The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, May 3, 2005 - 14 '
Ritter dominates Spartans
By Kevin Wright
Daily Sports Writer
The record crowd of 1,903 at Alumni Field stood in anticipa-
tion for the final out of the Michigan softball team's doubleheader
against Michigan State.
Disregarding the steady drizzle and biting wind, those in the
stands chanted in unison, "Let's Go Blue," as junior pitcher Jen-
nie Ritter stepped into the pitcher's circle. Facing Michigan State's
Victoria Morache in the bottom of the fifth inning, Ritter struck her
out looking with a curveball that fell back over the outside corner
of the plate.
After a disappointing loss to Penn State last Friday, the No. 1
Wolverines (13-2 Big Ten, 48-4 overall) had a week of practice to
regain their swagger. In its doubleheader against Michigan State,
Michigan played with improved intensity and confidence, defeat-
ing the Spartans in both games by the mercy rule, 8-0 and 9-1.
"We've been ready all week to play,"junior Becky Marx said. "We
only played one out of four games (due to inclement weather) last week,
so all week we've been itching to play. We went out there on Sunday,
and there was no way that we were going to lose those games."
Michigan began the second game of Sunday's doubleheader
slowly. The Wolverine hitters went down one-two-three in the
top of the first inning, but Michigan quickly found its stroke.
In the second inning, freshman Samantha Findlay started the
Wolverine rally with a base hit through the middle of the field.
After senior Nicole Motycka popped out, junior Grace Leutele
walked. With runners on first and second, junior Stephanie Bercaw
hammered a line drive that reached the fence in leftfield and scored
Findlay and Leutele.
Holding onto a 2-0 lead, Ritter took the mound in the bottom
of the second inning. But the Spartans were not ready to lie down
and let the Wolverines win easily. With a runner on second, Traci
Nicosia hit a groundball down the first-base line and into rightfield
to cut Michigan's lead down to one.
With Michigan State's confidence beginning to grow, Ritter
crushed its hope, striking out the next two Spartan batters.
"I knew that I had to hit my spots," Ritter said. "I knew that we
were ahead and that we were going to score more, so I wasn't that
worried. I didn't feel pressure because I know our team and I know
what we can do."
Following Ritter's momentum-stopping strikeouts, the Wolver-
ines put the game away with six runs in the third inning.
After junior Tiffany Haas and freshman Alessandra Giampaolo
reached base, senior Jessica Merchant laid down a sacrifice bunt to
move the runners to second and third with just one out. When Find-
lay walked, Motycka drove Haas and Giampaolo in with a double
into deep leftfield before Leutele scored Findlay with a sacrifice fly.
To secure the win, Merchant crushed a home run over the bull-
pen in leftfield to increase Michigan's lead to 9-1 in the top of the
fourth inning. With the lead, Ritter cruised in the fifth inning to
cement a Wolverine victory.
In the first game, Ritter was even more dominant. She allowed
just three Spartans to reach base while notching nine strikeouts.
The Dexter native set the tone for the Wolverines during the dou-
bleheader. While pitching both games, Ritter struck out 16 Spar-
tans and collected two wins to improve her record to 24-1.
"She was outstanding on Sunday," Hutchins said. "There was no
doubt that I was going to come back with her in the second game."
While the Wolverines already had a great deal of momentum
when they faced their archrival, Michigan will enjoy additional
motivation this week.
Last weekend, Michigan State defeated the Big Ten leader North-
western, giving the Wildcats their first loss in conference play. With the
Northwestern loss, the Wolverines still have a chance to win the Big Ten
regular-season title with a sweep of the Wildcats this weekend.
"I just want our kids to come out and play like they did on
Sunday, with no doubt that they are a good team," Hutchins said.
"We really had a lot of confidence - that's all I want. The chips
will fall where they fall. I just want to play ball."
14
14
Junior Jennie Ritter notched two wins and improved her record to 241.
Even with the series against Northwestern looming, the Wol-
verines understand that they need to take care of business in their
doubleheader against Western Michigan on Wednesday.
"We are ready to play Northwestern now;" Marx said. "We don't
want to wait a week. We can't overlook Western Michigan. We're
going to look at Western Michigan as a good tune-up for Northwest-
ern. We're going to be pumped up."
S4
Help usintroduce ourtwo new dishes,
q Y ~Angel Hair with Fresh Asparagus ad
Chilled Asparagus & oraine $alad,
offere only now, when asparagus is in season. You could eat
free at Noodles Cornpany for a year and win two roundtrip
tickets to anywhere Frontier Airlines flies in the Continental . S.
o if you're incredibly fresh and wholesome, or just look good
in reen, enter at our restaurants r tnodles.com. Pules
and restrictions apply, even for you, Your Majesty.
320 SOUTH STATE NEAR LIBERTY 1 3601 WASHTENAW AVE & US 23
We'd like to thank U of M students, staff and faculty for voting us "BEST NEW RESTAURANT."
FRESH SAUTE &GRILL
S4
S4
S4