6B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - March 20, 2006 'M Nine' finishes road trips with winning weekend By Colt Rosensweig Daily Sports Writer Junior catcher Tiffany Worthy used her bat to lead Michigan to victories over Texas and Florida State at the Judi Garman Classic. Wort hyteanswer to one question, others unsolved By Nate Sandals Daily Sports Writer Last season, the Michigan softball team lost just seven games. This weekend at the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton, Calif., the 2006 squad lost nearly half of that total. The Wolverines dropped three games and managed just two wins. Michigan went to California with a number of gaps in its lineup. Fixing those breaks, or failing to do so, was the difference between wins and losses at the Titan Softball Complex on the Cal. State Fullerton campus. Michigan's most glaring hole was at the designated-player position. In the Wolverines' first 17 games, they lacked production from their desig- nated player. "We're looking for a consistent des- ignated player" senior pitcher Jennie Ritter said. "We've had some people have a few solid games, but there are a lot of people who want that spot. I'm excited to see who steps up to take it" With her effort this weekend, soph- omore catcher Tiffany Worthy might have done just that. Playing less than 10 miles from her hometown, the Yorba Linda, Calif. native hit the game-winning home run against No. 2 Texas on Friday. Not only did the bomb come with two outs in the top of the seventh inning and snap Worthy's 0-for-18 slump at the plate, but she also hit it off one of the top pitchers in the country, Cat Oster- man. Michigan coach Carol Hutchins rewarded Worthy for her heroics by writing her in as the designated player on the lineup card for Saturday's game against Florida State, a team Michi- gan beat twice earlier in the season. Against the Seminoles, Hutchins's decision to give Worthy extra at bats proved to be a wise one. The sopho- more went 1-for-3 and had four RBI in the 11-3 Michigan (13-9) victory. "(Worthy) is going to have the opportunity to take control of the designated player position," Hutchins said. Another question mark for the Wol- verines has been the second pitcher spot. As a sophomore last season, Lorilyn Wilson went 22-2 with a 1.05 ERA while pitching the games that No. I pitcher Jen- nie Ritter took off. But Wilson has strug- gled thus far this season, and the pattern held in Michigan's 7-5 loss to Washing- ton. Wilson gave up nine hits and seven runs in three and two-thirds innings before being replaced by freshman Stacy Delaney, who pitched two and a third scoreless innings to finish the game. Wilson pitched solidly in her other tournament appearance, a 3-2 loss to Utah on Sunday. Before being relieved by Ritter, the Salem, Ore. native shut out the Utes in four and one-third innings in the circle. "(Wilson) knows what she needs to do," Ritter said. "We've had some talks with her, and we are all confident that she can pitch great. Now, all she needs to do is get that confidence in herself." The difference between wins and losses this weekend boiled down to clutch hitting. In its three losses, Mich- igan (12-9) left 28 runners on base. In their two victories, the Wolverines just stranded eight teammates. "It's a fact: When we hit in the clutch we win, when we don't we lose," Hutchins said. Going into the trip to California, Michigan was hitting .312 with run- ners in scoring position. But in its losses, Michigan's stats fell well short of the mark. In Michigan's 3-2, extra-inning loss to an undefeated Louisiana-Lafayette team on Thursday night, the Wolver- ines hit just 2-for-15 (.133) with runners in scoring position. "We're getting runners on base," Ritter said. "It's starting to come together. Hopefully, we can figure it out in the next few days of practice." It took three weeks, but it finally happened. The Michigan baseball team won a weekend series. The Wolverines ensured a winning weekend with a 15-8 win over Wagner on Sunday at The Winthrop Ballpark in Rock Hill, S.C. Though Michigan had scored just three runs in each of its last two games, the offensive outburst was not surprising. At the start of the contest, Wagner's (0-11) pitching corps was already depleted by two tough previous games, and the Wolverines repeatedly took advan- tage of the pitchers' lack of control. "Today's game was more of a slug- fest than anything," said senior co- captain A. J. Scheidt, who was 3-for-5 with four RBIs. "We knew that they had played some tough games already and gone deep into their bullpen, so they weren't going to have very much pitching. We knew we were just going to have to keep putting up runs.... We got a lot of strikes to hit today." The game appeared well on its way to becoming a blowout when Michigan (6-7) scored four runs in the first inning. After catcher Doug Pickens drew a bases-loaded walk to push across the first run, outfielder Derek VanBuskirk smashed a triple to left centerfield to put Michigan ahead 4-0. But junior pitcher Andrew Hess could not hold the lead, and Wagner stormed back to take a 7-6 advantage by the end of three frames. After that, it was all Michigan. Redshirt freshman Michael Powers relieved Hess, and, after a rocky third in which he allowed all three of his inherited runners to score, Powers allowed just one more run over three innings of work. Redshirt fresh- man Ben Jenzen and true freshman Adam Abraham each provided two more innings of scoreless relief. The Michigan pitchers settled down, but the Wagner pitchers continued giving up walks, granting 11 free passes on the day. "Their pitchers were giving up a lot of free bases, a lot of walks," fifth-year senior co-captain Jeff Kun- kel said. "We were ahead in the count a lot. We knew we were just going to have to keep battling, getting runs. We had a couple of big innings, scored four right off the bat, and just kept adding on through the whole game." Senior third baseman A.J. Scheidt had four RBI in Michigan's 15-8 win over Wagner. Three Wolverines - Scheidt, Van- Buskirk, and freshman Jason Chris- tian - had four RBI, and it was this clutch hitting that propelled the team to victory. "I think the timely hitting, which we've been missing, became a huge factor in today's game," Michigan coach Rich Maloney said. The other two games of the Coca Cola Classic were more convention- al, low-scoring affairs. In the first game of the weekend, freshman Zach Putnam, fifth-year senior Paul Ham- mond and redshirt freshman Chris Fetter combined to shut out George Washington, 3-0. Saturday, Michigan lost 5-3 to host Winthrop, with senior Craig Murray taking the loss. "It was good to come out of the weekend with two (wins) out of three, but the game we really would have liked to have taken would be Winthrop," Scheidt said. "Obviously, we were in the game the whole time. It was the kind of game that, when we get over the hump, those are the kinds of games we'll win." The team hopes the momentum of this winning weekend will carry over to their opening games at Ray Fisher Stadium. "Winning this weekend was very important to us," said VanBuskirk, who was 4-for-5 on Sunday with four runs scored and four RBI. "Hopeful- ly, we can go into the Big Ten (sea- son) on a hot streak. That would be ideal for us right now." Having started the season with four road series, coming home should be a relief for the travel-weary Wol- verines. Maloney believes that the comfort factor, along with momen- tum from this series win, could be a big boost for his team. "Our record isn't where we want it right now, but at the same token, we've been on the road a long time," Maloney said. "We've had a pretty solid schedule. Now, we get to be at home for a couple of weeks, which is great for our kids. ... It will be nice to finally play in front of our own (fans). We're really looking forward to that." I First tourney weekend was crazy, with much more madness to come 0 WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS Junior leads the way on Senior Night For those of you who survived the onslaught of 48 hoops games, 24 hours of St. Patrick's Day binge drinking and endless hours of apologizing for your drunken debauchery when you finally sobered up, I offer you my heartfelt congratulations. Your reward? More Madness. What once were 65 teams have now been whittled down to 16. OaI c But that doesn't mean there's any w shortage of excitement. The battle to crown the NCAA's top dog still has plenty of candidates. We have the big dogs (Duke, UConn), the Bulldogs (Gonzaga), the hotdogs (Rodney Carney) and the underdogs (Bradley, George Mason and Wichita State). But besides learning that we can make an endless amount of canine-related puns, what have we learned in the 96-hour period of March Madness that has occurred thus far? NOT-so-BIG TEN AFTER ALL: Who would have thought Michigan and Minnesota would be the last teams playing in March? The so-called "strongest conference in the nation," as many Big Ten coaches boasted throughout the year, showed its true identity in the Big Dance's first week. Six teams entered the Tournament with dreams of reaching Indianapolis; six teams saw their season come to an end before the Sweet 16. Teams from the Colonial Athletic Associa- tion, Conference USA, the Missouri Valley Conference and the Pac-10 have all advanced - r to the Tournament's second week - a feat the RPI's top-rated conference failed to accom- plish this season. IT'S GOOD TO BE GEORGE: Three teams with George in their names (George Washington, George Mason and Georgetown) all qualified for the NCAA Tournament. With No. 7 seed Floor Georgetown the highest-ranked nol l H l George, it appeared as if it would be hard for any of the aforemen- tioned teams to advance into the second round, let alone into the second week. But George Washington's second-round loss to powerhouse Duke is the lone blemish on the Georges' records so far. Both George Mason - thanks to its drubbing of Michigan State and solid victory against third-seeded North Carolina - and Georgetown - who is riding high after beating both Northern Iowa and second-seeded Ohio State - have made it to the Sweet 16, making the Georges 5-1 for the tourney. CRAIG LITTLEPAGE CAN TAKE A BIG SIGH OF RELIEF: What a difference a week makes. This time last week, the director of the NCAA selection committee was in deep doo-doo following the royal treatment he gave to mid- major conferences like the Missouri Valley Conference. But with two MVC teams still alive in Wichita State and Bradley, Littlepage can stop hiding under his desk and laugh in the faces of mid-major haters like Jim Nantz and Billy Packer. MOMENTUM, SCHMOMENTUM: Fourteenth- seeded Northwestern State - located in the Natchitoches, Louisiana, a city whose popula- tion is roughly half of our undergrad popu- lation - tore through Big Ten Tournament champ Iowa. Other tourney champs didn't fare much better. Big East victor Syracuse ran out of its McNamojo against Texas A&M. Big 12 Tour- nament champion Kansas showed it learned nothing from its first-round upset last year. The Jayhawks revisited their early exit night- mares thanks to Bradley's magical first-week run. CLASS CAN STILL BE FUN: I don't know about anyone else, but I think March Madness On Demand for laptops is the greatest invention known to man. I'm pretty sure the 15 other people who huddled around my laptop on Thursday in my History 218 section to watch the end of the Boston College game can vouch for that, too. As for the people who were making the group presentation during that time, I'm sure it was good. Sorry for not pay- ing attention. So as the next three days come and go, don't take the time off for granted. Cherish it, take advantage of it and remember what it's like to not have your day planned around sporting events. Because when Thursday comes around, I'm sure most of you will be in the same boat as me - stricken with Madness. By Sara Uvingston Daily Sports Writer It was Senior Night at Crisler Arena, but a junior stepped up and led the Wolverines to a 196.950-194.725 win against Michi- gan State on Friday night. .. After seniors Jenny Deiley and Becca Clau- son uncharacteristically struggled in the opening three events, junior Lindsey Bruck stepped up and filled the void.. Bruck went on to win the all-around and ensure that the seniors wouldn't end their Michigan career with a loss. Just 30 minutes after being honored on Senior Night, Deiley found herself strug- gling to hold on midway through her uneven bar routine. After transferring to the lower bar, she broke form, drag- ging her feet along the mat and spinning around several times trying to regain control on the apparatus. Yet Deiley fin- ished the remainder of her routine, stick- ing her landing as if nothing had gone wrong. But the judges didn't forget the earlier struggles, and the senior received a season-low score (9.550). Deiley should have been in the clear, because she jumped onto her best appa- ratus, the balance beam, and immedi- ately nailed two consecutive back flips. But after struggling to maintain her stability through three back-to-back jumps, the senior almost hit the mat late in her routine. Like before, Deiley managed to pull the routine together. This time, a clean landing was enough to save her score, and she finished with a respectable 9.800. "I just think it's just something that every athlete needs to practice if things go wrong," Deiley said. "If you have a lead event. a gond athlete shoul~d be able At this point, many gymnasts might have lost all confidence, placing them in an emotional rut that would carry until the end of the meet, to erase any chance of a last-event comeback. But experience is also key, and, in their four years at Michigan, both Deiley and Clauson have learned how to bring themselves back from rough performances. "(Strong recoveries) are the things that we expect from our seniors and our veterans, and they certainly came through and did that," Michigan coach Bev Plocki said. Deiley and Clauson redeemed them- selves during their back-to-back floor exercises - their final regular-season routines at Crisler Arena. After Bruck opened the event with a solid 9.825, Dei- ley took the floor and executed a flawless routine (9.900), tying for first with two other gymnasts. Building off Deiley's success, Clauson continued to build momentum as she hit every skill, finish- ing with a score of 9.750 and helping the Wolverines beat Michigan State. "I was just thinking about going out and having fun and enjoy the surround- ings and the atmosphere and all of my fans," Clauson said. "The whole Michi- gan experience was coming to an end in that routine, and I was just thinking about having fun and doing well." Deiley and Clauson's struggles were out of character for the duo, but the team never worried. Every time the Wolver- ines, who led the entire meet, started to lose a bit of confidence, Bruck stepped up and made sure the seniors didn't leave Crisler on a low note. Just minutes after watching her two teammates struggle, the junior execut- ed a flawless routine to win the balance beam with a score of 9.900. She car- ried that momentum right over to the floor exercise, and her clean perfor- Headaches? MiChigan Head*Pain & Neurological Institute is conducting an in-clinic research study evaluating an investigational medication for migraine. Participants must be 18 to 65 years old and suffer 2 to 6 headaches Der month. A total of thre clinic visits