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 : ) Try All The Winning Vaneties! ', HOT POCKETS' Brand StuffedSandwiches Available at Kroger, Meijer, . 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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 V eM Needed