12 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 l-osing. series to Gophers LaN de M' in Comin game se the Mic won t straight conferee - seriesa sat a the Ten sta ings w Northwe ern. But al the Gold lis, the I in an un their. sec of the s series fit Sunday,: series io game lea ing the Michigar And a and 5-4 would ha Marre knocks in place, but now sits tied for second with Minnesota and Northwestern. 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."