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MONDAY
MAY 17, 2004 L1
Minus top duo, Michigan pieces together Big Ten title
By Sharad Mattu
(aily Sports Editor
Without two team-leaders for the Big Ten
Championships, the Michigan women's track
team's title hopes were dealt a blow before the
weekend had even started.
Katie Erdman and Vera Simms sat out the week-
end due to an Achilles injury and mononucleosis,
respectively. As a result, the Wolverines wondered
where 20 points - two first-place finishes -
would come from.
But Michigan got all the points it was looking
.for and won by a comfortable 21.5-point margin
over Penn State.
"To lose those two was very unfortunate, but it
was also the best thing that could happen to the
team because we had to really work to achieve our
goal," Michigan coach James Henry said.
Junior Lindsay Gallo became the fourth individ-
ual in the Big Ten to win both the 800- and 1,500-
meter runs.
She outran Wisconsin's No. 1 seed Hilary
Edmondson down the stretch for the win in the
1,500-meter race and, in the process, put an end to
the Badgers' dominance in the event. Wisconsin
had won the event for the last 17 years.
Gallo's win in the 800-meters marked the sixth
straight year Michigan came away with the title in
the event.
Another win yesterday came from Melissa
Bickett in the discus. Her throw of 170'10" gave
Michigan important points to clinch the title.
"I'm really pleased with the results this week-
end," Henry said. "Everyone did what they needed
to and contributed to this win."
The men's track team failed to achieve similar
success. With its star duo of Nate Brannen and
Nick Willis redshirting to train for the Olympics,
Michigan had a hard time earning points. During
the three-day event, the Wolverines earned all 41
of its points yesterday and finished in eighth place.
Sophomore Andrew Ellerton continued to domi-
nate in the 800-meters race, pulling away down the
stretch to win the finals with a time of 1:48.52.
"After running a 1:46 a week ago, he was the
odds-on favorite," head coach Ron Warhurst said.
"He ran really smart. With two-hundred to go, he
kind of moved up on everyone and just pulled
ahead on the straightaway."
Jeff Porter also had a strong weekend. The fresh-
man finished second in the 110-meter hurdles at
14.22 seconds.
"We could've finished sixth with a full lineup,
but no higher than that," Warhurst said. "We didn't
score well in the field events. We've just got to
regroup, that's all."
Both the men's and women's teams will com-
pete in the NCAA Regionals in Baton Rouge, La.,
beginning May 28.
Spartan
homer
knocks
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out'M'
By James V. Dowd
Daily Sports Writer
As the top seed, the Big Ten Soft-
ball tournament was Michigan's to
lose. But on Thursday night, Michi-
gan State - the tournament's eighth
seed and eventual champion -
knocked out the Wolverines in the
opening round fth__tourna-
ment at Alumni
Field on Thursday night.
After rain had delayed the first
pitch by more than an hour, Big Ten
Pitcher of the Year Nicole Motycka
retired the first nine batters, all on
ground ball outs. Motycka also gave
the Wolverines a 1-0 lead in the bot-
tom of the first when singled in a run.
As the game headed into the fourth
inning, Michigan State coach Jacquie
Joseph called on her team to make
some adjustments at the plate, and the
changes turned the tide against the
Wolverines.
"We talked about the adjustments
we needed to make at the plate to hit
well on this night because the ground
was very, very soft," Joseph said.
"She was throwing ground balls for a
reason. Our kids made the adjust-
ments, and it paid off."
Michigan State started the fourth
with a string of hits, and an error
by Michigan junior Jessica Mer-
chant allowed the Spartans to even
the game at 1-1. With two runners
still on, Michigan State third base-
man Brittany Green crushed a
three-run home run to put the Spar-
NlBASEALL
AM' Nine fire off 21 hits
to win road-swing finale
By Gabe Edelson
Daily Sports Writer
BLOOMINGTON -The sun broke
through the clouds in the late innings
yesterday as the Michigan baseball
team put the fin-_MCHGAN ___
ishing touches on
its 16-5 victory
over Indiana in
the final contest
of a four-game series at Sembower
Field. It was Michigan's third straight
win after dropping the series opener on
Saturday.
Despite falling behind by three runs
after two innings, Michigan (16-12 Big
Ten, 28-23 overall) used a three-run
third to tie the score at three. An
impressive eight-run sixth inning put
the Wolverines ahead for good, while
the team's five additional runs in the
eighth made the final tally laughable.
Freshman Eric Rose connected for
his first career home run during the
third inning to start Michigan's offen-
sive outburst. Second baseman Chris
Getz's double and first baseman Kyle
Bohm's single soon after knotted the
score and kept Michigan in the game.
"It felt tremendous," Rose said of his
See HOOSIERS, Page 12
Michigan coach Carol Hutchins reacts Thursday as her team was dropped from the
Big Ten Tournament by Michigan State 5-1. The Wolverines were the No. 1 seed.
tans up for good.
"(Green's home run) was totally the
turning point," Michigan State start-
ing pitcher Jessica Beech said. "I
think it shut them down and it
brought us up so we knew we had it.
It was definitely the turning point in
the game."
Armed with a three-run lead,
Beech and the Spartans were beam-
ing with confidence and cruised to
victory over the deflated Wolverines.
Michigan Coach Carol Hutchins
was disappointed that her team
seemed to have lost its fight.
"When you're down four to one in
a (single-elimination) tournament, a
lot of things go through your mind,"
Hutchins said. "But I was very
unhappy that we had no attack in us.
We had a lot of innings left. I told
them, 'Try to chip away. We don't
have to get all the runs, we just need
to get a run."'
Joseph credits her team with doing
a great job of gearing up for an oppo-
nent of Michigan's caliber and sug-
gests that the Wolverines' collapse
may have been due to their seeding.
"I think if anything it shows what a
negative effect pressure has on ath-
letes," Joseph said. "They just felt the
pressure, and you can see what it did
to them."
Hutchins does have confidence that
her players will recover for the
NCAA Central Regional, which the
Wolverines will host next weekend at
Alumni field.
"You know what," Hutchins said.
"Kids bounce back, and by next
Thursday, they'll be fine."
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