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Cal denies softball
-World Series berth
By Sharad Mattu
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan softball team planned
on riding the arm of Marissa Young to its
third straight College World Series, but
ran into an even hotter pitcher yesterday.
Defending NCAA champion Califor-
nia scratched out a run in the second
inning and Cal CALIFORNIA
pitcher Kelly
Anderson made it
stand, shutting down No. 3 seed Michi-
gan for a 1-0 win.
The No. 2 seed Golden Bears did
not give up a run in 25 innings this
weekend, and dating back to last year's
World Series, have not allowed a run in
47 postseason innings.
Haley Woods roped a double with a
runner on first in the second, putting a
pair of runners in scoring position. Two
batters later Chelsea Spencer hit a sac-
rifice fly to give Cal the lead.
Michigan's (44-16) best chance at
the plate came in the fourth inning.
With one out, senior Melinda Moulden
singled and Young followed with a dou-
ble. Michigan coach Carol Hutchins
waved Moulden home, but the relay
from right field beat her to the plate.
"I waved (Moulden) in because you
don't get a lot of opportunities to
score," Hutchins said. "I thought we
had a great chance and we still had
In the sixth, freshman Tiffany Haas
reached second base with one out, but
junior Meghan Doe and Moulden both
grounded out to end the threat.
With one out in the final inning, soph-
omore Jessica Merchant followed a walk
by junior Monica Schock with a single.
But senior Lisa Mack struck out looking
andjunior Jennifer Olds grounded out to
second to end the game.
The Wolverines were 4-1 entering
Sunday's game against the Golden
Bears. After cruising by Western
Michigan 8-0 on Thursday, Michigan
struggled Friday afternoon and lost to
Cal, 9-0. The Wolverines played again
right after the loss and bounced back to
crush Wright State, 13-0.
On Saturday, Young single-handedly
kept Michigan's season alive in wins
over No. 4 seed Notre Dame (5-3) and
top-seeded DePaul (3-2), respectively.
Young was on the mound for all 14
innings and struck out 25 batters in the
two games. She had one stretch where
she retired 30 of 31 batters and also
drove in all three runs against DePaul
with a first-inning homerun.
Young - who joined Moulden and
Haas on the All-Regional team - was
disappointed to see her season, and
Michigan career, come to an end.
"I gave it everything I had and my
team was behind me,"Young said. "We
had a great tournament and it's going
Junior Jennifer Olds and the Wolverines couldn't get anything
going in their two games against California this weekend.
Crew falls short
ateionarace
By Ian Herbert
For the Daily
The No. 7 Michigan rowing team had to deal with both
stiff competition and bad weather this weekend.
Neither could stop the Wolverines from coming away
from the Central Region Sprints in Oak Ridge, Tenn. with a
probable bid to nationals. But the team was unable to cap-
ture its sixth consecutive Central region title, which No. 10
Ohio State claimed.
"We raced pretty well," Michigan coach Mark Rothstein
said. "We raced well enough to qualify for nationals."
The first varsity eight placed third with a time of 6:20.7,
and both the first varsity four and second varsity eight were
able to come away from the regatta in second place with
times of 6:33.2 and 7:09.0, respectively.
The team will not receive an official bid to the NCAA
Championships on May 30th until Tuesday evening. But its
strong season, coupled with a good showing at the regional
competition this weekend, all but guarantees the team a spot.
"We would have liked to have won this weekend," Roth-
stein said. "You always want to win. But we want to peak at
See CREW, Page 11
MONDAY 1 0
MAY 19, 2003 1
Women's track
wins Big Ten
By Mustafizur Choudhury
Daily Sports Writer
After an astounding performance at the Big Ten Cham-
pionships in Minneapolis, the Michigan women's track
and field team has plenty of reasons to celebrate.
With the cross country and indoor track and field
conference titles already captured earlier in the year,
the Wolverines needed to win the outdoor champi-
onship to complete the "Triple Crown" for the second
time in school history. This past weekend, the team did
just that. Led by four individual victories, Michigan
was able to capture its second consecutive outdoor
championship.
"We expected to win," Michigan coach James Henry
said. "We were the favorites going in and that's what
made it so hard for us."
Senior tri-captain April Phillips got her team off to a
good start on the first day of competition by winning the
hammer throw with a toss of 199'3". Freshman Rebecca
Walter and sophomore Chelsea Loomis added to the
early success with a 2-3 finish in the 10,000-meter run.
The Wolverines ended the day leading all teams with a
total of 25 points.
On the second day, Phillips was atlit again. She suc-
cessfully defended her shot put title from last season by
winning the event with a heave of 53'8". Phillips was
followed by teammate junior Melissa Bickett, who unex-
pectedly jumped six places on her final attempt to finish
second overall. Sophomore Andrea Parker and freshman
Beth Vinckier also contributed to Michigan's 26 total
points for the day. Parker came in fifth place in the
3,000-meter steeplechase with a school-record time of
10:34, while Vinckier finished eighth overall in the hep-
tathalon. But despite these performances, Michigan
trailed Penn State by 15 points at the end of the second
day. This made the third day of competition a challeng-
ing one for the Wolverines.
"Collectively, we didn't have a great day," Henry said.
"But it was an outstanding day in the sense that we did
not panic. We worked together as ateam."
Junior Vera Simms and senior tri-captain Rachel Sturtz
helped the Wolverines stay on top, winning the 400-meter
hurdles and 800-meter run, respectively. Second and third
place finishes in the high jump by sophomores Stephanie
Linz and Jennifer Kulchar, respectively, held off the com-
petition for the remainder of the day and enabled Michi-
gan to hoist the trophy once again.
"These kids will remember this forever," Henry said.
"This is the type of thing that you want to enjoy and rel-
ish because it's a very rare (occurrence)."
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