4B-The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - April 11, 2005

PLAYERS OF THE WISCONSIN SERIES

PLAYERS OF THE MINNESOTA SERIES

Boo Gillette
(Wisconsin)
Gillette managed to knock in the
Badgers' lone runs of the weekend.
She hit a two-run home run in the
first inning of Friday's game.
FRIDAY'S GAME
SWisconsin 2
LP: E. Brock (9-5)
Michigan 3
WP: L. Wilson (16-2)

Lorilyn Wilson
(Michigan)
Wilson gave up only one hit in her two
appearances on the weekend. She
picked up two wins while pitching
seven and two-thirds shutout innings. :
SATURDAY'S GAME
WP: L. Wilson (17-2)
Wisconsin 0
LP: K. Layne (2-5)

Stephanie Sward
(Minnesota)
There were few bright spots for Minne-
sota yesterday. The lone Gopher to get
a hit in both of the games was Sward,
who got two hits on the weekend.
YESTERDAY, GAME 1
Minnesota 0
LP: L. Peyer (10-11)
Michigan 4
WP: J. Ritter 017-0)

Samantha Findlay
(Michigan)
Findlay was part of the balanced
offensive explosion against the
Gophers, going 4-for-5 with three
RBI and three runs.

YESTERDAY, GAME 2
Michigan11
WP: L. Wilson (18-2)
Minnesota 0
LP: L. Peyer (10-12)

YESTERDAY, GAME 2
Michigan 11,Minnesota 0(5 inn.)
Michigan (7-1. 40-3) Minnesota (1-7. 18-20)
Player AB R H Bi Player AB R H BI

Defense readjusts after errors

Haas 2b 3
Giampaolo cf 2
Merchant ss 3
Findlay 1b 2
Danis ph 1
Motycka dh 2
Leutele 3b 2
Winter ph 1
Bercaw If 2
Kreinbrink ph 1
Marx c 2
Weatherdon prO
Worthy c 1
Mian rf 1
Holland ph 1
Wilson p 0

S. Sward rf 2
C.Swardrf 0
Higginbotham c 2
Alston 2b 2
Keeney ss 2
Meyerdh 2
Erickson If 2
Konderick lb/p 2
Murnane 3b 1
Safgren ph 1
Watt cf 1
Peyerp 0
Miller p 0
Amslb 0

0 1 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
000
00 0
00 0
00 0
00 0
00 0
00 0
00 0

Total

24111311 Total

17 0 1 0

E - Minnesota; Watt; Michigan; Danis. DP - None.
LOB - Michigan 3; Minnesota 2. 2B - None. 36
None. HR -Michigan 3; Giampaolo (4), Merchant
(14), Findlay(12). BB-Michigan; Giampaolo. SB
- Illinois; S. Sward. CS- None.

By Seth Gordon
Daily Sports Writer
MADISON - Where No. 1
Michigan (7-1 Big Ten, 40-3 over-
all) rebounded with solid defense in
its 8-0 victory over Wisconsin (3-5,
12-17) on Saturday, Friday night's
eight-inning 3-2 win was more like
a comedy of errors.
"Defense wins ball games for us,
and that was the difference between
(Friday) and (Saturday)," senior
shortstop Jessica Merchant said.
"(Friday) we had three errors, (Sat-
urday) we had none. We can't give
them extra opportunities. Four outs
an inning doesn't work for us. Keep
it to three outs an inning and things
go well for us."
The first of those three errors on
Friday helped Wisconsin jump out to
a 2-0 lead in the first inning. After
striking out the Badgers' first two
hitters, junior pitcher Jennie Ritter
was on pace to make it a 1-2-3 inning
when she got Kris Zacher - one of
two dangerous Wisconsin batters
- to hit a groundball toward sec-
ond base. But the grounder slipped
through junior second baseman Tif-

fany Haas's glove as she attempted
to field it on the backhand side.
With Zacher on first, Wisconsin
catcher Boo Gillette - the Badgers'
other hitting threat - came to the
plate and blasted a two-run home
run over the leftfield fence.
The Wolverines continued to
struggle in the field throughout
the game with additional errors by
Merchant and freshman first base-
man Samantha Findlay. Findlay
couldn't corral a high throw from
Merchant in the fifth, and Merchant
pulled up too early on a ground
ball in the sixth. Despite the poor
fielding, neither of the errors led to
Badger runs.
The Wolverines' defensive strug-
gles have been a recurring problem
- they committed five errors in two
games against Central Michigan on
Wednesday.
"It's been kind of a crazy week;
there have been too many errors,"
Michigan coach Carol Hutchins
said. "That is absolutely unaccept-
able."
The team was clearly aware of
the problem and took measures to
correct the problem before Satur-

day's game.
"They were getting away from
their fundamentals," Hutchins said.
"We practiced it and had (Merchant
and Haas) play shorter. They were
worried about some of the bad
hops they were getting. The bad
hops weren't my concern. The rou-
tine balls were my concern. They
played much better (on Saturday),
and that's really important."
Michigan has relied on solid
pitching and potent offense to get
wins this season but didn't look
like the nation's top team on Fri-
day night.
"We know we can score runs,
period," Hutchins said. "We just
need to do a good job of making
our defense show up. It starts on
the mound, and we have a good
chance to win."
For a team that has national
championship aspirations and has
struggled defensively in Women's
College World Series past, such
poor fielding has to be worri-
some. That is, until the Wolver-
ines bounced back with a near
flawless performance in the field
on Saturday.

*I

Minnesota 000
Michigan 362
Michigan IP
L. Wilson (W, 18-2) 5.0

R H E
000- 01 1
,20X - 11 13 1
H R ER SB SO
1 0 0 0 5

Minnesota
Peyer (L,10-12)
Valadez
Konderik

0.1
2.0
1.2

3 3 3
10 8 8
00 0

2
1
0

3
1
0

At - Jane Sage Cowles Field, Minneapolis
Time-1:16
YESTERDAY, GAME 1
Michigan 4, Minnesota 0
Michigan (6-1, 393) Minnesota (16, 18.19)
Player AS R H 81 Player AB R H Bl

Senior shortstop Jessica Merchant excelled In the field after adjustments on Saturday.

Haas 2b
Giampaolo cf
Merchant ss
Findlay lb
Motycka dh
Leutele 3b
Bercaw rf
Marx c
Milian If
Ritter p
Total

4
3
3
3
3
2
3
3
3
0

0
0
1
1
1:
0+
0
0

C.Swarddh 3
S. Sward rf 3
Higginbotham c 3
Keeney ss 3
Alston 2b 3
Zimmerman pr 0
Konderik lb 2
Erickson If 3
Murnane 3b 2
Watt cf 1
Meyer ph 1
Peyer p 0

27 4 5 4 Total

24 0 5 0

E - Minnesota; S. Sward. DP - Minnesota 1. LOB
- Michigan 3; Minnesota 5. 26 - None. 3B - None. HR
- Michigan 2; Motycka (9), Leutele (9). BB- Michi-
gan; Leutele. SB - Minnesota; Erickson. CS - None.
R H E
Michigan 000 202 0 - 4 5 0
Minnesota 000 000 0- 0 5 1
Michigan IP H R ER BB SO
Ritter (W, 17-0) 7.0 5 0 0 0 14

The Michigan Daily softball writers evaluate the team's performance in this weekend's action against
Wisconsin and Minnesota. The categories include defense, pitching and offense. For each category, the
Diamond Grades team will receive a grade between one and five of the respective logos, with five being the highest.
Defense
Friday's performance in the field was less than desirable,
but the adjustments made on Saturday continued through-
out the weekend. Three errors on Friday were followed by
only one error in the final three games of the roadtrip.
Pitching¢ r
Lorilyn Wilson pitched magically, picking up three wins
..., .. by.N .:-Wt.'.
while allowing no runs during the whole weekend. The
Wolverines only allowed two runs in four games - both
of which were unearned. Zero earned runs in over 25
innings of work is the definition of a five-star performance.
Offense
Michigan's offense followed the same model in each
series this weekend - a solid performance in the first
game and then an explosion for a big performance in
the second. Eight and 11 runs in two games is solid, but
turning out just three runs in the first game prevents a
five star rating.

Minnesota
Peyer (L, 10-11)

7.0 5 4 4 1 2

At - Jane Sage Cowles Field, Minneapolis
Time - 1:44

BIG TEN

STANDINGS
Conference Overall

Team W
Northwestern 8
Michigan 7
Purdue 5
Iowa 4
Ohio State 3
Penn State 3
Michigan State 4
Wisconsin 3
Indiana 2
Minnesota 1
Illinois 0
Yesterday's results:

L
0
1
1
4
3
3
4
5
4
7
8

w
26
40
28
32
19
23
13
12
12
18
17

L
9
3
13
9
11
14
21
17
27
20
19

'M' takes Badgers

MICHIGAN STATE 2, Penn State 1
Michigan 4, MINNESOTA 0
Northwestern 8, WISCoNSIN 7
IOWA 5, Indiana 0
Purdue 9, ILLINoIS I
PENN STATE 3, Michigan State 1
MICHIGAN 11, Minnesota 0
NORTHWESTERN 3, Wisconsin 2
Iowa 3, INDIANA 0
PURDUE 8, Illinois 7
Saturday's results:
NORTHWESTERN 5, Minnesota
INDIANA 3, Illinois 2
PURDUE 2, Iowa 1
Michigan State 7, OHIo STATE 4
MICHIGAN 8, Wisconsin 0
Friday's results:
NORTHWESTERN 7, MINNESOTA 4
Indiana 4, ILLINOIS 3
IOWA 3, Purdue 2
Ohio State 6, MICHIGAN STATE 1
Michigan 3, WIScoNSIN 2
ON DECK:
PURDUE
Michigan heads on the road to
West Lafayette to battle Purdue.
The two teams are tied in the
loss column for second place in
the Big Ten. Michigan beat the
Boilermakers 9-0 and 2-0 last
year.
IN THE HOLE:

"

"

in extra innings

By Kevin Wright
Daily Sports Writer

MADISON - It took eight
innings to decide Friday night's con-
test between Michigan and Wiscon-
sin, but the last one proved to be the

most exhilarating.
With the score
tied at two going into
extra innings, the
Wolverines (7-1 Big
Ten, 40-3 overall)
took advantage of
several Badger mis-
takes. When Junior
Tiffany Haas hit a

sharp grounder

17) seemed to have recaptured the
momentum, freshman Samantha
Findlay punched the first pitch she saw
through the right side of the infield,
scoring Haas from third and giving
the Wolverines the go-ahead run.
"I just focus on seeing the ball and
being relaxed," Findlay said. "I don't
even think about how many outs there
are, if there's a runner on third base or
if it's the game-winning run. I just do
what I do every day, and hopefully we
pull through."
Sophomor e Lorilyn Wilson shut
down the Badgers' offense in the bot-
tom of the eighth inning to secure the
Wolverines' 3-2 victory.
PATIENCE IS THE KEY: After Michi-
gan managed just six hits and three
runs on Friday night, they rebounded
Saturday with much improved plate
discipline, which resulted in five hits,
eight runs and five walks.
"Patience at the plate was huge for
us," Merchant said. "(On Friday), we
swung at a lot of balls down in the
zone. All we are going to do is pound
those into the ground. We need to
make them bring it up, hit strikes and
good things will happen for us."
In the third inning, the Wolverines
reaped the benefits of staying patient at
the plate. Haas and Giampaolo led off
with cnnsecutive walks and Merchant

GOPH ERS
Continued from page 18
Ritter was in that same situation,
pitching against Wisconsin's Eden
Brock. Ritter matched Brock - who
kept the Michigan hitters off balance
with off-speed pitches - for most
of the game, but she gave up two
unearned runs before Wilson came
on in relief in the seventh inning.
Samantha Findlay's RBI single in
the top of the eighth gave the Wolver-
ines a 3-2 lead, and Wilson retired all
five batters she faced to get the win.
Once again, the Michigan offense
gave Wilson plenty of run support in
its 8-0 victory on Saturday. The Wol-
verines jumped to a three-run lead on
Merchant's three-run homer in the
bottom of the third inning and never
looked back.
"I think we're starting to come
around again," Ritter said. "I think
we're starting to hit as well as we
were earlier in the season. I think it's
just adjusting and getting better."
THE MICHIGAN
DAILY's HOME
RUN RACE:
MERCHANT: 14
..

01

to Wisconsin second baseman Athe-
na Vasquez, the ball popped out of
Vasquez's glove and Haas reached
first base safely. In the following at-
bat, freshman Alessandra Giampaolo
slapped a ground-ball at pitcher
Eden Brock. After easily fielding
the ball, Brock's throw skipped in
the dirt, allowing Giampaolo to beat
the ball to first.
Then, with runners on first and
second, senior Jessica Merchant hit
a scorching line drive that was des-
tined for the outfield until Wisconsin
shortstop Kris Zacher lunged out to
snag the ball. In a bizarre sequence,
the hall first ricoceted oaff Z'er's

MIKE HULSEIUS/Diy
Freshman Alessandra Glampaolo helped take advantage of Wisconsin's miscues.

doubleheader against Minnesota,
the Wolverines received a scare. On
a shallow fly ball into leftfield, Mer-
chant ran into the outfield grass, track-
ing the ball.
While Merchant ran out, sophomore
Rebekah Milian slid to the ground to
make the catch. Merchant collided
with Milian as the ball skipped off
Milian's glove and landed on the
outfield grass. Both players were on
the ground for a few minutes before
returning to their feet. After warming
un with a few tosses. both Merchant

Jane Sage Cowles Stadium witnessed
a plethora of home runs by Michi-
gan. Junior Grace Leutele flexed her
muscles first with a deep homer over
the leftfield wall. Then senior Nicole
Motycka responded in the sixth
inning when she jumped on a fastball
down the middle and powered it over
the leftfield wall and into the extend-
ed branches of a tree. In the second
game, Findlay hit a two-run home
run to leftfield. Finishing the Wol-
verines' powerful display, Merchant
and freshman Alessandra Giampaolo

0