8 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, May 20, 2002
The icing on the cake
Michigan defeated Ohio State for the sixth
time to earn College World Series berth
0
By Bob Hunt
Daily Sports Editor
A screenwriter couldn't have writ-
ten it better.
The Wolverines faced off against
their biggest rival Ohio State for the
sixth time yesterday, and just like
their other five encounters, they
found a way to reign victorious. This
one was for the ultimate prize, a trip
to the Women's College World Series.
Michigan's 4-0 win captured the
NCAA Region 6 Championship and
earned a berth to softball's biggest
event in Oklahoma City for the sec-
ond straight year and sixth time in
school history.
"They're tough, and they play for
Michigan," Hutchins said. "And they
stay together. This has been one of the
most fun years I have been involved
with, and it's because of the kids."
Starting with the first weekend of
the Big Ten season, the Wolverines
and the Buckeyes have crossed paths
whenever it mattered. Ohio State,
with the nation's second highest bat-
ting average and the Big Ten Player of
the Year in Wendy Allen, had two
heartbreaking losses to Michigan to
start the conference season before
surrendering the Big Ten regular sea-
son title on the final weekend. Then,
at the Big Ten Tournament, Michigan
beat Ohio State twice to capture both
the Big Ten regular season and tour-
nament titles for the first time since
1998.
"Beating them this year has made
Deep sixed
To say that the Michigan has had Ohio State's number this season would be
an understatement. Whether it was regular season, Big Ten Tournament or
NCAA Regional play, the Buckeyes have been unable to slow the Wolverines.
March 31 (Regular Season) Michigan 5, Ohio State 4: Buckeyes have 4-2
lead in fifth, but the Wolverines come back as a Jessica Merchant bases-
loaded walk in the bottom of the seventh wins the game.
March 31 (Regular Season) Michigan 8, Ohio State 2: Just after her walk
wins game one, Merchant hits a three-run homer as part of five-run third
inning to blow the game open.
May 10 (Big Ten Tournament) Michigan 5, Ohio State 0: Freshman Nicole
Motycka baffels the Buckeyes' hitters as she throws a three-hit shutout.
May 11(Big Ten Tournament) Michigan 2, Ohio State 1: Buckeyes are opti-
mistic after they score in the top on the first, but Melinda Moulden's two-run
single in the bottom half of the inning is all Michigan would need.
May 17 (NCAA Regional) Michigan 3, Ohio State 0: Michigan seems to be in
trouble after failing to captailize twice with the bases loaded and one out,
but Meghan Doe's first RBI of the season with two outs in the sixth puts
Ohio State in the losers bracket.
May 19 (NCAA Regional) Michigan 4, Ohio State 0: Having to beat Michigan
twice in order to win the regional, Ohio State commits numerous errors that
led as only one of Michigan's runs being earned.
us stronger, because we have had to
get up to the challenge," Hutchins
said.
And after downing the Buckeyes
again 3-0 on Friday, the Wolverines
took them on again in the champi-
onship game after the Buckeyes upset
top-seeded Washington to win the
losers bracket. Just as the Wolverines
have done in many of their match-ups
with the Buckeyes, they took advan-
tage of key mistakes. With the game
scoreless in the third, senior leadoff
hitter Kelsey Kollen hit a routine
ground ball to Buckeye shortstop
Breana Pozzi, but Pozzi leaned to her
left while the ball was to her right,
letting the ball go into the outfield.
Kollen hustled to turn the play into a
double, putting runners on second on
third with one out.
Then Meghan Doe, whose first
RBI of the season was the difference
Friday, laid down a bunt that was
cleanly fielded by Kristine Himes,
one of the Big Ten's best third base-
men. But Himes threw the ball into
right field, scoring two.
"I'm not sure that we've seen Kris-
tine throw one away this year," Ohio
State coach Linda Kalafatis. "She
knew that the runner was quick and
that she needed to make a play."
The Buckeyes finally had a threat
in the fifth inning with the bases
loaded and two out. Jennifer Link
grounded to the right side of the
infield that first-basemen Melinda
Moulden charged but was unable to
handle. Kollen picked up the ball
and dove on first just before Link
got to the bag to keep the Buckeyes
scoreless.
6
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Marissa Young and Jessica Merchant celebrate after Michigan defea
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"I fielded it like normal but I saw
that (Moulden) was not on the base
and that Jenn Link was a fast kid. I
knew that my only chance would be
to dive," Kollen said.
Michigan responded in the bottom
of the inning when Monica Schock
hit a ball up the middle that went
through the legs of centerfielder Anna
Smith and to the wall, scoring Kollen
iseres Tor e secona siaint myea..
and Stefaine Volpe to put the Wolver-
ines up 4-0 and the game out of reach.
"I haven't seen Anna do that with a
ball since she was a freshman,"
Kalafatis said.
The Wolverines entered a situation
in which they had to just win one of
two games yesterday against the
Buckeyes, because they upset No. 6
Washington, 6-5, on Saturday.
High school teammates square off with WCWS at stake
0
By Bob Hunt
Daily Sports Editor
Saturday it was the battle of Santa Ana.
With a berth to the Women's College World
Series on the line, two of the best pitchers in
the nation dueled against each other as Wash-
ington's Tia Bollinger and Michigan's Marissa
Young took the circle. But the fact that they
have each led their teams deep in the NCAA
Tournament was not the only thing they had in
common.
Bollinger and Young both attended the same
Santa Ana high school. In fact, those weren't
the only two on the field from Mater Dei High
School in California's Orange County. Michi-
gan's Kelsey Kollen and Courtney Bentley went
there as well.
"A lot of my kids knew about Tia Bollinger,"
Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said. "And they
certainly helped us prepare."
Their preparation helped as Bollinger, a for-
mer National High School Player of the Year,
was taken out of the game in the top of the
fifth inning after Bentley and Kollen hit back-
to-back singles and was credited with the loss
in the 6-5 game. But the event was the fact that
four players were on the same field in a game
of such a high magnitude were from the same
high school. Mater Dei has always been known
as a softball powerhouse, qualifing for the Cal-
ifornia Interscholastic Federation finals four
out of the five years that Kollen, Young, Bent-
ley and Bollinger played there, from 1996-
2000, capturing three state titles. And with two
of the country's best pitchers on the same high
school team, such dominance does-
n't seem so far fetched.
"We would alternate with
Tia and Marissa,"
Bentley
said. "It
was a nice.:.
backup to have if
you have two of the
best pitchers in the Michigan's
country on your high Marissa
school team. It was a Young
pretty tough team to DANNY
beat." MOLOSHOK/Daly
The Wolverine left fielder was a co-
captain with Bollinger her senior year
at Mater Dei, and the two were best ,
friends throughout their junior and /
senior years.a
"To think of all the
regionals to, to be sent to have Washii
your ex-co-captain with you," ,, Tia Bo
Bentley said. "It was good to
face her again because I hadn't
faced her in two years."
Such occurances however are " -0.
common for softball players who
come out of Orange County, which pro-
duces more college players than any other
area in the country. In fact, every Big Ten
team has at least one player from the
area. Washington slugger Jaime
Clark, who ripped two mon-'
strous homeruns off Young
on Saturday, played at Mater
Dei's Santa Ana rival, Foothill.
Kollen's expected replacement for next
season, recruit Tiffany Hass, plays
there currently.
"She hit me pretty bad this sum-
mer tooYoung said of her former
rival and summerball teammate
Clark.
- While Clark may have got-
ten the best of Young on Satur-
day, most players enjoy
seeing so many familiar
faces at the college
level from their days
in Orange County.
"Not many of us
know what kind of pitcher
Tia is or what kind or batter
Jaime is," Bentley said. "It
gives us a familiar sense when
we get on the field."
As for keeping the tradition of
Mater Dei players coming to
ichigan alive, anything's possible.
"I felt that Michigan was the place
>r me," Bentley said. "I liked the
oaching staff a lot. I liked the
team, the campus, everything. The
kids go where they want to go. It
just turned out that we all headed
out to Michigan. I know some
girls would like to go to
Michigan because it's a good
program, but if they take a
visit, they can always talk to
us, and we'll give our honest
opinion. But you never know."