Wolverines Capture Pool With Pair of One-Run Wins

Friday, March 19

Sacramento, Calif.

9:00 AM PT

Michigan

17-5

Southern Illinois

12-10

Southern Illinois

Michigan

3/19/1999 12:00:00 AM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Amy Carlton

Site: Sacramento, Calif. (Sacramento Softball Complex)
Event: Capital Classic
Results: #10 Michigan 3, Southern Illinois 2; #10 U-M 5, Portland State 4 (9 innings)
Records: U-M (18-5), SIU (12-10), PSU (4-16)
Next U-M Game: Friday, March 19 -- vs. Indiana State at Capital Classic (Sacramento, Calif.), 7 p.m. PST

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A two-run ninth inning home run by left fielder Catherine Davie (Westlake Village, Calif./Westlake HS) pushed No. 10-ranked University of Michigan softball to a 5-4 extra inning win over Portland State University in pool-play action at the Sacramento State Capital Classic Friday evening (March 19). Earlier in the day, Michigan defeated Southern Illinois University 3-2.

With a 3-0 pool-play record, the Wolverines advance to the Capital Classic championship bracket playoff to face Indiana State University in a 7 p.m. PST Friday night game.

Davie, who won Michigan's opening tournament game vs. Baylor University with a solo home run, sent her fourth home run of the season over the left-field fence, scoring Kelsey Kollen (Cerritos, Calif./Mater Dei HS) from second base. Davie picked up a RBI in the seventh on a double to left field and finished with a game-high three RBI.

Portland State (4-16) led 3-2 after five innings. Michigan sent the game into extra innings on Davie's RBI double in the seventh. After taking a 5-3 lead in the top of the ninth, the Wolverines (18-5) held off a rally by the Pilots in the bottom of the inning, stranding the tying run at second base after Alicia Russell scored to make it 5-4.

Junior pitcher Jamie Gillies (Saugus, Calif./Saugus HS) went the distance for U-M, allowing five hits, two walks and striking out five while improving her record to 4-2. Shevaun Seibert (4-10) was the loser.

Michigan pounded a season-high 13 hits but also committed a season-high five errors. Davie, Kollen, Traci Conrad (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way HS), Pam Kosanke (Chesterfield, Mo./Parkway Central HS) and Stefanie Volpe (Plymouth, Mich./Plymouth-Salem HS) recorded two hits each.

Against Southern Illinois Kollen collected three of Michigan's six hits, including a key two RBI double in the bottom of the second inning. Her first-year classmate, pitcher Kate Eiland (Fresno, Calif./Clovis West HS), pushed her season record to 8-2 with a five-hit complete game victory vs. the Salukis.

Michigan scored early, then thwarted a pair of Southern Illinois (12-10) comebacks late. Kollen scored the Wolverines' first inning run on a Kosanke single to right field. Melissa Taylor (Deerfield, Mich./Summerfield HS) and Mary Conner (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion HS) each scored in the second inning, both coming home on Kollen's double to left field.

Southern Illinois scored a run in the fifth inning, then opened the seventh with back-to-back doubles. Marta Viefhaus doubled and scored on Theresa Shields' double. Shields was thrown out trying to advance to third on the hit. Eiland then forced two infield outs to end the game.

Maize 'n Blue Diamond Gems

• Pitcher Kate Eiland's appearance vs. Southern Illinois is her first since a March 6 win against Hofstra. The SIU win is her second straight complete-game victory.

• The 3-for-3 hitting performance of Kelsey Kollen vs. Southern Illinois marked the second time this season the freshman has been perfect at the plate. Kollen's best day as a Wolverine was a 4-for-4 performance vs. Florida State March 5 at the Speedline Invitational.

• Stefanie Volpe is in the midst of a four-game hit streak, going 6-for-10 over the stretch. The four-game streak ties her season best, set Feb. 20-26.

• Against SIU, Melissa Taylor recorded her fifth stolen base of the season, bettering her 1998 season total of four stolen bases.

• Catherine Davie moved past Sara Griffin (1995-98) into second place alone on the Michigan career home run list with her 15th career home run. She is four home runs shy of tying the career record of 19 held by Melissa Gentile (O'Fallon, Mo./Wentzville HS). Davie's double was her 50th career double and makes her one of just two Wolverines to reach that milestone (Griffin, 58).

• Traci Conrad broke out of a Capital Classic hit slump with a 2-for-4 showing at the plate. Conrad was hitless over the first two tournament games. . . . Catcher Karmen Lappo (Muskegon, Mich./North Muskegon HS) celebrated her 21st birthday with a single against Portland State. She directed the U-M win over Southern Illinois and entered in the sixth vs. Portland State to share in the 5-4 victory.

• Michigan extends its win streak to 13 games with the two victories. The Wolverines have won their last three games by one-run margins, giving Michigan sixth one-run games for the season.

• Southern Illinois lost to the Wolverines for the first time in three meetings. . . . Friday's game was the first-ever between the Michigan and Portland State softball programs.