This weekend's NCAA Regional marks the last time the No. 2 softball team Mnd plays at home. Catch them while you Monday Cardinals on 'M' dance card Michigan to host Ball State, DePaul and Illinois-Chicago By Rick Reeman Daily Sports Editor The Alumni Field stands will be filled with flat vowels and fans drinking 'pop' this weekend. Michigan will host three other teams from the midwest in the NCAA Regional tourna- ment. The Wolverines (52-5) will host DePaul, Illinois-Chicago and Ball State in the double-elimination tournament. The tenta- tive schedule has the first game Friday at 1 p.m. Illinois- Chicago and DePaul will play in the first game, followed by the Michigan-Ball State game at 3. To the winner? A trip to Oklahoma City, Okla., and the third seed in the Women's College Summer Wind World Series. Top-ranked Two teams from the Windy Arizona will host the top- City will come blowin' into seed regional, and No. 7 town this weekend, along Nebraska will host the sec- with one from Muncie,Ind. ond-seed regional. Muncie has wind, too. Michigan is ranked sec- The pairings at a glance. ond in the nation, but was 1. No. 2 Michigan (52-5) vs. given the third-sd region- alFour teams from the Big 12- Nebraska's conference 2. No. 11 DePaul (45-6) vs. - made the field of 32, 3. lIlinois-Chicago (55-19) while only three Big Ten teams made the cut. Despite hosting three schools not known as athletics machines, Hutchins isn't falling into the bigger-is-better trap. The 1998 Big Ten coach of the year warned that DePaul was "clearly a cut above" the rest of the teams in its conference. But her warning wasn't directed at Michigan rightfielder Kellyn Tate. She clutched her crisp new 'Big Ten Champs' hat in her lap and explained that "it's easy to get up for this." Hutchins mentioned that the field of 32 was the toughest she's ever seen, but wasn't as open about her own regional. "We'll play it, ... I'll tell you afterwards," she said. _ _ -rv -.... .,1. : ..... s .,... n .cm ..K x.w : .'.a "cucz2c... .+....G 1F4 . ..:x' ,.. Ta k t h Softball stuns Iowa twice t take BigTen By Uma Subramanan Daily Sports Writer As the lone tuba played "The Victors" at Alumni Field on Saturday evening, history repeated itself. For the fourth straight year, the Michigan softball te took the Big Ten Tournament crown. The Wolverines (52-5) took a unique path to the championship this time, becoming the first team to come out of the loser's bracket to win the champi- onship. Michigan completed its come- back with 5-1 and 6-1 victories over No. 19 Iowa (37-18). Not only did the Wolverines accom- plish their championship in a way that they weren't used to, they also got great pitching performance from a di - ferent source than usual - sophomore Jamie Gillies. Gillies had the most impressive per- formance of her career Saturday, pitch- ing eight consecutive perfect innings in two games and only giving up one run. "We needed Jamie to go in that first game," Hutchins said. "She pitched some great ball." While the pitching was consistently good over the weekend, the major diff ence between Friday - when they feW to the Hawkeyes - and Saturday came at the plate. See CHAMPS, Page 15 Catcher Melissa Gentile led the Michigan charge out of the loser's bracket in last weekend's Tournament. The Wolverines beat Iowa twice Saturday to claim the title. Golf takes ffth at Big Tens By Jon Zemke Daily Sports Writer The Michigan men's golf team over- came Michigan State's hard course and unfriendly weather for a fifth-place fin- ish at the Big Ten Tournament on Sunday. Michigan was one of only five teams to finish with less than 1,200 strokes, scoring an 1,194, only six strokes from a three-way-tie with Minnesota and Northwestern. "I can't tell you how delighted I am with how we came out," Michigan coach Jim Carras said. He has every right to be delighted with the performance his team put in, with All-Big Ten selection Michael See FIFTH, Page 18 'M' downs Hoosiers' hopes By Jacob Wheeler The renewed confidence that yesterday's victo- Daily Sports Writer ries gave Michigan was important. But the day Cellars are cold, dark places that most sane was absolutely devastating for the Hoosiers, who people try to avoid. were battling Penn State in the standings for the Michigan first baseman Bryan Besco isn't a fourth and final playoff spot. Indiana's season big fan of cellars. He found his team stuck in a also ends tomorrow because the Nittany Lions deep one entering this weekend, the final series took two of three from Purdue this weekend. of the season at Indiana. Resurged by a healthy Besco at first base, But Besco's hitting yesterday and strong pitch- Michigan took a commanding lead early in the ing performances from Brian Berryman and J.J. first game. With one out and the bases loaded, Putz may be enough to pull the Wolverines out of Besco singled to center, bringing in two runs. the dreaded Big Ten cellar. The Wolverines held on to a slim 4-3 lee Michigan (8-15 Big Ten, 20-27 overall) swept behind a strong pitching performance from the Hoosiers convincingly in both ends of a dou- Berryman. But Besco proved his importance to bleheader yesterday, 6-3 and 6-1. Indiana (14-13, Michigan again with a two-run homer in the sev- 29-26) won the series opener Saturday, 11-8. enth, giving his team a three-run cushion. "We were much more relaxed," said Besco, Michigan's reliable closer Tyler Steketee came in who sat out the last six games because of an and slammed the door on Indiana, striking out ulcer. "Our goal was just to get out of the cellar. two of the three batters he faced. We were having much more fun out there " yes- "We've played a whole lot better this week," terday. Michigan coach Geoff Zahn said. His club also The victories ended a six-game conference beat Eastern Michigan last Wednesday, 8-5. drought during which the Wolverines let any "You're team looks a whole lot better when y4e hopes of a Big Ten playoff berth slip away. get good pitching out of them." Michigan concludes its disappointing season The Wolverines fared a whole lot better than with one game today against Indiana. See BASEBALL, Page 17