The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, April 9, 2414 - 7A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, April 9, 2014 - 7A
Driesenga, Betsa continue
dominance on the mound
LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily
Ffth-year senior Ben Ballantine will earn the starting nod Thursday when the Wolnerines welcome Nostre Dame.
M'eyes Irish rematch
By ZACH SHAW Dame, Illinois or the New
Daily Sports Writer York Yankees, we still have to
compete and play our game."
Nearly halfway through the The desire to win is
Big Ten season, the Michigan showcased in Bakich's decision
baseball team is still searching to list senior right-hander and
for its identity. season-long ace Ben Ballantine
During the first eight games as the starter.
of their After struggling in Friday's
homestand, 7-6losstoMinnesota,Ballantine
the Wolverines Notre Dame is looking to accomplish exactly
showed at Michigan what he did against Notre Dame
glimpses of on March 1, in which he pitched
greatness on Matchup: 5.2 shutout innings, striking
the mound, at 10-20; out six while allowing just five
the plate and Michigan baserunners in Michigan's 4-2
in the field. But 14-17-1 extra-inning victory.
after dropping When: Offensively, the Wolverines
two of three Wednesday have improved from their slow
to Minnesota, 7 P.M. start to the season. Quality
Michigan is Where: tay at-bats - ones that result in
still looking to Fisher Stadium hitting the ball hard or getting
consistently on base via a walk - have been
put all Radi e.com increasingsteadily, culminating
the pieces in a season-high 53 percent
together. of plate appearances against
Before going back on the Minnesota.
road, the Wolverines (4-5 Big Michigan went 1-2 against
Ten, 14-17-1 overall) will play the Golden Gophers, but was in
once more in Ann Arbor, this contention the entire weekend
time in a rematch against Notre against one of the many talented
Dame. And though the game Big Ten teams.
has no impact on either team's "We were two hits away from
conference title aspirations, going 4-0 this past week, but
Michigan coach Erik Bakich things didn't go our way and
isn't taking any breaks. we ended up 2-2," Bakich said.
"Conference game or non- "It was our best quality at-bat
conference game, it's still a weekend of the season, we did
game," Bakich said. "It doesn't a nice job of putting the ball in
matter to me - we still want play, and that was reflected in
to win. I don't care if it's Notre the runs we scored and hard
contact we made. More often
than not, that will result in
success for us."
Success against the Irish (1-14
ACC, 10-20) will require more
than just luck. After facing No.
1 Florida State, Notre Dame will
seek revenge in Ann Arbor with
more hunger and experience.
"We both had the same
struggles early on," Bakich said.
"We were both getting new
fields during the offseason, and
didn't get the same amount of
reps that either of us would've
liked.
"The game was early in the
year, but it went into extra
innings and was a pretty evenly
matched back-and-forth game.
"Playing in the ACC, they
don't have the record they want
to have. But they're certainly
going to be battle-tested,
and we expect it to be a good
opportunity to compete."
Before returning to the Big
Ten slate, the Wolverines will
look to put it all together to end
their homestand on a strong
note - and perhaps finally find
their identity. According to
Bakich, the formula is simple.
"We know what we do when
we win," Bakich said. "We force
a lot of contact on the mound,
play good defense, and we get
timely hits and have a lot of
quality at-bats.
"When we do that, we're
undefeated."
Pair of aces
combines for five-
inning one-hitter
By JAKE LOURIM
Daily Sports Writer
Freshman. right-hander
Megan Betsa pitched a no-hitter
last week against Detroit.
Tuesday against Western
Michigan, the Michigan
softball team switched it up - it
tried for a combined no-hitter
between Betsa and junior right-
hander Sara Driesenga.
The Wolverines would have
gotten it had it not been for a
one-out bloop single in the fifth
inning.
That's how things have been
in the circle for the past month
- anyone coach Carol Hutchins
puts out there, including junior
left-hander Haylie Wagner,
does the job.
"It definitely gives us a huge
advantage when there's three
of us," Driesenga said. "When
we're all healthy, that gives
(Hutchins) more options. We
could just split games and we'd
be still effective if all three of us
are feeling good."
Tuesday, Driesenga and
Betsa stretched Michigan's
streak of innings without an
earned run to 28. If not for a
second-inning error by senior
first baseman Caitlin Blanchard
on Sunday against Ohio State,
the Wolverines would not have
given up a run since March 29.
Even then, Wagner went
out with a 12-run lead in the
fifth inning and, according to
Hutchins, was just trying to
end the game before the rain
postponed it. Before that, the
streak stretches back to the
previous weekend.
Wagner pitched a complete-
game one-hitter Saturday
against Ohio State and
continues to lead the Big Ten
with a 0.94 earned-run average,
so Hutchins decided heading
into Tuesday's game to split the
innings between Driesenga and
Betsa.
"I wanted her and Sara both
to get some innings today and
just keep working on their
game, regardless of what their
opponent was doing," Hutchins
said. "We can't control the
opponent, so just control what
you do and your pitches."
Because Hutchins has
divided the innings for most of
the season, the Wolverines have
only one of the Big Ten's top
19 pitchers in innings pitched.
They do, however, have three
of the top six in earned-run
average.
After a slow start, Driesenga
has given up only one run
in her past 25.2 innings. She
retired nine of the 10 hitters she
faced Tuesday and did so even
more efficiently than Sunday
against Ohio State. Including a
first-inning, seven-pitch walk,
Driesenga got ahead of eight of
10 hitters.
Betsa has started a hot streak
more recently. In the first Big
Ten outing of her career, she
walked two and gave up two
earned runs in one-plus innings,
getting pulled after a solo shot
to lead off the second inning.
The following weekend at
Penn State, Hutchins started
Wagner twice and Driesenga
once, sitting Betsa the whole
weekend.
around for her. Since then, the
freshman hasn't surrendered
an earned run and has struck
out 22 in 13 innings, making her
arguably the most dominant of
the three in the past week.
"I think she got determined,
and I don't know if that Penn
State weekend affected her, but it
was intended to," Hutchins said.
Betsa has changed her
routine a bit, throwing bullpen
sessions with a blue cutout
to simulate a hitter. She also
started coming in on Mondays,
normally the team's off day.
Tuesday, a flyout to left field,
grounder to third and bloop
single were the only balls in play
in two innings against Betsa.
The freshman fanned four,
mixing up the pitches and
throwing her live rise-ball up in
the strike zone.
A five-inning one-hitter
against Western Michigan
hardly translates to success
down the road - as Driesenga
said, it's sometimes hard to play
at 100 percent all the time.
But after a brief shake-up
in the first two weekends of
the Big Ten season, Michigan
appears to have three of the
best pitchers in the Big Ten in
JAMES COLLER/Daily
Carol Hutchins rotates three pitchers who rank in the Pig Ten's top six in ERA.
WOMEN'S GOLF
Wolverines suffer setback
at Web.com Intercollegiate
Michigan fini
15th of 18 tear
Florida tourna
By NATHANIEL Cl
Daily Sports Writ
It was a rough two
the Michigan wome
team.
One week after
second at the Hoya Inv
the Wolverines
themselves in 17th place
teams following Mond
at the Web.com Interc
in Jacksonville, Fla.
Despite a comeback
all Michigan could mus
tiefor15thinits lasttou
before Big Ten Champi
"We didn't
exactly bring
our best to this
tournament,"
said Michigan e
coach Jan
Dowling. Ou
Freshman
Grace Choi tc
was the
Wolverines'
best
performer, but even
only able to climb as
a tie for 50th place ou
100 golfers with a total
227. Her bright spots
scoring 75 in both of
two rounds with birdie
18th hole.
Senior Lauren Groi
an especially disap
tournament, especiall
shes her recent success. Fresh off
her runner-up finish one week
ns in ago, she managed to tie for 52nd
place with 228, which included
iment 11 bogeys and three double
bogeys. She did, however,
LARK manage five birdies including
er one on the 8th and 9th holes in
the first round.
days for "Neither (Choi nor Grogan)
n's golf could say that it was their best
round," Dowling said. "But this
placing tournament did show both of
itational, them the things they needed to
found work on here in the next two
eout of18 weeks."
ay's play Sophomore Catherine Peters
ollegiate finished in a tie for55th with 229,
mostly due to an 80 in the first
Tuesday, round with two double bogeys
ter was a and one triple bogey. She turned
rnament things around in the second
onships. and third rounds with scores
of 75 and 74,
respectively,
"W e didn't which led the
team for that
XaCtly bring stretch.
Senior
.r best to this Yungee
Lee fell the
)urnanent." farthest of
Michigan's
golfers. She
placed into
she was a tie for 76th with 233 after
high as finishing 10th last week. She did
at of the notch four birdies during the
score of tournament, though, including
featured one on the 17th hole of the third
the first round.
s on the But it was fellow senior
Alyssa Shimel who had arguably
gan had the toughest day of any of the
pointing Wolverines. An 83 in the third
y given round that was devoid of birdies
dropped her to a tie for 78th
with 235. Beforehand, she led
Michigan with a score of 152
after the second round.
"The third round definitely
got away from (Shimel),"
Dowling said. "She can take back
some confidence, though, in that
she had two decent rounds."
In spite of this week's
lackluster tournament,
Dowling was pleased with the
Wolverines' overall progression
this season. She commended
the cohesiveness of the team
and pointed out that Michigan's
average scores have been much
lower in the spring than they
were in the fall. After playing
five tournaments in the past
six weeks, the Wolverines will
certainly appreciate the two-
week break before Big Ten
Championships.
Nevertheless, Dowling
stressed that minor adjustments,
not major changes, are key
to success in this year's
championships.
"Sometimes, when you play
a lot of tournaments, you fall
back into old habits, which was
part of what happened the past
two days," Dowling said. "The
break will be good in that it will
allow us to catch up on sleep
and make the adjustments that
we need to make for Big Ten
Championships."
I
,