The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, April 29, 2003 - 17
Softball crushes foes
Men's track takes sixth place
By Megan Kolodgy
Daily Sports Writer
By the time freshman pitcher Jennie
Ritter stepped on to the mound yester-
day to face Big Ten batters for only the
second time in her college career, the
Wolverines were already up 9-0 over
Indiana. When Ritter replaced pitcher
Nicole Motycka, she provided the
crowd with a foreshadowing of what is
to come next season when both Motyc-
ka and senior captain Marissa Young
will have graduated.
In Ritter's two innings of work
against Indiana, she showed that she
could at least hold her own in one of
the toughest conferences in college
softball.
Ritter gave up only one run and two
hits and finished up the day by striking
out three Hoosiers.
"It was exciting," Ritter said. "This
is the Big Ten, and it's something that
you want to do well with."
The pitcher attributes her success on
the hill to the tutelage she has received
in her first year as a Wolverine.
"It's definitely been a learning sea-
son," she said. "I learned where to
throw, what to do, and I've learned so
much after only one year."
She has learned to maintain her
composure while keeping the mindset
that she ca ee take it av o
thoughtlessly whip the ball across the
plate.
"The biggest thing I've learned is
realizing that every single batter up
there is the best," Ritter said. "You
can't just blow it by anybody. You have
to hit every spot every time."
Michigan's starters used the third
inning as batting practice with doubles
by both freshman Grace Luetele and
Motycka, a solo homerun by Young, as
well as runs by Meghan Doe, Court-
ney Betley, Jessica Merchant, Motyc-
ka and Leutele. By the end of the
inning, the Wolverines were up 9-0,
where they stayed for the remainder of
the contest.
Michigan spent the earlier portion of
the weekend trouncing Indiana in the
first game of the doubleheader, 9-1.
On Friday, it defeated Purdue in a close
2-1 victory, and beat the Boilermakers
again on Saturday, 3-2.
The four conference victories
improved the Wolverines' Big Ten
record to 13-3. Illinois' two losses to
Iowa moves Michigan from third to
first in the conference standings.
Yesterday the Wolverines were
selected to host one of eight NCAA
Regionals. The event will take place
from May 15-18, with the winner
advancing to the Women's College
World series, which will take place in
By Ellen McGarrity
Daily Sports Writer
This weekend in the Penn Relays,
Michigan's distance medley relay team
took first place, its 4 x 1500 team took
fourth, and its 4 x 800 team placed sixth,
leaving Michigan in sixth place overall.
"It was a great weekend - one of the
best we've ever had at the Pn Relays,"
Michigan coach Ron Warhurst said.
Freshman Andrew Ellerton, and soph-
omores Nate Brannen, Nick Willis, and
DarNell Talbert composed the winning
distance medley relay team.
Willis ran the first leg in 2:49.7, earn-
ing him the honor of "Outstanding Man
in A Relay Event." His fast time also
gave second-leg runner Talbert a little bit
of a head start.
Ellerton was in charge of the third leg
and when he handed off the baton, Bran-
nen was left two meters behind
Arkansas' Alistair Craig. Craig deliber-
ately ran slow the first half of his leg,
thinking that he could still win the race
even without his fastest efforts. But after
the first half mile, Craig's plan backfired,
and the other teams caught up.
"At that point, it was like a 14-man
race." Brannen said. "Then it came down
to the last 600 meters and we just started
flying in. I took the lead at 200 meters to
go, and then he was back on me until the
end."
Warhurst admitted that he was worried
when Brannen shot ahead of Craig with
200 meters to go.
"I thought, 'Oh my god, he might have
gone too soon,' but finally Nate edged
away from him (to take the win),"
Warhurst said
The University of Michigan
Department of Recreational Sports BO5
REC Intramural Sports Program REC
SPORTS www.recsports.umich.edu SPORTS
lNTrAtdRALS 734-763-3562 INTRAMUIALS
Entries taken:
Thurs, 05/01 ONLY
5:00 PM
IM Building
-Entry Fee:
$70.00 per team
Manager's Meed*g:
MANDATORY
Thurs, 05/01
5:00 PM
IM Building
Play begins:
Sun, 05/04
Elbel Fields
scftba II
Entries taken:
Thurs, 05/01 ONLY
6:30 PM
IM Building
Entry Fee:
$40.00 per team
- Man"ge's Meeting:
MANDATORY
Thurs, 05/01
6:30 PM
IM Building
Play begins:
Tues, 05/06
Elbel Fields
Sand Volleyball
Entries taken:
Thugs, 05/01 ONLY
8:00 PM
IM Building
Em"ryFee:
$20.00 per team
r Manager's Mieng:
MANDATORY
Thugs, 05/01
$r~s~a ;8:00 PM
IM Building
Play bans:
Tues, 05106
Elbel Fields
3-on-3 Basketball
r
r
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Entries taken:
Thurs, 05/01 ONLY
7:30 PM
IM Building
Entry Fee:
$45.00 per team
Manager's Meeting:
MANDATORY
Thurs, 05/01
7:30 PM
IM Building
Play begins:
Tues, 05/06
Elbel Fields
Roller Hockey
The entry deadline for the Golf Scramble Is Wednesday, May 28th at 2:00 PM
III
Umpires are needed for Spring Softball Offcial's clinic
wil take place Tuesday, April 2" at 6:30 PM
The clinic will be held at the Intramural Sports Buldng
Please contact David Slegie at
763-3562 for more Informaion.
A
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eM
Needed