson returned to the pitcher's circle in the second game of yesterday's doubleheader against Illinois (0-4, 15-15). Although she lost her first game of the season Friday, Wilson put the loss behind her and came out firing. In five innings of work, Wilson surrendered just one hit. In the second inning, third base- man Leutele knocked down a sharp grounder by Illinois's Angelena Mexicano but couldn't get a throw off to first base. When the Wolverines seemed on the brink of another second-inning disaster, Wilson rose to the occasion. She got Jackelyn Diekemper to ground out and snagged a Mackenzie Smith ground ball to end thefight- ing Illini threat. "I just wanted to pitch my guts out today," Wilson said. "I was really concentrating on going hard." As Wilson continued to pitch well, the Wol- verines' offense eased the tension with three huge innings of production. In the second inning, junior Stephanie Ber- caw put the first Michigan run on the board with a double off the rightfield fence that drove in senior Nicole Motycka. Junior Becky Marx followed Bercaw with a ground ball that hit Illinois pitcher Claire DeVreese in the hand. On DeVreese's ensuing throw to first, the ball skipped into rightfield and Marx advanced to second while Bercaw scored. In the third inning, the Wolverines added to their 2-0 lead when freshman Samantha Findlay smashed a three-run home run to right-center- field. See SOFTBALL, page 4B Ritter rescues 'M' AMY DRUMM/Daily Junior pitcher Jennie Ritter pitched 20 straight innings over the weekend, stopping Iowa's offensive onslaught on Friday and picking up two wins in the process. WHAT ONCE WAS TRUE... Before Friday's 5-2 loss to Iowa, the last time No. 1 Michigan was defeated came on Feb. 12 to Baylor. Back then, the following events were believed to be true. The Michigan hockey and basketball teams were still playing. The NHL was still a possibility. No one knew Alex Sanchez was on the juice. Daniel Horton's situation was still up in the air. Illinois was undefeated in college basketball. Mark McGwire was still an American hero. Nobody knew who Terry Schiavo was. in week By Scott Bell Daily Sports Writer Damage control was the name of the game when junior Jennie Ritter entered1 the Iowa game Friday afternoon. When: sophomore Lorilyn Wilson couldn't1 manage to get out of a tough second1 inning, Ritter was brought in to keep the Wolverines in the game. Little did she know that she would be pitching for 20 straight innings from that point on. Ritter started Saturday's game and also the opener of yesterday's doubleheader. The rally Michigan was hoping for never occurred, but it wasn't on1 account of a bad performance by Ritter.: She faced 16 batters and subsequentlyl retired each one. "My job was to go in there and shut them down," Ritter said. "We needed to1 give them the opportunity to score, and that's all we can do on defense." Although the offense could not rally on Friday, it did its part for Ritter yes-1 terday against Illinois. After anotherl solid performance early on - allow-l ing just two hits through the first six1 innings - Ritter's bid for a second, straight win looked to be in jeopardy.1 Protecting an 8-3 lead, she faced Lee- end play Ann Butcher with two outs and run- ners on second and third. But Ritter struggled to get the elusive third out, and Butcher singled up the middle to make it a four-run game. Shanna Diller followed by clearing the bases with a three-run home run, putting the tying run at the plate. "It looked like she might have run out a gas a little there in that 20th inning of work," Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said. But Ritter's tank had not hit empty. She was able to regroup and gain her 11th strikeout of the game to put an end to the Illinois comeback attempt. She sent Jenna Hall back to the dugout with her bat still on her shoulder after paint- ing the outside corner to end the game. "Obviously, (Sunday) was a little bit rougher than the other two," Ritter said. "But I had to just stay focused and keep pitching my pitches." Ritter ended up with 28 strikeouts in her 19 and one-third innings of work, putting her one strikeout shy of 500 for her career. Although her six earned runs hurt her impressive 0.75 ERA, Hutchins was impressed with the junior's ability to step in and pitch quality innings when See RITTER, page 4B MIKE HULSEBUS/Daily Junior Becky Marx watches during the second inning of Friday's 5-2 loss to Iowa, during which the Hawkeyes scored all five of their runs. Gophers ,embarrass on road By Pete Sneider Daily Sports Writer MINNEAPOLIS - You got swept. Coming into this weekend riding a ten- game win streak, Michigan (16-7) couldn't salvage a single victory from Minnesota in its first series of Big Ten play. It was the first time the Wolverines suffered a four-game sweep since 2000, when they dropped four in a row to Penn State. After suffering painful defeats of 1-0, 3-2 and 6-3 in the first three games, the Wolver- ines were routed 13-3 in yesterday's final con- test at the Metrodome. Michigan coach Rich Maloney has endured sweeps in the past but felt strongly * that such a collapse shouldn't happen to a 0 ROWING Weather rescheduling can't slow down rowers By Chastity Rolling Daily Sports Writer BELLEVILLE - Despite the hasty time change of this weekend's regatta, the No. 5 Michigan women's rowing team earned five wins in the six races against No. 3 Ohio State at the Wolverines' home opener on Belleville Lake. The regatta was moved from Satur- day morning to Friday evening due to harsh weather predictions. Michigan coach Mark Rothstein said that the key to the Wolverines' wins on Friday was an internal focus - concentrating on having a good race, rather than beating their opponents. "I think we are in good shape," Rothstein said. "But we need to keep working hard, and then the races will take care of themselves." The focal point for the varsity eight on Fri- day was its start. "Ohio State is a really good crew," senior Leah Ketcheson said. "We knew we were going to have to have a strong start, and, once we had the lead, we weren't going to give it up." The first varsity eight led the way over Ohio State. The Wolverines achieved their goal of a physically powerful launch to start But when the two teams competed as rivals this weekend, Michigan won. "I was pleased with our varsity eight," Rothstein said. "I think they rowed very well today. I was also really pleased with how our varsity fours rowed. Both lost to Ohio State a week ago. Both won today. That was really good to see." Rothstein said that the Wolverines need to build off the momentum of this week- end's races. "What I like about this team is that they are aggressive," Rothstein said. "And they like to race. As long as we can continue to improve our technique and fitness, I think we'll do well." Ketcheson thanked her coxswain, senior Tara Medina, whose basic responsibilities are to steer the boat and give commands to the rowers so they know what to do and when to do it. "(Medina) pretty much lets us know where we are in relation to the other crew," Ketcheson said. "We knew, based off what she was say- ing, that we were going to do great." Michigan's fast start this weekend gave the team confidence, but Rothstein noted that the cnocnn is far frrn nvr MIKE HULSEBUS/Daily Junior Derek Feldkamp lasted just one and two-thirds innings in yesterday's 13-3 loss at Minnesota. He allowed eight earned runs on five hits in his outing. effort, and we couldn't get it today. But Derek In the second inning, Feldkamp sur-