Page 14
SPORTS
Friday, May 17, 1985 The Michigan Daily
BA TSMEN HOST BIG TEN PLA YOFFS
'M' meets Minnesota
By ADAM MARTIN Indiana and Purdue at 8-8 in the Big
Ten.
With a 24-game winning streak and THE Wolverines square off against
a 51-9 overall record - Michigan's Minnesota at 1:00 p.m. today at Ray
best ever - most would expect the Fisher Stadium. Illinois will battle the
Wolverines to be the favorite at this Buckeyes at 4:00 p.m.
weekend's Big Ten Playoffs. Despite Middaugh's claims, the rest
Not so, says Michigan coach Bud of the field gives Michigan most-
Middaugh. favored-team status.
"THE greatest thing about this "Hopefully, the three of us (Illinois,
tournament is that it'll determine Minnesota and Ohio State) will go af-
who'll be the best on this particular ter Michigan," Illinois head coach
weekend," Middaugh commented at Tom Dedin said last night. Dedin's
the playoff press conference last club no doubt expects to challenge the
night. "To get it done, you have to put Wolverines. The same goes for John
it together this weekend. It's a wide- Anderson's Gopher club, a 30-21
open tournament." finisher. But Anderson, like Dedin, is
Hard to believe, David Letterman reservedly optimistic.
would say. "WE'RE HERE and we've got to
The opponents - Minnesota, Ohio play (Michigan)," Anderson said.
State and Illinois - earned their "Our season has been up and down.
playoff berths in 1985. The Illini Hopefully, we'll be on the up this
captured the Big Ten West Division weekend."
title with a 12-4 conference mark, 46- Michigan has been "on the up" since
19 overall. Minnesota took second in mid-April. In their last 12 games, the
the west, and the Buckeyes won the Wolverines have outscored opponents
second berth in the east after tying 104-25 and out hit opponents 109-53.
Questions remain about the caliber
of Michigan's opponents during the
season, but if history is any predic-
tion, the Wolverines should be as
much of a force in post-season play as
they were in the regular season.
"We're just going at it one game at
a time," Middaugh granted. But as
Anderson put it, "you can't make the
mistakes against Michigan and ex-
pect to win."
Making anything against the
Wolverines might be difficult
tomorrow. Middaugh will throw
freshman Jim agemy at the Gophers
while Bryan Hickerson will face the
Maize and Blue 'from the box. Agemy
led Michigan with a 9-0 record this
season, striking out 34 in 65 innings.
Hickerson, Minnesota's ace, led his
club with an 8-4 mark in 14 appearanc-
es. The 6-2, 195 pound southpaw fan-
ned 61 while compiling a 3.61 ERA in
74 innings.
The numbers speak for themselves.
It's up to Michigan's visitors to
disprove and disarm the favorite.
9
4
" MINNEAPOLIS (UPI)-Monda:
w in s night, Minnesota Twins reliever Ron Da
was in tears after giving up a nin
r inning home run to New York's D
h 4 '!, b la st Mattingly.
. .. T g r On Thursday, Davis was all smiles
HE STRUCK out three in the nin
Daily Photo by DAN HABIB E to earn his fifth save, Tom Brunansl
First baseman Ken Hayward cracked his career record-tying homerun belted a two-run homer and Kir
against Purdue last week. Hayward and the rest of the Wolverines hope Puckett drove in three runs to lift t
they can follow suit when Michigan takes on Minnesota today at 1:00 p.m. Minnesota Twins to a 7-5 victory ov
at Ray Fisher Stadium.
MORROW, PANET TA LEAD WOMEN TO SECOND-PLACE FINISH:
Softballers s it season finale
y the Detroit Tigers.
vis Ken Schrom, 3-2, gave up eight hits,
th- walked one and struck out three in
on eight-plus innings.
The Twins led 7-1 heading into the
Tigers' ninth. But Schrom faltered,
S. giving up the Twins' sixth ninth-in-
th ning homer in the last seven games, a
ky no-out two-run shot by rookie Mike
by Laga. Darrell Evans followed with his
he fourth homer to pull the Tigers within
er 7-4.
By BRAD MORGAN
Led by shortstop Lisa Panetta at the plate and
right-hander Vicki Morrow on the mound, the
women's softball team concluded its season May
10-11 by splitting a four-game series with Min-
nesota to finish 16-8 in the Big Ten and 28-20
overall.
The 16-8 mark was good enough for second place
in the conference, four games behind the North-
western Wildcats. The Wolverines had won three-
of-four games from Northwestern early in the
season, and first-year head coach Carol Hutchins
was upset her team finished behind the Wildcats.
"I HAVE to say that we were shooting for the
top," said Hutchins, who served as 'M' assistant
coach for two years before taking over the top
spot. "After we knocked off Northwestern the first
weekend, we were a little disappointed we didn't
win it.
"I can't say I'm not happy with second because I
am, but still, second isn't good enough."
Throughout the Big Ten season, an inability to
sweep doubleheaders proved to be the Wolverines
downfall. Of the 12 league twinbills, Michigan
could manage no better than a split in six of them.
Hutchins said the team just never seemed to find a
good groove.
"WE STRIVED to be consistently good every
day, not great and not terrible, but good, and we
just never got there. We were definitely an up and
down team, and Minnesota is a good example of
that. We played like the Big Ten champs the first
day (6-2 and 2-0 wins), and the next day, we were a
different team (3-0and 10-6 losses)."
The team's inconsistency certainly didn't rub
off on Panetta or Morrow. Panetta, a senior out of
St. Clair Shores, set season and career marks for
triples, and earned first-team All-Big Ten honors,
hitting .369 in conference play (.367 overall).
Panetta also tied for the team lead in stolen bases
with 14 and tied for second with 17 RBI.
Hutchins praised Panetta, and said her numbers
were a slightsurprise to the coaching staff.
"SHE JUST exploded this year," exclaimed
Hutchins. "We knew she was a good player, but
she just played out of her mind. She was really a
team inspiration."
Morrow, ,a second-team All-Big Ten selection
last year as a freshman, duplicated that feat this
year by going 12-3 in the conference with a 0.96
ERA. Overall, she finished 15-5 and was named
Michigan's Most Valuable Pitcher at the team's
banquet.
"Vicki Morrow and Lisa Panetta were the
biggest factors in our second-place finish," said
Hutchins. "When the going got tough this year,
(Morrow) got tough. Last year, she tended to fall
apart as the going got tough."
TWO WOLVERINES who found the goinga little
tough this year were freshmen Michele Bolster
and Bridget Venturi. Both newcomers were ex-
pected to contribute, but Bolster, a pitcher, and
Venturi, a third baseman, were victims of
"freshmanitis", according to Hutchins.
"It's hard for those freshman to come right in
out of high school," explained Hutchins. "Third
base is a tough way to break in for Bridget, but we
know she'll come back and turn it around, she was
just a little bit scared out there.
"With Michele, we know it's the same thing, and
we know she'll learn from it and bounce back.
We're not worried about them at all."
Besides Morrow and Panetta, Mena Reyman
and Alicia Seegert were also named to the second-
team All-Big Ten squad, and rookie coach Hut-
chins was rewarded for her efforts by being
named Big Ten coach of the year. Reyman and
Mary Bitkoski were named to the first-team
Academic All-Big Ten squad.
At the team banquet, additional awards were
given. Panetta was named Most Valuable Player,
Martha Rogers was named Rookie of the Year,
and Bitkowski took home the Maize and Blue
Award for leadership.
Jordan named NBA
Rookie of the Year
NEW YORK (UPI) -Michael
Jordan, who led all players in poin-
ts during one of the most
remarkable first-year performan-
ces in NBA history, was the
runaway winner yesterday in the
league's Rookie of the Yearvoting.
Jordan, the 6-foot-6 guard of the
Chicago Bulls, beat out Houston
center Akeem Olajuwon in the
voting-57% to 20 . Jordan and
Olajuwon were the only players to
receive votes from 78 members of
the media, three from each league
city and nine members of the
national media.
JORDAN became only the sixth
rookie to lead the league in points
scored with 2,313. His average of
28.2 points per game, third best in
the league, was the highest for a
rookie since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
averaged 28.8 ppg for the
Milwaukee Bucks in 1969-70.
Jordan, from Wilmington, N.C.,
broke six Chicago records and led
the team in just about every
statistical category, including
rebounds (534) and assists (837) to
take the team to the playoffs for
the first time since 1981.
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