Monday May 15, 2006 sports.michigandaily.com sports@michigandaily.com SPORTS 13 Wolverines wash out the competition for title By Dan Feldman Daily Sports Writer EVANSTON - Unable to play on day one of the Big Ten Tournament due to rain, the Michigan softball players and coaches resorted to playing the basketball game "knockout" on the practice court at Welsh-Ryan Arena Thursday. The games were competitive enough that coach Carol Hutchins - a former Michigan State bas- ketball player - injured herself and was upset that she couldn't prove herself as the best player. After the rain let up enough for teams to take the field Fri- day, Hutchins and her play- HW R ers gave no indication of any knockout-related injuries. The Wolverines trounced their three opponents by a combined score of 23-0 en route to their sec- ond consecutiye conference tournament title. "It's important to go into the postseason playing well, playing relaxed and playing good softball," Hutchins said. "It's really more important than anything, and I think that's why we won - because we're playing for each other, and that's one thing we did outstanding all weekend." The Wolverines' success was due in part to their ability to keep the mood light, joke and dance around before and even during their games. "There is not one doubt about it," Hutchins said. "When you're relaxed, your chance of being a great softball player is quadrupled.... A lot of it is confidence and a lot of it is trust." In the championship game, Michigan (14-4 Big Ten, 40-13 overall) beat regular-season champion Northwestern 6-0. Northwestern was led by Big Ten Coach of the Year Kate Drohan and five All- Big Ten First Team players including Player of the Year Garland Cooper, Pitcher of the Year Eileen Canney and Freshman of the Year Tammy Wil- liams. In the second-to-last weekend of the regu- lar season, Michigan split a pair of games with the Wildcats, which nearly assured Northwestern (16- 3, 42-12) the title. "The motivation I had was that we lost the Big Ten, and I wanted to go out there and win the Big Ten tournament," senior Jennie Ritter said. None of the Wolverines' six runs were earned as Northwestern committed four errors, including one by Canney who, despite her pitching prowess, is known as a very poor defensive player. "We always joke that the pitchers we have are the best fielding pitchers in the Big Ten (and) in the country," Ritter said. Ritter explained that the pitchers take pride in their ability to field their positions because it is so common for pitchers to be unable to do so. Michigan did not commit an error for the entire tournament, and its strong defense in the top of the seventh inning against Northwestern helped clinch the tournament title. Freshman Teddi Ewing grabbed a ground ball deep in the hole at shortstop and fired a rocket to first base Marx's bat was smoldering and Ritter (right) remained red hot during this weekend's conference tournament. to nail Northwestern's Jamie Dotson for the first out. Sophomore Samantha Findlay made another good play for the second out, grabbing a ground ball that was fairly wide of first base and run- ning it over to the base herself. "The play that Teddi made and the play that Sam made, those are incredible plays," Ritter said. "I fully believe in them and fully trust that they're going to do that again." Michigan, led by senior Becky Marx, started the tournament with ease, mauling Michigan State 13-0 in its first game and Indiana 4-0 in the semi-finals. Marx, who has had trouble with her swing speed recently, switched to a lighter bat the day before the first game. The results came quickly. Marx hit safely in each of her first six at-bats of the tournament. She was named to the All-Tournament team along with Findlay, seniors Tiffany Haas and Rebekah Milian and juniors Tiffany Worthy and Ritter - who was also named the tourna- ment's MVP. Michigan's quest for a second-straight national title will begin in Ann Arbor when the Wolverines face Youngstown State on Friday. The game will be the first round of the NCAA tournament, where the Wolverines sit as the No. 9 seed. The other two teams in Michigan's regional are Kent State and Oklahoma State. 0 WOMEN'S TRACK Walter and Blue big winners By Bridget O'Donnell Daily Sports Writer Coming into this weekend's track con- ference championships, senior Rebecca Walter had a lot to prove. She felt she had the potential to perform well this season after two consecutive inju- ry-plagued years. "I wanted to show that I had the talent," Walter said. With first-place finishes in both the 5,000- and 10,000-meter runs at the Big Tens, Walter certainly proved she could run with the best in the Big Ten. "I couldn't be happier," she said of her finishes. "I'd never won a track champion- ship before this." Walter's strong performance this week- end was just one of many that contrib- uted to Michigan's second-place finish at the Big Tens. While they were unable to recapture the Big Ten title from two years ago, the Wolverines fought with eventual conference champ Minnesota until the very end. Michigan coach James Henry was pleased with the overall result. "We knew we were underdogs from the beginning," Henry said. "Minnesota was a very balanced team and had stronger throwers. But I was as pleased as I could be with a team that didn't win." The finish wasn't Michigan's best under Henry, who led the Wolverines to three straight Big Ten outdoor track titles between 2002 and 2004, as well as the indoor title earlier this year. There was also pressure for the team to perform well after the women's cross country team captured the conference title last season. But Henry was hardly fazed by the team's second- place showing. "You can't win them all," he said. "We know we are a human team" Five first-place event titles secured Michigan's final spot in the top two, as the Wolverines were especially dominant in the distance events. In addition to Walter's first-place finish, sophomore Alyson Kohlmeier, and junior Erin Webster finished 1-2-3 in the 5,000- meter run, sweeping the race and gathering some much-needed points in the process. And in the 10,000-meter run, Michigan captured four of the top six spots, gather- ing 25 of its overall 134.66 points. Walter once again led the way for Michigan, edg- ing out the runner-up, senior Ana Gjesdal, with a time of 33:45.47. Webster and Kohl- meier also contributed, placing fifth and sixth, respectively. Sophomore Nicole Edwards capped off a string of strong performances by the distance squad, capturing the 1,500-meter title in 4:16.83. Younger Wolverines also found suc- cess. Freshman Geena Gall broke the meet record for the 800-meter run, clocking in at 2:02.73, and fellow freshman Tiffany Ofili captured the 100-meter hurdles title with a time of 13.37, setting a personal record. [B] treated $1.00 OFFony graonde size beverage coffee, tea, lattes, frozen drinks, pastries soups, salads, sandwiches, and more, BEANER'S 539 East Uberty St. Ann Arbor HEL 734-997-0992+ www.beaners.com QF, COF FE E G~Q ae ? e . assaer ssa ',sagw u~.ases ,se sefr~tac~aso tu a t. t f assts %52l STAND ON STREET CORNERS HARASSING PEDESTRIANS. Hand out flyers that wind up in the garbage. Be exploited by the LEFT instead of the RIGHT. OR Go to Europe this summer and salvage what's left of your youth. GO NOW, BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE. - Go to raileurope.com and find special deals - Or visit the nearest STA Travel Office 0---- mi i m