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Monday, May 10, 2010
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Michigan celebrates
heralded senior class'
MARISSA MCCLAIN/Daily
Junior outfielder Ryan LaMarre drilled a home run late in Sunday's contest against Minnesota to avoid a conference sweep.
Blue falls in Big Ten after
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Marre knocks in place, but now sits tied for second
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ciding run for "We couldn't feel sorry for our-
selves after the first games," junior
to grab one win leftfielder Ryan LaMarre said.'
SMinneapolis "(Minnesota) wanted to sweep us
and the rest of the Big Ten wanted
them to sweep us."
By ZAK PYZIK The Gophers (10-8 Big Ten, 22-27
Daily Sports Writer overall) scored first in Sunday's con-
test when designated hitter Trip
ig into this weekend's three- Schultz doubled to right center.
eries against Minnesota, Schultz hit a walk-off single in the
higan baseball team had bottom of the ninth frame on Satur-
wo day to make the series 2-0 coming
MICHIGAN 7 into Sunday's matchup at Mall of
ce MINNESOTA 14 America Field.
and But Michigan (10-8, 29-17)
top MICHIGAN 4 responded in the top of the fourth
Big MINNESOTA 5 inning when sophomore third base-
nd- man John Lorenz drove in sopho-
'ith MICHIGAN 2 more designated hitter Coley Crank
st- MINNESOTA 1 with a double. Lorenz was 2-3 in
Sunday's game and had one of the
fter losing two of three to team's two RBt.
en Gophers in Minneapo- "Today was a gut check for us,"
Wolverines saw themselves Lorenz said of Sunday's game. "We
familiar position with just needed this win to stay in the run
ond conference series loss for first place."
eason. Michigan took the The Wolverines posted one more
nale against Minnesota on tally in the top of the eighth stanza
2-1, to avoid the sweep. The when LaMarre cranked a home run
ss also gave Purdue a half- to kick off the inning.
d in the conference, pend- The junior said that it was his way
Boilermakers' game with of avenging Saturday's heartbreak-
n State on Monday. ing loss.
fter losing 14-7 on Friday "(Saturday) was one of the tough-
on Saturday, Michigan est losses that I have ever seen in
ve slipped as low as fourth any sport I've played in," LaMarre
said. "All and all I really didn't per-
form that well. I really tried to relax
(before that home run) and it was a
1-0 count and I just put a good swing
on it."
The Gophers had a scoreless
ninth inning in the finale, and their
bats were powerless the whole after-
noon. Sophomore pitcher Brandon
Sinnery started the game by allow-
ing just five hits in his 5.1 innings of
"(Saturday) was
one of the tough-
est losses that I
have ever seen."
work.
"(The pitchers) knew today that
in order to keep the Big Ten search
alive we had to be playing well,"
LaMarre said.
Redshirt freshman left-hand-
er Bobby Brosnahan came to the
mound to close, and he did exactly
what the Wolverines couldn't do the
rest of the weekend - finish. Bros-
nahan faced 11 batters and fanned
four while giving up just one hit
in 3.2 innings. His performance
was critical in Michigan's winning
effort, fending off a sweep by the
Gophers.
By ALEX HERMANN
Daily Sports Writer
After Saturday's game against
Michigan State, senior outfielder
Kristin Larsen's head got chewed
off - but it wasn't due to poor per-
formance, and it wasn't by one of her
coaches.
"I need to find Kristin, I'm eat-
ing her head right
now," sophomore NOTEBOOK
second baseman
Amanda Chidester voiced after the
No. 2 Michigan softball team's 10-0
victory over the Spartans.
It was Senior Day at Alumni
Field, and a cake decorated with a
picture of the seniors served as part
of the celebration in the Wolver-
ines' final home game of the regular
season.
All six senior Wolverines were
honored before the game, as each
walked one-by-one with their par-
ents and stood in front of the Michi-
gan dugout along the first-base line.
"It's special for our parents to be
down there," senior catcher Roya St.
Clair said. "They've supported us all
growing up. Since we were little, tak-
ing us to the travel-ball tournaments,
traveling all over the country. I know
it's got to be exciting for them to be
down there."
The heralded class included two
first-team All Americans, two others
that have been All-Big Ten selections
and a Pitcher of the Year from 2008,
as well as a host of other contributors
- and that's with its final year still
unfinished.
As Michigan's head coach for 26
years, Carol Hutchins has witnessed
the emotional day many times.
"We all know that the most impor-
tant thing is they've just been a great
team and they've been part of a lot of
greatteams," Hutchins said. "They're
just really good people.
"And that's really a key ingredi-
ent to successful programs - having
good people."
As freshmen, the six current
seniors replaced the 2006 graduat-
ing class, which included standout
pitcher Jennie Ritter and two other
All Americans - catcher (and now
assistant coach) Becky Marx and sec-
ond baseman Tiffany Haas.
That class also helped Michigan
win its first national championship in
2005 as juniors - something the cur-
rent crop of seniors is still looking to
accomplish.
"We thought we had a great
recruiting class. But they've really,
I think, exceeded (expectations),"
Hutchins said. "Their freshman year
they were all in the lineup except
for (Larsen). They played every day
basically, and we made it to the third
game of the Super Regional."
Just like the rest of the year, the
seniors got it done on the field Satur-
day, with five of the six reaching base
and three recording at least one RBI.
"It's pretty awesome, as a sopho-
more, to see your whole senior class
step in and do something big. one
time or another," Chidester said.
"Seeing them take charge out there
on that field makes me and my soph-
omore class want to be able to have
our underclassmen look up to us like
that, too."
ENTER THE PINK ZONE: Yesterday
was not just Senior Day for the Wol-
verines, but it was a day to help raise
breast cancer awareness by sporting
pink jerseys.
The team auctioned off the six
senior jerseys to help raise money
for the organization Making Strides
Against Breast Cancer.
"I always say I work with the over-
privileged," Hutchins said. "They
get a lot of things handed to them.
They've worked hard but they live
the life. They go to practice and they
work very hard but what a great life
to have and not everybody has such
great opportunities.
"So I think it's our duty to help
them realize that they need to give
back to society and help make this a
better place."
MICHIGAN SOFTBALL ACAD-
EMY: As part of the charity effort,
the Wolverines held the first annual
Michigan Softball Academy on Fri-
day evening.
Hutchins and the entire Michigan
team took part in the events, high-
lighted by the six seniors choosing
teams as captains to compete in
various skill-based competitions.
But it wasn't the players that
stole the show.
Several parents were the talk of
the event, including the mothers of
freshman Jaclyn Crummey, junior
Jordan Taylor and, especially, soph-
omore Stephanie Kirkpatrick.
"Linda Kirkpatrick, boy, she was
impressive," Hutchins said after
Saturday's game. "She did a back
flip during warm ups.
"So clearly, I've got the wrong
people playing."