The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com SportsMonday February 23, 2015 — 3B ‘M’ crashes party at Bama By CHRIS CROWDER Daily Sports Writer In the seventh inning of the No. 5 Michigan softball team’s first of two games against No. 3 Alabama, SEC Network analyst and former Crimson Tide pitcher Lauren Sewell was in awe. As she watched her alma mater continue to be outplayed, she said, “I thought Michigan would be intimidated by Alabama.” The subsequent pitch was sent over the center field wall by Michigan junior right fielder Kelsey Susalla, the eventual MVP of the Easton Bama Bash. It was Alabama that was intimidated, and the Crimson Tide’s fans at Rhoads Stadium went silent. The Wolverines went on to win the game, 8-2, the second of their five wins in an undefeated weekend. Michigan (13-1) started the tournament with a 7-1 win over Lipscomb. Michigan tried not to look ahead, taking the Bison just as seriously as Alabama. “We just play Michigan softball, and it doesn’t matter who we’re going against,” said sophomore pitcher Megan Betsa. In a matchup between two top- five teams, Michigan approached Alabama the exact same way as usual: focusing on each pitch and taking it one inning at a time. “We talked about not making the game bigger than it is,” said junior infielder Sierra Romero. Senior catcher Lauren Sweet scored the Wolverines’ first runs with a two-run homer in the second inning. Later in the frame, the bases were loaded and the table was set for Michigan to break the game wide open. But sophomore left fielder Kelly Christiner eventually struck out after putting up a fight. “At first when we had the bases loaded and nobody out, our swings were just huge,” said Michigan coach Carol Hutchins. “But then we shortened up a little bit and made contact. I liked that adjustment. I like that we’re willing to do whatever it takes to win.” After shortening up their swings, the Wolverines pulled away little by little, making Alabama fans increasingly frustrated. As the fans pleaded with the umpire for calls to go in the Crimson Tide’s favor, the once-upbeat body language of the Alabama players started to deteriorate. Instead of feeling intimated, Michigan was relaxed. Betsa, who got the win, was happy with how the team balanced being intense and energetic. And the offensive dominance helped her cause, as she held the Crimson Tide to two runs. “When they’re putting that many runs on the board, it makes it a lot easier for us (pitchers) and gives us that comfort,” Betsa said. The barrage of runs didn’t stop coming as the tournament went into day two. The Wolverines racked up 13 runs against Lipscomb, not showing any signs of letting up. Senior pitcher Sara Driesenga pitched a complete game while holding the Bisons to only one run. Senior pitcher Haylie Wagner took the circle for Michigan for the rematch against Alabama and stifled the Crimson Tide to a one-run effort. The Wolverines faced Alexis Osorio, who pitched a no-hitter in her previous game against Pacific. And they didn’t let Osorio get anywhere close to the success of her last start. Osorio was ineffective, as Michigan never trailed after building on a 1-0 lead in the third inning to the tune of a solo home run by Christiner and a two- run homer from freshman Tera Blanco. The Wolverines held on the rest of the way to win 4-1. “I don’t ever expect anything but we chip away,” Hutchins said. “We chip away, and it isn’t just one, two or three people in our lineup. It’s everybody. It’s every part of the order that can turn things around. Our goal is just to keep chipping away and putting the ball in play.” The Wolverines finished the weekend on day three with a 10-0 run-rule win against James Madison. “We never backed down,” Romero said. “Every single at bat, every single play, every single pitch, we were fighting. We were never satisfied with the lead we had, and we kept pushing for more.” With a grand slam in the final game, Romero broke the Michigan career grand-slam record with eight. But she said that the record was never her goal. “My goal is to do my part,” Romero said. “As long as I’m doing my part and everyone else is doing their part, then we’re going to be a very hard team to beat.” After the Wolverines outscored their opponents 42-5 over the weekend, bolstered by 10 home runs, everyone in the lineup, top to bottom, is contributing. Michigan isn’t intimidated. It has shown the rest of the country that no matter who the Wolverines play, they’re going to play like a force to be reckoned with. If anything, they’re the ones who are able to intimidate opponents. JAMES COLLER/Daily Junior shortstop Sierra Romero went 6-for-11 on the weekend and broke the school record for grand slams with eight. WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Michigan loses in double overtime Michigan beats buzzer to force OT, can’t finish rally By MINH DOAN Daily Sports Writer Maybe it just isn’t the Michigan women’s basketball team’s season. Just a week after the Wolverines lost to Northwestern on a last- second layup, Michigan found itself down by two with less than five seconds in the game and one final chance to tie up the game. The sequence started off poorly with sophomore guard Siera Thompson missing an off-balanced jumper, but in the ensuing scramble for the ball, senior forward Cyesha Goree picked up the ball and threw up another shot. The shot rattled around the rim and out, right into the arms of senior forward Nicole Elmblad, who was all alone on the weak side. Elmblad’s layup went through the bucket as time expired. In overtime, the Wolverines found themselves down once again, this time by four with a minute remaining. But once again, Michigan came back, with Goree first knocking down a mid-range jumper to cut the deficit to two. On the ensuing play, freshman guard Katelynn Flaherty picked the ball away from Minnesota center Amanda Zahui B., and Elmblad came up clutch, knocking down a jump shot to tie the game and send it into double overtime. In double overtime, the Wolverines fell down by six with a minute remaining, ultimately losing the game. “I thought we gave it tremendous effort,” said Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico. “I really thought our press disrupted them. We made a tremendous run. It’s tough because we’ve been this situation so many times during the course of this season. It’d be nice for once for it to go our way.” The matchup to watch in the game was Goree and Zahui, and the duo didn’t disappoint. The two battled each other inside, each playing all 50 minutes while putting up double-double numbers. Zahui, who put up 39 points and grabbed 29 boards Tuesday, racked up 27 points and 27 rebounds while Goree finished with 26 points and 20 rebounds. “I thought it was a great basketball game,” Barnes Arico said. “Cyesha Goree and Amanda Zahui B., two of the best posts in the country, went head to head, and it was a great matchup.” But Goree wasn’t Michigan’s leading scorer, as that title went to Flaherty, who finished with 27 points, shooting 11-for-25. “Down the stretch, we were putting the ball in (Flaherty’s) hands,” Barnes Arico said. “She’s making some plays. I think she’s getting more and more comfortable as the season progresses. She just had a great output tonight.” With the loss, the Wolverines have all but clinched the No. 8 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, which will get them a first-round bye, before taking on the No. 9 seed in the second. The winner of that game will take on No. 5 Maryland, the Big Ten champion, in the third round. But before then, Michigan still has two games left in the season. And with the result today, another loss could knock them out of the NCAA Tournament picture for good. ‘M’ can’t capitalize on series-opening victory By DANNY VARGOVICK Daily Sports Writer The Michigan baseball team entered play this weekend eager to forget a tough season-opening series loss to Long Beach State. But after two games this weekend against Tennessee Tech and two against Davidson, things only got worse. Friday, in Savannah, Georgia, the Wolverines collected their sole win over the Golden Eagles, 6-5, before dropping the final three games of the weekend to Davidson, 5-4, Tennessee Tech, 11-8, and Davidson, 3-2. The highlight of the weekend for Michigan (2-5) came in the ninth inning of the first game against Tennessee Tech, when junior left fielder Cody Bruder laid down the go-ahead RBI bunt single. Bruder reached first safely even though Michigan coach Erik Bakich called for a suicide squeeze. “Cody did a great job executing in that situation,” Bakich said. “That was a game-winning play right there.” Junior closer and first baseman Jacob Cronenworth earned the win after pitching the final two innings. Cronenworth also led off and reached base three times, as did the No. 2 and No. 3 hitters, Bruder and senior center fielder Jackson Glines. But after the win, the final three games of the weekend left Bakich with little to praise. The second game got off to a great start thanks in a large part to a five-inning, seven-strikeout, no-run performance from sophomore right hander Keith Lehmann. Bakich was unhappy, though, that he needed to pull Lehmann after the fifth inning, since the right-hander had already thrown 96 pitches. “The type of pitcher Keith is,” Bakich said, “I’d rather him force contact and pitch deeper into games than have to accumulate pitches because he’s striking people out.” The Wolverines went into the top of the ninth leading 3-0. With Cronenworth unavailable after throwing two innings the previous day, Davidson (3-2) sent the game to extra innings largely due to Wolverine mistakes: Two of the three runs that scored in the ninth reached base on a walk and hit-by-pitch, both of which ultimately scored off a wild pitch and passed ball. The 11th inning began just like the ninth — with a walk and a hit batter. Davidson went up for good when both runners scored on a fielder’s choice. Saturday’s second game, the final contest against Tennessee Tech (4-2), featured better hitting, worse pitching and fatal errors. The Golden Eagles put up six unearned runs in the third inning off of a number of walks and errors by Cronenworth and senior shortstop Eric Jacobson. Michigan’s noteworthy moment came in the form of a three-run home run by sophomore designated hitter Carmen Benedetti, the Wolverines’ first home run of the season. The team cut the lead to just two runs in the seventh, but Tennessee Tech put the game out of reach in the eighth in a frustratingly familiar fashion: Of the three runners that scored in the inning, two had originally reached base off a walk and a hit batter. Michigan’s final game of the weekend, a 9 a.m. start against Davidson, was much more of a pitchers’ duel. Freshman Jayce Vancena impressed in his first collegiate start, limiting the Wildcats to one run on four hits and no walks. Benedetti then came in for his first appearance on the mound in his college career and threw one and two-thirds innings of no-hit ball. The Wolverines held a two-run lead in the bottom of the eighth when Wildcat David Daniels hit a two-run bomb off of sophomore lefthander Brett Adcock. Junior shortstop Travis Maezes was unable to play after being ruled out with an injury, so Jacobson shifted over from second base in his absence. “(Jacobson) is a high- character, high-makeup kid, and defense has always been one of his greatest strengths,” Bakich said. “He’s made all the routine plays for us that we’ve needed him to made and done a really nice job leading the infield from the shortstop position.” After the Wolverines were originally scheduled to travel to Greenville, North Carolina, they had to make alternative plans due to weather. They didn’t find out who they would be playing until Thursday night, limiting the amount of time they had to prepare for the weekend. But Bakich refused to use this as a possible excuse and also rejected the idea that the team was at a disadvantage because its opponents can practice outside while the Wolverines cannot in the middle of the Ann Arbor winter. He’s not taking these losses lightly, either. “We’ve got to get better in a lot of areas, as an entire team unit, pitching, hitting, and defense,” Bakich said. “There’s a massive sense of urgency.” “We’ve got to get better ... There’s a massive sense of urgency.” Michigan upsets Memphis By ALEX KHALIFEH For the Daily The Michigan men’s tennis team showed an underdog mentality Saturday at the Varsity Tennis Center. Going toe to toe with No. 22 Memphis, the Wolverines came from behind in both doubles and singles competition en route to their 5-1 victory. In doubles play, redshirt freshman Alex Knight and freshman Leo Hua faced an early deficit in their matchup against Memphis’ Andrew Watson and Louis Asser. For most of the match, Watson and Asser used the both-up strategy, playing close to the net and rarely showing any defensive mishaps. Knight and Hua tried painting the lines, but eventually lost, 6-3. Senior No. 1 doubles partners Alex Petrone and Michael Zhu fell behind, 3-1, in their first set against the Tigers’ Kai Lemke and Connor Glennon. But Petrone and Zhu were able to recover — partly due to two straight double faults by Lemke and Glennon — and tie the match at 3. After a back-and-forth match, Memphis (4-3) seemed ready to pull away in the tiebreaker with a 4-0 lead in the third set. But Petrone and Zhu came back, taking a 5-4 advantage and ultimately winning the match, 7-6. The win gave the Wolverines a 1-0 lead. “Unbelievable,” said Michigan coach Adam Steinberg. “That was the most important part of the match. We’ve been struggling in doubles. It was incredible.” Zhu was the standout player on Steinberg’s mind after the game. “He’s really stepping up, playing aggressive and playing like a senior,” Steinberg said. “Today, he’s our hero. He was fantastic.” The momentum from Petrone and Zhu’s decisive doubles match carried over to the singles matchups, where Michigan (3-5) went up early against Memphis, leading four out of the six singles matchups. After losing his singles matchup earlier Saturday against Cleveland State’s Jorg Van Der Vloet, Knight bounced back, defeating Memphis’ Patrick Mayer, 6-3, 6-2. Freshman Carter Lin faced problems in his first set against Memphis’ Shakeel Manji, losing the first set, 6-3. During the break in action, Steinberg offered the rookie advice. “Carter needs to play more aggressively,” Steinberg said. “He shies away from stepping in. We were trying to attack his opponent for him. There were a lot of short balls that Carter needs to get on.” Manji had an opportunity to tie the match at five after building a 40-30 lead over Lin, but Lin recovered and put the match to rest by winning the next two points. The advice seemed to resonate with Lin, who went on to sweep the next two sets, 6-3, 6-4. Crocker played a tightly contested match against Memphis’ Lemke, where Crocker took the first set decisively, winning 6-2, but allowed the second and third to be decided in tiebreakers. The second and third sets saw Crocker commit two double faults that either propelled the match into a tiebreak or gave Lemke an advantage. The tiebreaker in the third showcased another comeback performance. When Crocker had been down 4-0 in the tiebreaker, Steinberg reminded him of Petrone and Zhu, who came back from down 4-0 in their doubles tiebreaker. Crocker bounced back and took a 5-4 lead. The tiebreaker lasted a total of 20 points, with Crocker eventually winning, 11-9. “I wanted to win to top off the great effort by the team. Our seniors and our coaches kept us focused on what we needed to do,” Crocker said. The preparation paid off with a well earned victory over a nationally ranked opponent. MEN’S TENNIS BASEBALL MINNESOTA MICHIGAN 91 88