New Student Edition - 9E The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com N Su td Hokie hurler shuts down Blue By RUTH LINCOLN Alessandra Giampaolo will have Daily Sports Writer to settle with just one trip to the Women's College World Series, May 27, 2008 - When Michigan when the then-freshman duo and coach Carol Hutchinswalked into Michigan won the 2005 National the postgame press conference Championship. followingthe Wolverines' 1-0 and "My seniors have established 6-1 NCAA super regional losses careers, and they were part of our to Virginia Tech on Sunday, not a greatest moment," Hutchins said. single player accompanied her. "It wasn't meant to be for them "Just me," Hutchins said calm- this year, and they took us awful ly before she took her seat at the close." table, which she had shared with And the fact that Michigan tied her players at every other post- a season-high with four errors game press conference this post- during its 1-0 loss in game two season. didn't help the cause either. It was just The Wolver- Hutchins there to ines' defense answer questions -inc ich was nearly flaw- about why her Ti C er ptched less in Saturday's team lost back- win, but the con- to-back gamesal tree games, sistently crisp for the first time throws and solid this season. allowing jUSt catches were Only the win- nowhere to be ningest coach in two runs. seen Sunday. Key Michigan history defensivecontrib- was there to rea- utors like second son the decision baseman Findlay, to pull sopho- junior -shortstop more pitcher Nikki Nemitz in the Teddi Ewing and sophomore final game and replace her with catcher Roya St. Clair stumbled. freshman Jordan Taylor in the "The key to (Saturday) was play third, just to bring back Nemitz defense," Hutchins said. "Defense one out and four Virginia Tech startsuon the mound... Ourdefense runs later. -.let us down, and it hurt us." And why after taking game one Meanwhile, the unseeded Hok- 1-0 on Saturday in a tight pitchers' ies had more to enjoy. duel between Taylor and Virginia Virginia Tech coach Scot Tech'sAll-American senior Ange- Thomas anl three of his players la Tincher, the Wolverine defense filled the chairs behind the same faltered and looked the sloppiest table Hutchins had just occupied it had all season the next day. alone. The Hokies rejoiced and "When things don't go our way, recollected how it felt for a team Ilook to the coach first," Hutchins of walk-ons and passed-over said. "I make the decisions. You recruits to upset Michigan. make decisions, and when they Tincher pitched all three work you look brilliant, and when games, allowing just two runs they don't - that's the way it in 19 innings and struck out 15 goes." in game two, the most the Wol- She may have been protecting verines have been struck out in a her players, but there were few game in three years. Wolverines with much to cel- "She seemed to have a differ- ebrate Sunday. ent approach for each batter," FreshmanfirstbasemanDorian Hutchins said. "She didn't give Shaw had her first hit of the us anything to get on. weekend, a solo home run once "I thought we needed to con- the final game was out of reach. tinue to get better and lay off But that still left four Michigan some pitches. I didn't feel we starters hitless in the three-game made adjustments, and that's on series, including senior Samantha us." Findlay. Findlay hoped to help the fourth-seeded Wolverines (52- 8) avoid their third straight super regional loss. But Findlay and fellow senior co-captain Now offering indoor & outdoor tennis memberships for Faculty, Staff ad Students. SIGN UP NOW AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF FREE TENNIS CALL (734)615-9347 FOR MORE DETAILS. www.mgoblue.com/vtc 2250 S. State St. 'M'outed at home in regional By JASON KOHLER Daily Sports Writer June 2, 2008 - The Michigan baseball team thought it would be charging onto the field at Ray Fish- er Stadium after a victory yesterday afternoon. After all, the Wolverines were hosting the NCAA regional. They had already beaten Kentucky a day earlier, so another win over the Wildcats was in their grasp. But the only hugs the Michigan baseball players gave after a 12-6 loss to Kentucky were consolatory ones. "It's over now," junior third baseman Adam Abraham said. "I don't have any regrets. We played hard. In the end we did everything we could, and it just wasn't quite enough." The night before, the 16th- ranked Wolverines (46-14) lost a heartbreaking game against No. 23 Arizona, 4-3, and were pushed into the loser'sbracket. No. 24 Kentucky (44-18 overall) then eliminated the Wolverines from the NCAA Tour- nament. The Wildcats didn't waste time tearing apart Michigan. The best hitting team in the Southeastern Conference (.319 combined batting average) scored seven runs in the first inning. Michigan coach Rich Malo- ney started lefty sophomore Jeff DeCarlo on the mound because of a favorable matchup against Ken- tucky's left-hand-heavy lineup, even though DeCarlo had pitched just 15 total innings entering the game. He still had 15 after the game. Maloney pulled his starter with the bases loaded before he ever recorded an out. "We thought the matchup, left on left, was the right matchup," Maloney said. "As it turned out, we didn't get it done." Junior Ben Jenzen relieved DeCarlo and allowed all three runners to score, letting in four of his own before the inning ended. "If you really look at our season, we only lost 14 times, and teams had to get us in the first inning," Maloney said. "If they didn't get us in the first inning, we didn't lose too many games." Michigan clawed back when junior Zach Putnam hit a three- run home run in the fourth inning, and fifth-year senior Leif Mahler had an RBI double in the fifth to pull the Wolverines within three runs. "In the dugout, we thought we had a chance," Abraham said. "They just came up with some good plays on us. You need to have breaks in this tournament, and we definitely didn't get any breaks." Michigan had chances to close the gap even more, putting run- ners on base every inning. But the Wolverines also left men on base every inning - 17 in all. The Wol- verines actually out-hit Kentucky 16-42, but the Wildcats stranded just five runners. "We just didn't get the timely hits the way we needed to in order to win the tournament," Maloney said. "We just didn't get the hits to knock in the runs. Sometimes that happens." Michigan had arguably its best season in the program's recent his- tory. Its Big Ten record for most wins in a season (26) will likely never be broken because the con- ference season will be reduced to 24 games next year. The Wolver- ines had their most wins in a sea- son since 1989. And for the first time since 1986, Ann Arbor hosted a regional. But all its accomplishments were soured with two losses this weekend. "We were flyinghigh to winthis tournament and had a lot of confi- dence in this team with good rea- son," Putnam said. "It just knocks the wind right out of you." Free Prescription Delivery 1112 S. 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