4B - March 18, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily:com 4B - March 18, 2013 The Michigan Daily - mi6higandaily.com Lane walkoff highlights Judi Garman Classic By SIMON KAUFMAN Daily Sports Writer As Michigan students celebrat- ed an early St. Patrick's Day across campus Saturday, Michigan coach Carol Hutchins and the softball team celebrated in their own right, winning in extra-inning, walk-off fashion against North Carolina State - and they didn't need any Irish luck. The 1-0 win over the Wolfpack capped off a four-win weekend at the Judi Garman Classic in Fuller- ton, Calif., where No. 15 Michigan beat three ranked teams - No. 2 Arizona State, No. 14 Arizona and No.18 Washington. Strong perfor- mances on the mound and timely hitting helped the Wolverines (21- 7) execute their most successful weekend of the season. "I really felt what we got bet- ter at was persevering and staying even-keeled," Hutchins said. "We kept grindingit out and going after it, and we didn't let ourselves get in our ownway." In the last game of the week- end against North Carolina State, sophomore pitcher Haylie Wag- ner kept Michigan in the game by tossing eight shutout innings and striking out six. Offensively, the team picked up just five hits but scored the game's lone run in the bottom of the eighth inning which was enough for the win. Junior right fielder Nicole Sap- pingfield was put in scoring posi- tion as part of tie-breaker rules that place a runner on second base to begin each extra inning. She advanced to third on a single off the bat of freshman shortstop Sierra Romero which set the stage for senior second baseman Ashley Lane. After working the count to 2-1, Lane hit a shot to the second baseman. Sappingfield, who was moving on contact, beat the throw to give the Wolverines the victory. "(It) was a tough game, and I was impressed by North Caro- lina State's pitcher," Hutchins said. "We did a great job of stay- ing in our game and staying in the moment and grinding it out. That's what Division I softball is." In another close battle, Michi- gan downed the second-ranked Sun Devils Friday morning, 5-4, and then took care of business in the afternoon, defeating No. 14 Arizona, 9-1. In the first game, with the Wolverines down 4-3, senior third baseman Amy Knapp stepped to the plate with runners on second and third. Knapp, who batted in the seven spot for the first time this season, drilled a 1-1 pitch up the middle to put Michi- gan up for good. The hit was one of six that Knapp collected on the weekend. "My approach was just attack," Knapp said. "That's been our motto all year, just attack. And I've really done a good job lately of staying one-pitch focused. That's something that (Hutchins) always tells us to do." In the matinee, the Wolver- ines gave up an unearned run in the first but exploded with the bats later to get the run-rule vic- tory - enforced when one team leads by seven runs after five innings. Michigan scored four in the fourth, highlighted by a blast over the left-field wall off the bat of Romero. The offense didn't stop there. FILEtPHOTO/Daiy Senior second baseman Ashley Lane broke an eight-inning stalemate with a walkoff. In the next inning, the Wolverines took advantage of an error, a walk and an infield hit to load the bases. Sophomore pitcher Sara Driesen- ga knocked a single into left-cen- ter for her 24th and 25th RBI on the season. Knapp followed it up with a base hit of her own to score another run and extend the lead. Michigan.picked up two more runs in the sixth to end the game. The Wolverines' only loss of the weekend came on Thursday against Virginia Tech. After blast- ing three homers in the day's first game against No. 18 Washington to win 6-1, Michigan failed to pro- duce clutch hits against the Hok- ies. After hitting a batter in the fifth, Wagner gave up two singles to let in Virginia Tech's first run. The Hokies would add two more in the sixth against Driesenga, who came on in relief. In Michigan's half of the sixth, the offense was able to produce only one run on a sacrifice fly after loading the bases with one out. In the seventh, the Wolverines threatened to tie the game. With one out, Lane.walked and scored on a Knapp double two batters later. But Michigan was unable to push across the tying run and fell, 3-2. Michigan will change focus now as it enters Big Ten play at home on Friday. Hutchins said she is looking forward to tough opposition in the Big Ten this year as well as getting to play a three- game series against the same team as opposed to the five-game, multi-teamseries that the Wolver- ines have had: "We're still evolving, and you evolve as a team all the way into the postseason," Hutchins said. "Then you just try to survive. We're still keeping our one-pitch mentality, and the kids just have to keep getting better at it. They won't be perfect, but our goal is to get better every day." WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS M' finishes perfect at home By CINDY YU with a 9.875. Beilstein anchored Daily Sports Writer on bars, capping off the rotation with a career-high 9.925 to top Saturday was an emotional the medal stand. night for the No. 3 Michigan "We obviously counted a fall women's gymnastics team's on bars, which is the firs fall we seniors - co-captain Katie have counted this whole season," Zurales, Brittnee Martinez and Plocki said. "I'm pretty fortu- Natalie Beilstein - as it marked nate to be standing here saying their last time ever competing at that, so I can't complain about it. Crisler Center. I'm glad we got it out of the way Led by the seniors, the Wol- before we went into the post- verines (6-1 Big Ten, 17-1 overall) season." defeated Iowa State on senior Michigan redeemed itself night, 196.825-195.125. on the balance beam. Gies led "This group of seniors has put off again for the second event us in a position to legitimately in a row and scored a 9.800 for contend for a national title," her solid routine. Martinez and said Michigan coach Bev Plocki. sophomore Annette Miele fol- "That's a pretty nice legacy. lowed with scores of 9.850 and We've only got three routines 9.825 to finish second and third, new to our lineup over (the) last respectively. Cyclones sopho- year. The resiliency this team more Caitlin Brown secured a showed hanging in there last 9.875 to top the beam standings year and getting through it, not with a routine highlighted by a to mention how much they've difficult backhandspring to one- improved from last seasonto this handed backhandspring to back (year) has been very impressive." layout step-out flight series. This win was not only the The Wolverines finished. third victory over Iowa State of strong on floor. Sampson, the the season, but it also marked the top floor exercise worker in the completion of the regular season nation, scored a 9.925 to win the with an undefeated home record. event for the seventh straight "Throughout my four years of week. When she landed her final being on this team, I don't think tumbling pass, the audience we've ever had a season like erupted into monstrous applause this," Beilstein said. "We're calm. with chants of "10." We're relaxed. I think we're real- "I have to admit, I was a little ly confident hitting our routines, upset," Plocki said. "I thought and I think it's been showing." that floor routine tonight was Michigan junior co-captain absolutely a 10. I don't know Joanna Sampson - the No. 2 all- where they found deductions in around gymnast in the country that. I thought every landing was as of March 5 - won her seventh perfect, and her tumbling was all-around title of the season sky high, but I'm not the judge." with a 39.500. Junior Reema Zakharia tied The Wolverines began the Iowa State junior Henrietta meet by tying their season-high Green for second with a 9.875, on vault with a 49.550. Each of followed by a four-way tie with a the top-five counted scores con- score of 9.850 forthird from Beil- sisted of stuck vault landings. stein, freshman Briley Casanova, Junior Stephanie Colbert, who Sugiyama and Cyclone junior was out last weekend resting her Milan Ivory. legs, led off with a Yurchenko "I wouldn't say it was my best full that scored a 9.875, good for performance - at least not on 4 third place. Zurales followed my landings - butI would say it with an identical vault with more was excitingto get back outthere distance on the landing, scoringa one last time at Crisler," Beilstein 9.900 to finish second. The Wol- said. verines dominated with a three- Zurales uncharacteristically way tie for first from Beilstein, lost momentum and fell on her Sampson and freshman Austin front tumbling pass, but because Sheppard. of the strong performances from "It was the first one I stuck in her teammates, her score was competition, and I really justhad dropped. the best feeling ever," Sheppard "This is just an emotional said. "I've been practicing sticks night for our seniors," Plocki all week, and I tend to do them said. "The whole entire team only in warm-up in competitions, wants it so badly for the seniors so to actually be able to doit was so I think they try a little too amazing." hard and sometimes, trying too Iowa State started on the hard is a problem." uneven bars and scored a 48.975 Beilstein has applied for a red- for a rotation filled with pike shirt, as she sat out her junior Tkatchev release moves. Michi- season after injuring her Achil- gan took the lead from the first les. event onward and never relin- "It's definitely a possibility," quished it. Beilstein said. "Having that year After swapping events, the off last year was definitely one of Wolverines 'struggled on bars. the hardest things I've done in The first two competitors, junior my career, so I'm excited to have Shelby Gies and sophomore one more year." Sachi Sugiyama, fell on their Martinez and Zurales are straddle Tkatchev and Gienger having the best seasons of their release moves, respectively, careers. Martinez plans on pur- Zurales, the third gymnast up, suing coaching in northern Cali- hit under pressure and tied fornia and Zurales plans on going Sampson for.second on the event to medical school. Without Biondi, Wolverines drop two of three in South Carolina Michigan struggles after centerfielder suffers sprained thumb By MAX COHEN Daily Sports Writer Anyone who has seen the movie "Moneyball" knows the importance of on-base percent- age. The absence of senior out- fielder and leadoff hitter Patrick Biondi hurt the Michigan base- ball team as it went 1-2 at the Chanticleer Classic in Myrtle Beach, S.C. over the weekend. The Michigan offense was stag- nant all weekend with Biondi's team-leading .493 on-base per- centage sidelined with a sprained thumb. It scored only nine runs over the weekend. Not only did the offense miss Biondi, but it also missed injured sophomore catcher Kevin White, who didn't play in the last two games of the weekend after sus- taining an injury Friday night. The lack of run production com- bined with average pitching prevented the Wolverines from earning the sweep they wanted, as they dropped two games to Coastal Carolina (9-10) before defeating Akron (2-16) on Sun- day. "We've got to be able to over- come acouple of injuries," Bakich said. "We're certainly not going to make excuses for that." On Friday, Michigan fell to the .Chanticleers, 8-4, after blowing a 3-0 first-inning lead. Coastal Carolina made a bevy of mistakes in, the inning including. three errors, three wild pitches, two walks and one hit batter, allow- ing the Wolverines to score three runs while only recording one hit. "That game was right where we wanted it to be, and we let them back in after they gifted us a few runs," Bakich said. - Though it ended up com- mitting five errors .in the game, Coastal Carolina used two big Sophomore centerfielder Patrick Biondi is batting .393, but a thumb injury left a void in the leadoff spot for Michigan. innings to recover and break the game open. The Chanticleers knocked ' around Michigan's pitching, as they recorded 12 hits and capitalized on the six free passes and one hit-by-pitch. Saturday's game had a very different feel, though, as Coastal Carolina shut down the Michi- gan offense and built a 6-0 lead, before the Wolverines man- aged to score twice in the ninth inning. After two consecutive scoreless starts, freshman pitch- er Evan Hill struggled, allow- ing five earned runs in just 4.1 innings. "No starting pitcher is going to sustain scoreless outings," Bakich said. "He hadn't given up an earned run in two starts prior to this one, so that's just base- ball." Biondi's absence was espe- cially felt on Saturday, particu- larly when his replacement in the leadoff spot, junior outfielder Michael O'Neill, went 0-for- 5. The next four batters in the Michigan lineup went 4-for-17 in the game with only one RBI after freshman second baseman Jacob Cronenworth singled in the final run of the game in the ninth. "We just came out soft in the first two games and really didn't play to our potential," Cronen- worth said. On Sunday, the Wolverines, failed to pull away from a Zips team that has had few good games this season. Michigan was able to score two runs in the sec- ond inning without getting a hit after Akron pitcher Pat Dyer hit two batters, walked another and committed an error in the field. Senior pitcher Ben Ballantine, the Wolverines' starter, grinded through 4.1 innings, allowing two earned runs while strik- ing out five batters and walking two. With the game close, the Michigan bullpen came in and shut down Akron, allowing just three runners to reach base in 4.2 innings. The offense contin- ued to struggle for the Wolver- ines until freshman shortstop Trevor Maezes singled in sopho- more outfielder Zach Zott to give Michigan the 3-2 lead, which it held for the remainder of the game. But the victory on Sunday didn't make Bakich feel much better about his team's perfor- mance this weekend. "The losirig part is frustrat- ing," Bakich said. "When we don't play to our potential, that's really frustrating. I'm not happy with today's win because we didn't play well today. We didn't play to our potential in any of the three games."