4B - Monday, February 11, 2013

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

48 - Monday, February 11, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom

Softball goes 3-1 infirst
weekend series of season

N'S GYMNASTICS
De Los Angeles
joins Mikulak on
U.S. National Team

By SIMON KAUFFMAN
Daily Sports Writer
A grand slam and a combined one-hitter
in Michigan's game against Florida Atlantic
showcased what this year's women's softball
team can be - explosive.
The 15th-ranked
Wolverines kicked off MARSHALL 1
their season by going MICHIGAN 6
3-1 at the USF Tourna-
ment in Tampa, Fla. this MICHIGAN 10
weekend, where they FAU 2
faced four different
opponents. MICHIGAN 2
Play began on Friday S. FLORIDA 3
with 'Team 35' taking
on Marshall. Sopho- MICHIGDAN 4
more pitcher Sara Dri- MICHIGAN
esenga, an All-Big Ten
selection last year, dominated on the mound
in a complete-game effort.
She was perfect through five innings and
struck out 10 while allowing only three hits
and one walk.
"(It was) definitely very big," Driesenga
said. "It's just a really good thing that our-
defense played well. ... We just played tough
and everyone stayed down on it, and kept
attacking it."
On the offensive side, the Wolverines put
up their first run in the bottom of the first
inning withoutputtingthe ball in play.
Junior centerfielder Lyndsay Doyle walked,
stole second, and came around to score on two
consecutive illegal pitches. Michigan would
tally on five more runs over the remainder of
the game, all of which came with two outs, to
defeat Marshall, 6-1.
Doyle and junior left fielder Nicole Sap-
pingfield, who hit in the first and second spots
in the lineup, combined for four of Michigan's
six runs.
"That's what (Doyle and Sappingfield)
are there for," said Michigan coach Carol
Hutchins. "We talk a lot about just doing your
part and what your role is, and the top two in
the order, that's their job. They have good at-
bats and geton base forus."
On Saturday, in their first of two games, the
Wolverines exploded against Florida Atlantic,
winning10-2 in five innings.
A trio of Michigan pitchers combined for

Sophomore pitcherSara Driesenga had 18 strikeouts in 23 innings over the four weekend games.

a one-hit performance, while the Wolverines
put up 10 runs in the fourth inning. The big-
gest contribution came from freshman short-
stop Sierra Romero, who came up with the
bases loaded and three runs already on the
board in the inning. She took the first pitch
she saw over the left-center field wall for a
grand slam, putting Michigan up 7-0. It never
looked back, scoring three more runs in the
inning.
"I think Romero comes in with a lot of
hype," Hutchins said. "She's not the only hit-
ter in our lineup that we're going to rely on,
but her part is certainly to bring home some
runs. ... She certainly is a good middle-of-the-
lineup hitter for us."
The only shortfall during the weekend for
Michigan was a 3-2 loss to No. 12 South Flori-
da - the second game of its Saturday double-
header.
The Wolverines got on the- board first
thanks to Romero's second homerun of the
weekend - a two-run shot in the top of the
first. That would prove to be Michigan's only
runs.
In the circle, Driesenga pitched well, giv-
ing up just two earned runs on six hits, but
an unearned run on a defensive error would
prove to be the difference.

In the weekend finale on Sunday, the Wol-
verines found success again, blanking Sam-
ford, 4-0, with the help of some fine defense
and another great pitching performance.
Pitching in her fourth consecutive game, Dri-
esenga went the distance'on the mound, col-
lecting five more strikeouts - giving her 18
over 23 innings during the weekend.
"I think Sara is just going to another level
here in her sophomore year," Hutchins said.
"She has really progressed forward. ... She
really gave us what we needed because we
needed her to throw a lot of innings. Her job's
just to keep us in the game until our offense
can win it and she did that all weekend long."
Against Samford, Michigan played small
ball, padding a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the
fifth using two hits, a sacrifice bunt, a field-
ing error, and a sacrifice fly to score two more,
puttingthe game at its final tally.
The weekend tournament showcased a
strong Wolverines team, one that will hope to
continue its success at the FAU Kickoff Classic
in Boca Raton, Fla. next weekend. But Michi-
gan is not content with one weekend of strong
play.
"It doesn't matter how good we are right
now," I-utchins said. "It only matters how
good we become."

By ALEX TAYLO
Daily Sports Writer
Several members of th
Michigan men's gymnasti
took their talents to La
this past weekend, with I
making the U.S senior
team. Two such participar
sophomores
Adrian de los
Angeles and
StaceyErvin. "I
The Win-
ter Cup, a USA they
Gymnastics-
sponsored Un
tournament,
helps deter-
mine the 15
members of the
national team.
Because the members
2012 U.S Olympic team at
cally keep their roster spt
seven spots were open
competitors at the Winter
Over the three days of c
tion, De los Angeles earne
ter spot while Ervin just
out.
"I was very happy," said
gan coach Kurt Golder.
guys made Michigan rea
they did very well."
De los Angeles earned
spot by finishing second
all-around. He turned in
of 15.65 on the floor exerci
on parallel bars, 14.70 o
14.35 on rings and 13.30c
mel horse.
"He didn't have a perfe
petition," Golder said. "But
opened a lotof eyes."
The combination of
Angeles and his teammate
Sam Mikulak - who was;
teed a spot via his parti
with Team USA at the 20
don Olympics - was the ta

R tournament.
"One comment I got from an
executive was, 'Michigan has the
e No. 2 best all-around gymnasts in the
ics team country, but the only thing is, they
s Vegas have a better one back home in
hopes of Sam Mikulak.' So that was very
national ,cool," Golder said. "I think we
sts were gained a lot of respect and I think
Adrian gained a
lot of respect."
Mikulak,
don't think who has been
plagued. with
re is another injuries all year
long, didn't par-
iversity that ticipate in the
tournament
has that." due to injury.
Ervin, one of
the 42 finalists,
just missed out
of the on receiving a roster spot. He com-
utomati- peted on floor exercise, parallel
ots, only bars,vault, and on parallel bars. In
for the the finals, Ervin finished third on
Cup. floor exercise and fourth on vault.
ompeti- During the competition, pro-
d a ros- gram assistant Ian Makowske rep-
missed resented Team Mikey's Way - a
non-profit organization that helps
d Michi- children cope with the cancer
"Those treatment.
1 proud, All in all, the Wolverines as a
whole had one of the best overall
a roster performances by any program in
1 in the attendance.
a score "To have two guys who are cur-
se,15.10 rent students on the team, I don't
n vault, think there is another university
on pom- that has that," Golder said. "Two
of the (15) guys are from Michi-
ct com- gan, and I couldn't be more proud.
t he sure And we were very close to having
three with Stacey."
De los Michigan, with its newly mint-
e, junior ed national team members, will
guaran- return to competition on Satur-
cipation day, as it travel to Columbus to
12 Lon- take on Ohio State in its Big Ten
lk of the opener.

Michigan rides out
Spartans at MSU

ByMAX-COHEN
Daily Sports Writer
EAST LANSING - The sec-
ond the referee slapped the mat
to signal a pin for redshirt junior
Eric Grajales, the entire Michi-
gan coaching staff jumped out of
their chairs and delivered a flurry
of fist pumps, seemingly releasing
all of the frustration that comes
with a trying Big Ten season.
With the Grajales pin, No. 19
Michigan (3-5 Big Ten, 9-6 over-
all) came from behind to take a
16-12 lead on its way to a 24-15
victory over Michigan State (0-8,
4-12) in their final dual meet of
the season.
"It's great to be able to be that
turning point in the match where
we needed the points," Grajales
said.
The bonus points Grajales
earned with the pin were cru-
cial for the Wolverines after 125-
pound redshirt junior Sean Boyle
was pinned by Michigan State
junior Brennan Lyon.'
The pin was particularly
surprising given the fifteenth-
ranked Boyle's recent success,
coming off his best victory of the
season against Ohio State's No. 12
Nikki Triggas on Friday night.
Grajales wasn't the only Wol-
verine to help Michigan work
back from its early deficit, as 133-
pound freshman Rossi Bruno
won an 11-1 major decision right
after Boyle's pin.
Bruno accumulated 5:04 of
riding time throughout his match
as he secured a takedown and a
near fall in the middle of the third
period to get the major decision.
Bruno ended his first conference
dual meet season on a high note
after suffering a great deal of
lumps along the way.
"Rossi's been up and down
throughout the whole year and
he goes out there and they get to
their feet and he put the guy on
his head and gets five points and
secures the major," said Michigan

ADAM GLANZMAN/Daily
Redshirt junior Eric Grajales had a pinthat was the turning point of the match.

assistant coach Donny Pritzlaff.
141-pound redshirt junior
Mike Hillock followed Bruno's
major decision with some excite-
ment of his own, posting a take-
down with 10 seconds remaining
on the clock to secure a 4-3 deci-
sion to continue the momentum
swing in the Wolverines' favor.
Grajales brought Michigan's
newfound momentum to a fever
pitch by the time he stepped onto
the mat, completely dominating
his opponent as he earned the pin
in 1:28 after using a quick head-
lock to score five points.
"Eric did a much better job
than he did on Friday night of
being the aggressor," Pritzlaff
said. "The match didn't last very
long and that's fine with me."
With the pin, Grajales finished
his conference dual meets with a
perfect 8-0 record, putting him in

position for a high seed in the Big
Ten tournament.
Like Grajales, 165-pound
freshman Taylor Massa finished
conference dual meets with an
undefeated record at 7-0. Against
the Spartans, he used 11 near fall
pointsto win a 15-0 technical fall.
Culminated by 174-pound red-
shirt junior Dan Yates' 12-5 deci-
sion, the Wolverines won five
of their last six matches against
Michigan State after losing three
of their first four.
Though the Big Ten dual meet
season hasn't been fist pump
worthy for Michigan, the way
the team responded to Boyle's pin
certainly was.
"Sean's your teammate, he's
like pretty much your brother,
it's like now you guys are going
to pay," Bruno said. "It's a lot of
motivation."

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