RW
8 - Tuesday, April 16, 2013
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The Michigan Daily.- michigandaily.com
'M' rolling into Indiana
By ERIN LENNON
Daily Sports Writer
After eight innings in the
second game of a doubleheader
against Michigan State on Sunday,
the No. 12 Mich-
igan softball Michigan
team (12-0 Big
Ten, 35-7 over- at Indiana
all) passed the Matchup:
halfway mark Michigan 35-7;
to history with Indiana 19-23
its 17th straight When: Tues-
victory. day p.m.,
The longest 4 p.m.
winning streak Where: IU
in program his- Softball Field
tory came in TV/Radio:*
2005 - the year BTN
of Michigan
softball's first
and only national championship -
when the Wolverines won each of
their fir-st 32 games.
In order to break the record,
'Team 36' will have to go unbeaten
through the rest of the regular
season and through the Big Ten
Tournament, which begins on
May 9 at Nebraska.
Already, Michigan coach Carol
Hutchins believes it's possible.
"I think we can be one of those
(elite) teams," Hutchins said.
"We've shown it. We've beat-
en some of the elite teams, but
we've also lost to teams I think
we should've beaten. It's how you
show up every day."
What might be a more attain-
able goal for-this young team is a
record set in 2001, when the Wol-
verines won 16 straight Big Ten
matchups. Thus far, Michigan is a
perfect 12-0 and is set to face two
of the conference's weaker oppo-
nents this week.
It starts with a doubleheader
against Indiana in Bloomington
on Tuesday. The Hoosiers' (3-9,
19-23) only Big Ten wins this sea-
son came against Big Ten bottom-
feeder Penn State and will enter
having been swept over the week-
What win streak?
By JEREMY SUMMITT Pitching. and defense has
Daily Sports Writer always been the philosophy,
week in and week out. Precisely,
The Michigan baseball team they continue to be the ingre-
isn't thinking about its nine- dients that have allowed the
game winningstreak. offense to grill opponents, and
"Once you start talking about why the Wolverines currently sit
streaks, that's in first place in the Big Ten stand-
a good recipe ings. The Michigan offense has
to end them," Notre Dame outscored its opponents 46-11
said Michigan at Michigan during the nine-game streak, but
coach Erik the Wolverines' young weekend
,Bakich. Matchup: pitching staff, consisting of two
To be fair, 9ot e sophomores and one freshman,
the Wolver- gn-14 has been the most evident reason
gan 20-14
ines don't for success.
have much When: Tues- "Our pitching has been excel-
time to think day 4:05 p.m. lent the last few weeks," Bakich
about their Where: Wil- said. "We've had alot of guys that
consecu- pon Complex have been able to come in and
tive week- TV/Radio: pound the strike zone and let our
end sweeps mgoblue.com defense work. You can see their
of Michigan confidence level really improv-
State and ing."
Penn State. Michigan will host But during the non-confererce
Notre Dame (4-8 Big East, 19-14 games, that budding rotation will
overall) on Tuesday before East- probably spend most of the time
ern Michigan comes to town on hanging out in the dugout, as
Wednesday. per usual for midweek match-
Michigan (7-2 Big Ten, 20-14) ups..Bakich said that sophomore
toppled the Fighting Irish, 4-1, right-hander James Bourque will
last week in South Bend, Ind., start one of the games, but the
while an early-season matchup other starter is yet to be named.
against the - Eagles (5-7 MAC, Bourque holds a 4.32 earned-
15-18) was cancelled due to run average is 33.1 innings, and
inclement weather. Notre Dame he's remained steady in his role
has lost a season-high five games as a weekend bullpen option and
in a row, scoring just 12 runs in a midweekstarter since early this
that span. season. It'sunlikelythat whoever
But much like the Wolverines, joins Bourque as the other starter
Eastern Michigan has found its will have started a game this sea-
groove lately, winning six of its son.
last eight games. Many of those Michigan remains shorthand-
wins were against non-confer- ed in pitching options after soph-
ence opponents, and the Eagles omore right-hander Matt Ogden
remain in the middle of the Mid- pitched six scoreless innings
American Conference standings. Sunday in relief of sophomore
Michigan has finally found left-hander Logan McAnallan.
that pitching and defense make But there shouldn't be much
up the best recipe for winning, of a reason that the Wolverines'
even though the combination recent aggressive pitching and
isn't any different from what stingy defense can't add two tal-
Bakich preached before the lies to the win column this week.
opening weekend in California. In fact, it's all Michigan's recipe
But now, the Wolverines are exe- for success has accomplished
cuting. recently.
0
6
Junior first baseman Taylor Hasselbach hit a two-out, pinch-hit home run over the weekend to help Michigan sweep MSU,
end by Purdue.
The Achilles' heal for Indiana
this season has been poor pitch-
ing. Hoosier pitchers carry a team
earned-run average of 3.45, while
the offense has been held to just
over three runs per game. And
against a Michigan offense that
makes quick work out of aces, the
matchup could be a promising one.
The Wolverines have thrived
in the early innings this season,
and, of late, have seen very little
of the sixth and seventh innings.
Through the first 12 contests of
the Big Ten season, Michigan won
via mercy rule in seven games.
Against Michigan State, the
offense scored a total of 32 runs to
complete two run-rule victories. It
marked the fourth straight mercy-
rule win for Michigan and the
16th this season.
"Our rentire game plan the
whole time is hit the low pitch and
lay off the high," said senior sec-
ond baseman Ashley Lane.
Freshman Sierra Romero -
who won her fourth straight Big
Ten Freshman of the Week award
- represents just one power bat
the Hoosier pitching staff will
face on Tuesday. Behind the slug-
ger, Hutchins has gone to several
bench players, namely freshman
first baseman Kelsey Susalla and
senior co-captain outfielder Jac-
lyn Crummey. With Crummey
hitting .475 in limited at-bats and
Susalla contributing with 13 RBI,
it is easyto see why.
"(Romero's home runs) ignited
us. If nothing else, she ignites us.
The kids have had so much con-
fidence in her all year," Hutchins
said.
With two outs in the bottom of
the third inning Friday, Susalla -
who has earned more playingtime
of late - hit her second home run
in as many gaines. Her shot was
the first of back-to-back pinch-hit
home runs from utility players. A
deep bench means pitchers can no
longer afford to walk Romero.
"If one thing isn't working for
us, we pick it up in another area,"
Lane said. "If one person can't do
it, we know another another per-
son can."
Michigan has been doing just as
much damage without swinging
the bat this season.
"The one thing I like about this
team is that nothing fazes them,"
Hutchins said. "They don't seem
to worry about things they can't
control, and that's what I like
about them."
Patience has been a virtue in
two-out situations, especially
when Romero is at the plate. In an
April 6 game against Ohio State,
the Wolverineswalked eighttimes
en route to an eight-run inning.
After the Spartans intentionally
walked the bases loaded with two
outs, Romero hit her second home
run of the weekend.
"I don't think I've seen any-
thing like this (team)," Hutchins
said. "I've seen some explosions
from my teams, but I can't even
remember."
Wolverines jell too late to keep streak alive
0
It takes some perspective to
understand why a 16-12 regu-
lar season is particularly disap-
pointing. After all, a winning
record is a winning record, and
given the brutal competition the
Michigan water polo team faces,
being over
.500 seems LEV
like an FACHER
achievement
in itself. On Water Polo
Believe it
or not, though, the 2013 season
will likely go down in the record
books as the worst year of Michi-
gan water polo. Ever.
Since the program's establish-
ment in 2001- the firstyear the
NCAA sponsored a champion-
ship in women's water polo -
the Wolverines have never won
fewer than 20 games in a given
season. And if you give them a
pass for the program's inaugural
year, that number jumps to 22.
In those 12 seasons, the pro-
gram has won the CWPA West-
ern Division 11 times, the CWPA
Eastern Division Tournament
five times and made five NCAA
tournament appearances.
But this year, Michigan won 16
games in the regular season and
failed to win the CWPA Western
Division for the first time since
2001. Back then, Michigan coach
Matt Anderson was an assistant
at Indiana, working for the man
who is currently his chief adver-
sary, Barry King, who's in his
16th season at the helm for the
Hoosiers.
Anderson had plenty of tal-
ent to work with this season.
Senior attacker Kiki Golden, for
instance, has consistently domi-
nated this year and currently sits
at seventh on the list of all-time
Michigan goal scorers.
Senior goalkeeper Alex Adam-
son also has her eye on the Mich-
igan record books. She has a shot
- depending on how far the Wol-
verines advance in the postsea-
son - to move into second on the
all-time saves list. That would
place her, interestingly enough,
behind former Olympian and
current Michigan assistant
coach Betsey Armstrong,
So what separated this season
_, , ,.
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' . ' .
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Junior driver Audrey Pratt has set career highs this season in points, goals and steals. She's also one of just seven Wolverines to play in all 35 games this season.
from years past?
In short, the Wolverines typi-
cally lose many, but not all, of
their early-season games against
the elite teams, usually West
Coast powerhouses California,
Hawaii and Arizona.
This year, though, Michigan
lost all of those games. Every
single one.
In January's Michigan Kick-
Off Event, held in Ann Arbor, the
Wolverines fell in consecutive
games to No. 3 UCLA, No. 9 San
Jose State and No. 7 San Diego
State.
One week later, Michigan
traveled to the San Francisco
Bay Area, only to fall to No. 1
Stanford in a blowout, No, 9 San
Jose State (again) and No. 4 Cali-
fornia. It didn't end there, either,
The Wolverines lost twice to No.
10 Long Beach State in the next
two weeks, followed by defeats
at the hands of No. -8 Hawaii in
March and No. 3 Arizona State
in April.
Even against No.20 Hartwick,
a league opponent that Michi-
gan beats fairly consistently, the
Wolverines fell, 10-6, on April 6.
Michigan's marquee win this
season remains a 10-9 over-
time, victory against then-No.
12 Indiana in Bloomington on
March 30. It was a hugely impor-
tant victory, no doubt, and in an
intense rivalry game to boot, But
that was the Wolverines' only
marquee win, an obvious warn-
ing sign for Michigan.
In comparison, the 2012 Wol-
verines pulled off upsets against
No. 6 Hawaii, beat No. 14 UC
Davis, took care of business mul-
tiple times against Hartwick and.
hung tight in the season's third
game against No, 3 UCLA.
The year before, Michigan
was even more impressive, at one
point winning eight consecutive
games in Southern California,
six of which came against top 20
West Coast schools.
This year, the Wolverines
relied on their freshman class
more than ever. And the fresh-
men seemed simply too young
and inexperienced in the early
going to be capable of pulling off
a Hawaii or UCLA-type upset.
Understandably, it takes time
for a group of rookies to accli-
mate to college competition and
everything that goes along with
it. Michigan's lack of success in
the early season seems as attrib-
utable to scheduling as anything
else -- you don't see many other
college teams sporting a fresh-
men-heavy roster start their sea-
son with seven straight games
against top 10 competition.
The class did grow into its role,
but it took time. Two freshmen,
driver Presley Pender and two-
meter Bryce Beckwith, ended
up finishing second and third in
scoring for the Wolverines with
33 and 32 goals, respectively.
Freshman driver Ali Thomason
was a valuable contributor as
well, recording 13 goals and 14
assists.
The freshmen seemed par-
ticularly comfortable during a
10-game winning streak in late
March, despite the fact that the
streak came against Michigan's
weakest opponents - a list of
schools that includes Mercy-
hurst and Grove City. That run
gave Michigan a respectable
win-loss record but likely did
little else to improve the team's
stock going into the postseason,
Golden carried the Wolverines
all year. She represented far and
away Michigan's biggest offen-
TODDtNEEDLE/Daily
sive threat, and her 51 goals and
28 assists might have made the
difference between a winning
and losing record in the regular
season. But even Golden couldn't
push the Wolverines over the
edge in close early-season con-
tests ok in recent CWPA Western
Division matchups against Hart-
wick and Indiana.
The year is salvageable, with-
out a doubt. A deep run into the
CWPA Eisterns would probably
do the trick. Actually winning
the event - Michigan's only path
to an NCAA Tournament berth
- would make the 2013 regular
season all but forgotten.
But such a run would be quite
the surprise for a team that has
yet to demonstrate its ability
to compete with the truly elite
teams in women's water polo.
With this team, though, it's
toughto tell.
I