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April 17, 2006 - Image 16

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The Michigan Daily, 2006-04-17

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4B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - April 17, 2006

FULL COUNT

0

SOFTBALL

0

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Jennie Ritter
Michigan
The senior ace posted just a .500 record on
the weekend, but surrendered just one run in
10-plus innings of work. Friday, she went the
distance in a shutout victory over Iowa. She
stuck out 11 Hawkeye batters and conceded
just two hits.
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
"If we didn't have bad luck, we
wouldn't have any luck at all."
- Michigan coach Carol Hutchins on the
misfortune of the bad weather that caused the
cancellation of two Michigan games.
BY THE NUMBERS
I Hit posted by the Wolverines
in their game at Iowa on Sat-
urday.
'M' STAT LEADERS
Home runs Becky Marx 10
Runs Alessandra Giampaolo 29
Hits Giampaolo 38
RBI Marx 35
Average Samantha Findlay .330
BIG TEN STANDINGS
Team Big Ten Overall
1. Northwestern 9-2 29-10
2. Michigan State 8-2 30-14
3. Ohio State 8-2 28-14
4. Michigan 6-2 26-11
5. Iowa 6-4 28-16
6. Illinois 5-6 19-24
7. Purdue 4-7 26-24
8. Wisconsin 3-5 17-16
9. Penn State 3-7 25-11
10. Indiana 3-8 20-20-1
11. Minnesota 1-11 12-25

Friday's Game
IOWA 0
LP: Weil (17-9)
MICHIGAN 3
WP: Ritter (14-4)

Saturday's Game
IOWA_1
WP: Weil (18-9)
MICHIGAN 0
LP: Ritter (14-5)

Sunday's Game 1: Ppd.: Sunday's Game 2: Ppd.
WISCONSIN X WISCONSIN X

MICHIGAN X

MICHIGAN X

Washed Out
Stormy weather cuts weekend short

By Nate Sandals
Daily Sports Writer

4

MADISON - Lightning struck the Michigan softball
team twice this weekend - in the form of bad weather.
On the road to Iowa City for a Big Ten matchup last Fri-
day, the Wolverines' team bus encountered the same band of
storms that wreaked havoc on the University of Iowa campus
just hours earlier.
Even in a large motor coach, the poor weather made the
trip harrowing.
"Really, there was no place to stop," Indian Trails bus driv-
er and driving instructor Thomas W. Sumpster said. "That
was the worst part about it. You held on tight because the
crosswinds were really strong. We got (the team) there safe
and sound, thankfully.
"It was just one of those nights that you hope goes away as
soon as possible."
The gusts were so strong that they diverted the players'
attention away from the movie they were watching.
"We were all watching a really long movie," senior Grace
Leutele said. "The wind was getting to us, and we just saw
brake lights going on and off. It was kind of exciting."
The weather didn't improve Sunday after Michigan traveled
Madison for a scheduled doubleheader against Wisconsin.
Though rain (severe at times) had lingered in the area since
early Sunday morning, the first game of the afternoon started
just 30 minutes late.
The sky was overcast and the wind gusted, but it looked
like the teams would luck out, and the weather would hold.
In the top of the third inning of the first game, with two out
and the bases loaded, Alessandra Giampaolo stepped to the
plate with a chance to break a scoreless tie.
Giampaolo fouled the first pitch out of play. Just as she dug in
for the second pitch, lightning struck, and the players, coaches
and umpires ran off the field.
The weather worsened from that point on. Lightning and
booming thunder continued to strike, and a wind from the
southeast nearly tore the stars and stripes off the flagpole
behind the centerfield wall.
Eventually, the Wisconsin field crew, comprised primarily
of players, managed to get the tarp on the infield.
But the damage was done.
Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said she was upset to see
the weather put an early close to a lackluster weekend for the
Wolverines.
"It was a disappointing end to a disappointing weekend,"
Hutchins said.
The game would have been called sooner, but Hutchins
held out hope that the field could be made ready.
The final verdict didn't come until Hutchins and associate
head coach Bonnie Tholl studied multiple radar images and
asked the Wisconsin staff about the condition of the field.

AROUND THE BIG TEN
Friday's results:
MICHIGAN 3, IOWA 0
WISCONSIN 5, Michigan State 3
NORTHWESTERN 8, Indiana 0
PENN STATE 3, Minnesota 0
ILLINOIS 5, Purdue 1
Saturday's results:
Iowa1, MICHIGAN 0
Michigan State 5, WISCONSIN 4
NORTHWESTERN 11, Indiana 1
PENN STATE 3, Minnesota 0
Purdue 8, ILLINOIS 5
Sunday's results:
MICHIGAN, Wisconsin PPD
NORTHWESTERN 4, Purdue 0
NORTHWESTERN, Purdue PPD
OHIO STATE 9, Minnesota 0
OHIO STATE 9, Minnesota 5
ILLINOIS 6, Indiana 5
ILLINOIS, Indiana PPD
Michigan State 8, IOWA 4
IOWA 4, Michigan State 1
*Home teams in caps

ALEX DZIADOZ/Daily

Michigan coach Carol Hutchins helped to make the tough decision of calling off Sunday's games in Madison.

"This is the hardest decision I make," Hutchins said. "It's
much easier to decide when to take out your pitcher."
Hutchins waited more than two hours before agreeing to
call the game and heading for the bus. At that point, large
puddles had gathered in the outfield, and the tarp covering
the infield floated up and down like a plastic bag caught in
an updraft.
Weather prevented Michigan from playing three confer-
ence games last season.
After a loss to Penn State on April 22, 2005, Michigan
saw the second game against the Nittany Lions on Saturday

and a doubleheader against Ohio State on Sunday cancelled
because of snow in Ann Arbor.
Some couldn't help but notice the irony of the bad weather
in both Iowa City and Madison.
"This weather just has not cooperated," the 16-year bus-
driving veteran Sumpster said. "It just seems like this weather
wants to follow us."
For others, it wasn't irony, but luck that explained the
weekend's weather.
"If we didn't have bad luck we wouldn't have any luck at
all," Hutchins concluded.

Hutchins looks to new lineup for a spark

"HUTCH"-Q-METER
The Michigan Daily softball writers break down
this weekend's games by category. The smiling
face of coach Carol Hutchins measures perfor-
mance, with four faces being the best.

By Nate Sandals
Daily Sports Writer
MADISON - For the first game of Mich-
igan's scheduled doubleheader against Wis-

consin, Michigan coach
Carol Hutchins decided
to mix up the batting
order she has used, more
or less, for the past 14
games.
Senior Tiffany Haas
still led off, but other than

©
.goo

David
VandeVusse

DEFENSE
The 'D' gave up just one run in
two games and was certainly
not at fault in Michigan's 1-0
loss on Saturday. The team
committed just one error and
looked a lot sharper than it
did last Sunday, earning three
h e a d s .1
PITCHING
Jennie Ritter did most of the
work in Iowa, playing a game
and a half. She surrendered
just two hits on Friday and
gave up just one run in a loss
Saturday. If the offense would
have delivered, Ritter would
have won both. Three heads.
9 ,
OFFENSE
The Wolverine offense failed to
produce this weekend. It scored
three runs in game one but was
shutout in a loss to the Hawk-
eyes Saturday. Michigan mus-
tered just one hit in the contest
and failed to give run support to
pitcher Jennie Ritter. One head.

that, similarities to the old lineup were rare.
In the two-hole, Hutchins used rightfield-
er Stephanie Bercaw, who had previously
occupied the sixth spot in the lineup.
The previous No. 2 hitter, Alessandra
Giampaolo, completed the swap and hit
sixth for the first time all season.
Hutchins also made a switch in the heart
of the order.
Senior Becky Marx, the regular clean-up
hitter, moved up a spot to third, swapping

with sophomore slugger Samantha Findlay.
Marx has 10 home runs on the season,
and Findlay has six.
Senior Grace Leutele held her usual fifth
spot in the lineup; Rebekah Milian, usually
the eighth hitter, batted seventh.
Freshman Teddi Ewing started her first
game out of the bottom spot in nearly a
month, moving up to eighth. Designated
player Michelle Weatherdon, the latest can-
didate to fill a much-needed hole in the Wol-
verines' lineup, stepped into the nine-hole,
previously occupied by Ewing.
Hutchins said the lineup changes were
made in an effort to spark the Michigan
offense.
"I just wanted to switch things up,"
Hutchins said. "Sometimes you shake it
up and it works, and sometimes it doesn't.
We're trying to get some chemistry in our
lineup."
The coach denied that Giampaolo's drop
from second to sixth on the lineup card was
due to poor performance.
BEN SIMON/Daily
Sophomore
Samantha
Findlay got
a hit and
scored a run
Friday at
Iowa.
Leutele followed with a walk to reload the
bases, and Bercaw got drilled with a pitch to
force in another Michigan run. A two-out sin-

PLAYS AT THE PLATE: In the final three
Michigan at-bats before bad weather struck,
the changes appeared to have the desired
effect.
Michigan recorded four hits in 2 2/3
innings, including a triple by Milian.
Twice in the early part of the game, Michi-
gan had runners in scoring position with less
than two outs. Twice, runners were tagged
out at home to end the threats.
In the first inning, with two out and run-
ners on first and second, Leutele hit a single
to leftfield. Hutchins chose to send Marx
home from second base. The leftfielder had
the ball before Marx reached third, and she
was out by three steps.
The second play at the plate came in the
second inning.
Milian hit a triple to the left-centerfield
gap with one out. The next batter, Ewing,
hit a groundball to the shortstop. The infield
was drawn in, but Milian broke for home
anyway. Again, the Michigan runner was
out by multiple steps.

"We were getting some-good contact and
good at-bats here," Hutchins said. "It's too
bad we didn't get to finish."
BIG TEN RACE: With Sunday's games
cancelled, Michigan didn't have a chance
to climb back atop the Big Ten standings.
Going into Sunday's games, Michigan
(6-2 Big Ten, 26-11 overall) was a game
behind Michigan State (8-2, 30-14). The
Spartans' doubleheader split with Iowa on
Sunday maintained Michigan State's one-
game lead, but the current Big Ten lead-
ers now have two games in hand over the
Wolverines.
The cancellation of the two games against
Wisconsin adds importance to the final
games of the conference season, especially
the two contests against the Spartans on
May 6 and 7 in East Lansing.
"You always want to have a chance to win
the conference," Hutchins said.
It's unclear whether or not the weather
hurt those chances for Michigan, but it cer-
tainly didn't help them.

FRIDAY'S GAME
Michigan 3, Iowa 0

SATURDAY'S GAME
Michigan 0, Iowa 1

A

Nate Sandals

Michigan (26-10, 6-1)
Player AB R H BI
Haas 2B 3 0 1 0
GiampaoloCF 3 1 1 0

Iowa (25-15, 4-3)
Player AB R H BI
May SS 4 0 0 0
Heidgerken CF 3 0 2 0

Michigan (27-11, 6-2)
Player AB R HE

Iowa (27-15, 5-3)
BI Player AB R H BI

Haas 2B 3 0 0 0 MaySS
Giampaolo CF 2 0 0 0 West PR
Findlay 1B 2 0 0 0 Heidgerk

3 1 1 1
0 0 0 0

Findlay 1B 3 1 1 0 Nichols 3B 3 0 1 0
Marx C 3 1 0 0 Riemersma 2B 2 0 0 0

er

Leutele 3B
Bercaw RF
Danis DP
Milian LF
Ewing SS
Ritter P

3 0 0
2 0 0
3 0 0
3 0 2
2 0 0
0 00

0
1
0
1
0
0

Downs DP 0 0 0 0
Murray RF 3 0 0 0
West PR 2 0 1 0
Baugh C 2 0 1 0
McGlaughlin PH 0 1 0 0
Gerlick LF 3 0 0 0
Arnold PH 3 0 0 0
Ackerson 1B 3 1 1 2
Sargent PH 0 0 0 0
Weil P 3 010
22 0 2 0

Marx C 2
Weatherdon PRO
Leutele 3B 3

0
o
0

1
0
0

0 Nichols 3B
O Riemersma
0 Downs DP

m CF
i 2B

4
3
4

00
0 2
00

0
0
0

Bercaw RF 1 0 0 0 Amoid PR

2 0 1 0
0 0 0 0
2 0 0 0
3 0 0 0

Danis DP
Ewing SS
Worthy PH
Milian LF
Wilson P

2 0 0 0 Murray RF

1
1
2
0

0+
0
0
0

0
0
0
0

0 Baugh C

Amber Colvin

0
0
0

Gerlick LF 1 0 0 0
McGlaughlin PH1 0 0 0
Ackerson 1B 3 0 1 0

Ritter P 0 0 0 0 Spratt PR

0 0 0 0

HAWKEYES
Continued from page 1B1

Weil P 0 0 0 0
Total 19 0 1 0 Total 26 1 51

Totals 25 3 5 2

I

I

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