The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
March 23, 2015 — 3B

Michigan dominates 

Ohio State in 

Columbus for three-

game sweep

By CHRIS CROWDER

Daily Sports Writer

Three 
wins 
away 
from 

becoming just the third coach in 
college softball history to reach 
1,400 victories, Michigan softball 
coach Carol Hutchins needed an 
undefeated weekend to etch her 
name further into the record 
books. And with three games 
against Ohio State, Hutchins 
and the Wolverines would not be 
denied the milestone.

Michigan 
dominated 
the 

Buckeyes, sweeping them with 
scores of 13-1, 13-1 and 20-0.

“Ohio State is a very good 

hitting team, and they’re very 
athletic,” Hutchins said. “I was 
very pleased to only give up two 
runs. We did a great job of taking 
a lot of free pitches, and we did 
a really nice job of taking good 
at-bats. The key was getting 
base runners and having timely 
hitting.”

The series opened Michigan’s 

Big Ten season, and on Friday, 
the Wolverines sent a message to 
the rest of the conference. Their 
performance — the only win 
not achieved by run rule — was 
highlighted by sophomore right-
hander Megan Betsa’s lights-out 
pitching. She tallied a career-
high 14 strikeouts in a complete-
game win.

“The highlight of the weekend 

was Megan Betsa having one 
walk in both of the games that 
she threw,” Hutchins said. “She’s 
worked really hard on her game 
and her pitches, but it’s really a 
matter of gaining confidence at 
what you work at and not getting 
caught up in the outcome or your 
opponent.”

Added Betsa: “I just focused on 

getting ahead of the batters and 

keeping the hitters off balance.”

Betsa didn’t need much run 

support, but the offense gave 
her 
plenty 

of 
cushion 

regardless. 
The 
offensive 

onslaught was 
bolstered 
by 

home 
runs 

from 
junior 

rightfielder 
Kelsey Susalla, 
catcher 
Aidan 
Falk, 

junior 
second 

baseman Sierra Romero and 
freshman 
infielder 
Taylor 

Swearingen.

Saturday was almost a mirror 

image of Friday’s contest for the 
Wolverines, as Michigan won 
by the same score, tallying four 
home runs and 12 walks.

Four minutes into the game, 

after a walk and a hit batter, 
Romero sent her 13th home run 
over the stands. Also flexing their 

muscles by way of the long ball 
were junior centerfielder Sierra 
Lawrence, 
junior 
rightfielder 

Kelsey Susalla 
and freshman 
infielder 
Amanda 
Vargas. 
Vargas’ third-
inning 
home 

run 
was 
a 

grand 
slam 

and her first 
collegiate 
homer.

With 

Hutchins’ standing on 1,399 
wins, 
Michigan 
entered 

Sunday’s contest with more to 
play for than just a win over its 
rival.

And the Wolverines came out 

on fire, scoring 20 runs to match 
a season high. Betsa got early 
run support by way of a six-run 
first inning and a 10-run second. 
Michigan also hit five home runs 
in the series finale, all by the 

freshmen. Vargas and infielder 
Taylor Swearingen each knocked 
out two, and catcher Aidan Falk 
hit one of her own. Betsa again 
racked up strikeouts, earning 
nine. She ended the fifth and 
final inning on nine pitches, 
sealing Hutchins’ 1,400th win 
nicely.

After 
the 
game, 
the 

Wolverines had a short-lived 
celebration, taking a team photo 
commemorating 
Hutchins’ 

record victory.

But 
to 
everyone 
in 
the 

Michigan locker room, especially 
Hutchins, the milestone is not 
the focus.

Hutchins 
took 
her 
team 

picture and then moved on, 
focusing on what she can do 
better for next week’s games. 
She’s not being boastful about 
her accomplishment. She sets an 
example with not just her record, 
but her philosophy. As soon as the 
game is over, she’s thinking about 
how to beat who’s next.

Hutchins earns 1,400th win

ROBERT DUNNE/Daily

Michigan coach Carol Hutchins surpassed another career milestone in her team’s sweep of Ohio State.

“I just focused 

on getting 
ahead of the 

batters.”

By ISAIAH ZEAVIN-MOSS

Daily Sports Writer

In college athletics, games 

between conference opponents 
tend to bring a greater intensity, 
especially 
as 
teams 
vie 
for 

postseason seeds and bragging 
rights against their most bitter 
rivals. Conference games often 
represent the hardest part of 
a 
team’s 
schedule, 
requiring 

another level of mental fortitude 
and physical toughness.

After this past weekend, the 

Michigan baseball team will need 
to reassess the intensity with 
which it comes to fight for the 
remainder of the Big Ten season.

Michigan 

(0-3 Big Ten, 
11-11 overall) 
began Big Ten 
play with a 
three-game 
series against 
Nebraska. In 
the series, the 
Wolverines were outscored 25-7 
and compiled a dreary .260 team 
batting average. The pitching 
staff allowed the Cornhuskers 
(3-0, 17-6) to score at least one run 
in each first inning of the series, 
and Michigan was always playing 
from behind, and, ultimately, was 
soundly swept.

The shutdown in both offensive 

and defensive production came as 
a surprise to the Wolverines, who 
had previously won nine of their 
last 12 games and looked to be 
finding their groove on both sides 
of the ball.

In Lincoln, though, Michigan 

was 
badly 
unprepared. 
In 

Friday’s matchup, a 14-3 defeat, 
the Wolverines committed three 
errors and were already trailing 
by five after the first frame.

Saturday, Michigan stranded 

nine runners on base in a 
lackadaisical 6-1 loss.

And 
on 
Sunday, 
as 
the 

Wolverines looked to salvage 
some positive from an otherwise 
traumatic weekend, a four-run 
seventh inning broke open a 2-1 
nail-biter and gave Nebraska a 
lead it would not relinquish, as it 
went on to beat Michigan, 6-3.

Though Michigan coach Erik 

Bakich was unable to find any 
positives from the weekend’s 
losses, he believes that his team 
will find a fighter’s instinct to 
keep trudging on.

“It’s just like getting knocked 

down — you get back up,” Bakich 
said. “We’re down, but we’re not 
out. And we have to get back up, 
we have to get tougher, we have 
to find a way to have some more 

fight.”

Tuesday, 

the Wolverines 
hope 
to 

rediscover 
some 
of 
the 

success 
they 

were 
having 

before 
this 

fateful trip to Lincoln, as they 
play their first home game of the 
season against Bowling Green.

While 
Bakich 
is 
looking 

forward to playing on his own 
grounds for the first time this 
year, he does not believe that 
having to travel is a valid excuse 
for such a hapless display of effort 
as the one shown in Lincoln.

“It’s good to play at home 

because you get to compete in 
front of your own fans, there are 
a lot of positives that come with 
playing at home,” Bakich said. 
“But we’re not building in excuses 
for playing 22 straight games on 
the road, either.”

For a team that is looking to use 

this season as an opportunity to 
compete on the highest level and 
to win tangible results, perhaps 
this 
series 
against 
Nebraska 

served 
as 
a 
welcoming, 
an 

invitation into what it means to 
play winning baseball.

Nebraska handles 
Michigan in sweep

BASEBALL

“We’re down, but 

we’re not out.”

Five total wrestlers 
earn All-American 

honors, led by 

heavyweight Coon

By MICHAEL GRIFFIN

Daily Sports Writer

It was the end of the overtime 

period at the NCAA heavyweight 
wrestling semifinal, and Adam 
Coon was on top of the world.

He had just defeated Mike 

McMullen 
of 
Northwestern 

with a crushing pin as the clock 
expired. As Coon climbed off 
his opponent, pumped his fist 
and raised his arms, his coach, 
Joe 
McFarland, 
stood 
and 

cheered.

A day later, as the NCAA 

Wrestling 
Championships 

drew to a close, and Michigan 
had secured its place as the 
11th-best team in the country, 
Joe McFarland spoke about 
his team’s performance with 
similar emotion.

“I’m real proud of our guys,” 

he said. “I felt that we did a great 
job of carrying our momentum 
into the national tournament. 
Then to have half of our guys 
make 
All-American, 
that’s 

something special.”

This 
year’s 
NCAA 

Championships were a huge 
step in the right direction for a 
team in the middle of a wrestling 
renaissance. Michigan ended 
the meet with five wrestlers 
earning All-American honors, 
matching the team’s second-
best showing in its 94-year 
history.

Adding to the impressive 

performance 
was 
the 
fact 

that the Wolverines achieved 
it with a team led mostly by 
underclassmen. Nine of the 
10 wrestlers at nationals will 
return next year. Even more 
impressively, 
every 
single 

All-American 
matched 
or 

surpassed the expectations set 
in seeding.

Sophomore 
Adam 
Coon, 

team captain and a standout all 
year, entered the tournament 
seeded No. 6, then advanced 
to 
the 
championship 
final. 

Despite tying the score at six 
late in the third period against 
the 
defending 
champion, 

North Carolina State’s Nick 
Gwiazdowski, he was unable 
to come away with the victory, 
losing 
7-6. 
Gwiazdowski 

secured 
the 
lead 
with 
15 

seconds left on the clock, 
escaping Coon’s hold.

Nonetheless, McFarland was 

extremely pleased with his star.

“He really fought through 

these past two days to get to 
the 
championship 
match,” 

McFarland 
said. 
“He 
was 

disappointed that he didn’t get 
the win, but I thought it was a 
great effort, 
and a great 
season.”

Several 

other 
wrestlers 
finished 
in 
the 
top 

10 
of 
their 

respective 
events. 
Fifth-year 
senior 
and 

team co-captain Max Huntley, 
who was coming off of a fifth-
place finish at the Big Ten 
Championships, came in eighth, 
earning All-American honors 
for the first time in his Michigan 
career.

McFarland praised Huntley, 

who has captained the team 
for two years and has spent 
the season regaining the edge 
lost last year to a torn pectoral 
muscle.

“We’re really going to miss 

his leadership,” McFarland said. 
“When you have a guy like that 
come into your program, and 
then after four years he comes 
out and has a year like this, 

that’s really great to see.”

Redshirt sophomore Conor 

Youtsey, who wrestles at 125 
pounds, entered the tournament 
unseeded, 
but 
advanced 
to 

the fifth-place match, where 
he lost to Nahshon Garrett 
of Cornell but secured sixth 
place and All-American honors. 
Youtsey was perhaps the biggest 
surprise of the tournament 
for the Wolverines, as the only 
one of four unseeded Michigan 
wrestlers to advance past the 
first round.

Brian Murphy, a sophomore 

wrestling at 157 pounds, locked 
up seventh place and his first 
All-American honor with a win 
by forfeit over Lehigh’s Mitch 
Minotti. He finishes up an 
exceptional season in which he 
was 7-2 in dual meet competition 
and placed fifth at the Big Ten 
Championships.

The 
final 

All-American 
was 
Rossi 

Bruno, 
the 

group’s 
lone 
junior, 

who 
ended 

the 
meet 

eighth 
with 

a 4-3 record. 
Bruno, 
who 

missed 
earning All-

American honors by one match 
last year, finished the season 
strong despite being injured for 
most of the dual meets.

While the other five wrestlers 

Michigan sent to St. Louis did 
not come away with honors, the 
number of wrestlers that the 
team sent to the tournament 
was 
an 
accomplishment 
in 

itself. There were 10 Wolverines 
at the NCAA Championships 
compared to eight last year.

Perhaps more importantly, 

however, all but one of those 
who qualified will return to the 
team next year, giving Michigan 
an early edge to compete for a 
national title next season.

Coon finishes second, 
Wolverines take 11th

WRESTLING

“I thought it was 

a great effort, 

and a great 

season.”

‘M’ to face Toledo in WNIT

By MINH DOAN

Daily Sports Writer

The 
Michigan 
women’s 

basketball team is still alive.

After 
defeating 
Cleveland 

State 
in 
the 

first round of 
the 
WNIT, 

Michigan 
will 
travel 

to Toledo to 
take 
on 
the 

Rockets 
on 

Monday night 
in the second 
round of the 
tournament.

The 

Wolverines 
(8-10 Big Ten, 17-14 overall) 
are coming off a convincing 
71-50 win over the Vikings 
on Wednesday night in which 
Michigan coach Kim Barnes 
Arico 
used 
an 
unorthodox 

method to pick her starting 
lineup.

She 
used 
a 
points-based 

system to reward players for 
their work during the week 
leading up to the game.

At the end of the week, 

freshman 
forward 
Emoni 

Jackson held the No. 5 spot in 
the points standings, earning 
her first start of her collegiate 
career.

And 
Barnes 
Arico’s 

unorthodox method paid off, as 
Jackson totaled eight points and 
four rebounds in 14 minutes of 

action.

“She’s just got a little bounce 

on her,” Barnes Arico said. 
“She was able to rebound the 
basketball extremely well and 
just find a way to finish plays 
around the basket. She gave us a 
great lift, and I was really happy 
for her.”

Michigan’s 
defense 
shut 

down Cleveland State, which 
shot a paltry 25.9 percent in the 
first half, scoring just 20 points.

Senior forward Cyesha Goree 

returned to her double-digit 
scoring form, finishing with 
18 points after scoring just a 
combined seven points in her 
last two games.

Even with her successful 

experiment, 
Barnes 
Arico 

acknowledged that her regular 
starters — senior guard Shannon 
Smith, sophomore guard Siera 
Thompson and freshman guard 
Katelynn Flaherty — would have 
big parts in the Wolverines’ next 
game.

But Barnes Arico was happy 

with her squad’s depth.

“Siera and Shannon have 

proved 
themselves 
all 
year 

long,” Barnes Arico said. “We’ll 
have to sit down and we’ll 
evaluate the next couple days 
and kind of see what happens, 
but it’s nice to have that depth 
and to be able to have to make 
those decisions, which are great 
decisions as a coach to have to 
make.”

For 
Toledo 
(11-9 
Mid-

American Conference, 19-13), 
guard Inma Zanoguera leads 
the Rockets in scoring with 15.4 
points per game. She also leads 
the team in boards, averaging 
6.7 rebounds.

Five years ago, the two 

opponents found themselves in 
the exact same position.

Michigan and Toledo faced 

off in the second round of 
the WNIT in 2010, when the 
Wolverines used a 21-2 run out 
of the halftime break to win 
72-57 and advance to the round 
of 16.

That Michigan team went on 

to semifinals before bowing out 
to Miami.

The 
Wolverines 
and 
the 

Rockets have faced five of the 
same opponents this season 
in Purdue, Detroit, Eastern 
Michigan, Cleveland State and 
Western Michigan. Michigan is 
a combined 5-0 against the five 
squads, while Toledo is 3-5.

The winner of the game will 

face Missouri in the round of 16 
after the Tigers defeated Kansas 
State, 67-48, on Sunday.

But 
to 
get 
to 
Missouri, 

Michigan will have to tame 
a 
rowdy 
Toledo 
crowd 
— 

average attendance at Rockets 
games is over 3,500. Winning 
won’t be easy, considering the 
Wolverines are just 4-10 away 
from home.

But if Michigan wants its 

postseason to continue, it’s 
going to have do just that.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Michigan 
at Toledo

Matchup: 
Michigan 
17-14; Toledo 
19-13

When: Mon-
day 7 P.M.

Where: 
Savage Arena

