DAILY SPORTS BREAKS DOWN THE WEEKEND THAT WAS
2B - Monday, March 19, 2007
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
-
SAID AND HEARD
"We were the No. 2 seed, they were the No. 3
seed, but it really looked like we didn't even
exist when we watched it. Yeah, it's motivating
- it kind of pisses everybody off a little bit. "
- Michigan goalie BILLY SAUER on the Wolverines re-
ceiving little attention from the national media.
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
ALEX VANDERKAAY
MEN'S SWIM/ DIVING
The junior took home the 400-yard individual
medley title at last weekend's NCAA Cham-
pionships. Vanderkaay's title was just one of
three finishes that earned him All-American
honors on the weekend.
0
What happened to the madness?
41
George Mason's miracle run
during last season's NCAA Tour-
nament did two things: drove
many to alcoholism and woke up
the sleeping
giants (a.k.a. =
the power con-
ference teams).
The Patriots
may have been a
feel-good story
for mid-majors
everywhere,
but their suc- H. JOSE
cess only made BOSCH
winning harder
for those mid-
majors this sea-
son.
Think about it. Not a single upset
occurred.
Winthrop and Virginia Com-
monwealth may have been the
lower seeds, but who didn't pick
either one to win their first round
games? (Well, I penciled Duke in
the Sweet 16, so shame on me.)
But it was clear this year that no
highly seeded team wanted to be
vanquished by "the next George
Mason." So everything went
according to plan. The favorites
won and days one and two of the
Tournament couldn't have been
more boring to watch. In fact, you
were better off "preparing" for
St. Patrick's Day two days early
than sitting through some of those
snoozers.
As a colleague said after day one,
the beginning of the Tournament
was "March Badness."
But a terrible first round can
only mean a great second round,
right? By Saturday all the sacrifi-
cial lambs were shoved to the side
to make way for the real basketball
teams to play each other - at least
for a day.
The first game was the perfect
way to begin the second round.
Not only did Ohio State almost
become the first No. 1 seed to drop
(one of the best moments of any
tournament), the Buckeyes only
forced overtime because Xavier's
Justin Cage couldn't make the sec-
ond of two free throws to go up by
four with nine seconds remaining.
Oh, and Ron Lewis had to make
a perfect 3-pointer as time expired.
But it's more fun to point out mis-
takes since there's something
slightly satisfying in watching
someone fail on national televi-
sion when it means your pick for
the National Championship is still
alive. But maybe that's just me
(and yes, I picked the Buckeyes to
go all the way. I know I'm a terrible
Michigan fan).
And speaking of people blow-
ing it from the charity stripe, how
about Louisville's Edgar Sosa miss-
ing both free throws in crunch
time when all he needed was one
to tie? It was inevitable he was
going to miss both shots when CBS
flashed the statistic that Sosa was
16-for-16 at the line, but could any-
one predict Texas A&M's Joseph
Jones missing his free throws right
after that?
So after Jones tried to become
the goat, Sosa had a chance to
redeem himself. What did he do?
He held on to the ball for as long
as possible and launched a 3-point
shot from about five feet outside
the arc with someone in his face.
Game over.
Thanks for coming, Louisville.
But the day wasn't all about
goats. Vanderbilt's Derrick Byars
played like a madman in the Com-
modores' double-overtime upset of
Washington State (four 3-pointers
and a late block to keep his team
alive in the second half).
And congratulations to Pitts-
burgh for backing up Lance Fields,
who almost became a goat when he
missed two free throws at the end
of a tie game against Virginia Com-
monwealth.
Unfortunately, all the action
that made up for two crappy days
of Tournament basketball only
lasted a day. Sunday couldn'tmatch
Saturday's excitement.
Tennessee vs. Virginia was com-
petitive, but the Volunteers held
the lead for the last 15 minutes, and
with the exception of a late push
from the Cavaliers, the lead was
never in serious jeopardy.
Everything else was back to
"March Badness."
Now, not a single double-digit
team is in the Sweet 16 and none of
us have a Cinderella to root for. It
may be fun to root for No. 6 seed
Vanderbilt or No. 7 seed UNLV, but
are we really that excited about it?
I'm not.
Hopefully the rest of the Tour-
nament proves to be exciting.
Because a March without the mad-
ness is, well, maddening.
Swing and a miss: Blue gets swept
Blue
falls
off
By COURTNEY RATKOWIAK
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan has traveled from
coast to coast and back again.
And after dropping a double-
header defined by strikeouts and
missed opportunities, the Wolver-
ines are happy to be home.
Michigan lost two one-run
games on Saturday to East Caro-
lina, 2-1 and 3-2, to finish with
a .500 record during its three-
week stretch of early-season road
games.
After playing in Florida, Missis-
sippi and California this season,
the Wolverines (6-6) completed
their longstint as the visitingteam
with two games in North Carolina,
one fewer than expected after the
scheduled Friday night game was
cancelled due to rain.
In the first game of Saturday's
doubleheader, East Carolina (15-
6) struck early with a run in the
bottom of the'first inning. Michi-
gan scored its only run in the sixth
inning, putting men on base with
a pair of walks and reaching home
on a wild pitch.
Freshman catcher Chris Berset
was the lone Wolverine with mul-
tiple hits (two) in the first game.
Sophomore Zach Putnam got the
loss, allowing both of the Pirates'
runs and dropping to 2-2 for the
season.
"The wind was blowing at about
20 miles per hour, so we knew it
would most likely be a low-scoring
game," Michigan coach Rich Malo-
ney said. "We had several opportu-
nities to score. ... We were right on
the cusp, but we just weren't able
to get it done."
The night game spanned 12
innings and nearly four hours. The
Wolverines scored in the first
and fifth and never trailed until
East Carolina's two-out, game-
winning single in the 12th.
But Michigan had difficulty
turning hits into runs, notably
sophomore infielder Kevin Cis-
lo's triple to right-center field to
begin the sixth inning. The Wol-
verines failed to convert as Cislo
was caught stealing at the plate.
Senior outfielder Brad Roblin
had four hits, including one dou-
ble, but was stranded each time.
Michigan left 14 men on base
and struck out 19 times, disadvan-
tages that cost the team the close
game and a winning record on the
road.
"Westruckoutaridiculousnum-
ber of times, and you just can't do
that," Maloney said. "We're going
to have to focus on two-strike hit-
ting and situational hitting, mean-
ing that if there's less than two
outs, we have to stay close to the
center of the field. If we do that,
we'll pick up some runs."
For both games, the East Caro-
lina fan base was still significant,
despite playing during the school's
Spring Break.
"They definitely had their fol-
lowing out there in the outfield,
and they were getting on us a little
bit, but it's a fun place to play,"
said Roblin, comparing the East
Carolina crowd with the fans from
their trip down South two weeks
ago. "When we were down in Mis-
sissippi State (on March 3), they
had 4,000 (or) 5,000 people out
there, lining the fence, and that's
what you want as a college base-
ball player."
As the team returns to Ann
Arbor in preparation for thisweek-
end's home-opening series against
Oakland, Roblin said he and his
teammates are looking forward to
"being home for more than three
days" and-settling into a routine~
on their home field.
And after finishing with an
equal number of wins and loss-
es against solid, nonconference
teams, the players know that they
will have to reduce errors and take
advantage of early scoring chances
to defeat top teams this season -
beginning in five days in front of a
Wolverine-friendly crowd.
"The margin of error isn't that
big, and your opportunities are
definitely numbered," Roblin
said. "It wasn't like we didn't
play good baseball, but (East Car-
olina) capitalized on their oppor-
tunities and that's why they are
a top 25 team. We're certainly
good enough to be a top 25 team,
there's no question, but you have
to make it happen. We just didn't
make it happen."
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We're not sure if you've heard the big news, but
we here at Daily Sports have our own blog.
OK, so it's not exactly breaking news - we've had it for more
than a year. But these days, we're blogging up a storm.
Check it out: michigandaily.com/thegame
pace
ByANTHONYOLIVEIRAu
DailySports Writer
After reaching the 20-win
plateau with just one loss, the
Michigan softball team's season
was shaping similarly to the 2005
National Championship season:
The 2005 Wolverines strung
together 32 straight wins after
dropping their season-opener.
This year's squad had won 16 con-
secutive contests after losing five
games into the season.
But at the Judi Garman Clas-
sic, the chance to go retro was lost,
going a disappointing 3-2 for the
tournament.
"It was a tough weekend for us
but we needed that kind of com-
petition," Michigan coach Carol
Hutchinssaid. "Westillhave some
work to do."
The ninth-ranked Wolverines
(23-3) began the competition on
Thursday and Friday sweeping
pool play against top teams like
No. 12 Washington and No. 24
Florida State. Takingadvantage of
its opponents' mistakes, Michigan
held its own and played error-free
softball to lock up the top spot in
PoolB.
On Saturday, the Classic was
less than memorable.
Facing its highest-ranked oppo-
nent of the season in the knockout
stage, Michigan gave No. S Ari-
zona all it could handle. But when
it came down to opportunities, the
Wolverines couldn't deliver.
As the game held scoreless in
the third, Michigan had the bases
loaded with two outs and sopho-
more Teddi Ewing at the plate.
Arizona pitcher Taryne Mowatt
threw a wild pitch that allowed a
run to score but she maintained
her composure by striking out
Ewing to end the inning.
With the Wolverines unable
to convert further, the Wildcats
struck back inthe nextinningwith
a two-out, two-run single. Arizona
held on to prevail,2-1
Despite the disappointment,
Hutchins was satisfied with her
team.
"I was most pleased with some
of our performances against Ari-
zona," Hutchins said. "We came
downto some particular moments,
which is what we needed to have.
We could have won that game. We
made a couple mistakes that cost
us and as I tell the team, 'When
you get to the highest level, that's
what it is. It comes down to taking
care of business every pitch of the
game.'"
Looking to take out their frus-
trations against Penn State in their
final game of the weekend, the
Wolverines came out swinging,
but not in agood way.
Although Michigan hit in six
of seven innings, it wasn't patient
enough to execute the game plan
See SOFTBALL, Page 3B