Michigan Loses Lead in the Sixth, Falls to Arizona State

Thursday, May 23

Oklahoma City, Okla.

6:00 PM CT

Michigan

50-10

Arizona State

45-18

Michigan

Arizona State

Michigan Loses Lead in the Sixth, Falls to Arizona State

5/23/2002 12:00:00 AM | Softball

Box Score

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- The 11th-ranked University of Michigan softball team dropped its 2002 Women's College World Series opener tonight (Thursday, May 23), falling 2-1 to Arizona State at the Don E. Porter Hall of Fame Stadium.

Buoyed by Marissa Young's (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS) strong pitching and RBI double in the fourth, the Wolverines took a 1-0 lead into the sixth inning before Arizona State came up with a pair of runs with two out, which proved to be the difference. The Wolverines move on to face the loser of tonight's Nebraska-Arizona tilt on Saturday (May 25, 3:30 p.m. CDT) in an elimination game.

Young

Neither squad was able to muster much offense through the first three innings, with the best threat coming on a two-out double off the bat of the Sun Devils' Erin Wardein in the second inning, but Young set down the next hitter to end the inning.

The Wolverines (50-10) were actually held hitless through the first three innings before junior centerfielder Meghan Doe (Tucson, Ariz./Sabino HS) broke through to lead off the fourth, using her speed to reach on a bunt single. By contrast to the Sun Devils' first scoring opportunity, the Wolverines took advantage of theirs as Young delivered a looping double down the rightfield line, scoring Doe from second after she was sacrificed to second by Stefanie Volpe (Plymouth, Mich./Plymouth-Salem HS).

Young, meanwhile, seemed to shake off some early-game jitters and settle in after the second frame. Young walked Arizona State's No. 9-hitter Jennifer Forner with one out in the third, but came right back to get the top two hitters in the Sun Devils order and then retired the side in order in the fourth, including a pair of strikeouts.

Arizona State (45-18) did mount its second threat of the game in the fifth, putting a pair of runners on first and second for the first time in the game with two outs, but Young forced Sun Devil leadoff hitter Missy Hixon to ground out to second for the final out of the inning.

Young, however, found herself in trouble again in the sixth after issuing her third free pass to lead off the frame. After a sacrifice placed the potential game-tying run on second, Young appeared to on her way to getting out of another jam after striking out cleanup hitter Phelan Wright for the second straight time. Young then pitched around her mound counterpart, Erica Beach, but Wardein again came through, this time with a looping single down the rightfield line that was very similar to Young's fourth-inning RBI. The single knotted the contest at 1-1 with Arizona State runners still on the corners. Speedy Sun Devil rightfielder Kristin Farber followed with an infield single to score what would be the game-winning run.

Michigan went down 1-2-3 in the seventh, dropping into an elimination game on Saturday.

N O T E S

Kelsey Kollen went 0-2 with a walk, snapping at eight games what was the team's longest current hit streak.

Marissa Young's RBI double in the fourth was her career-best ninth two-bagger of the season.

Michigan's loss snapped its 16-game win streak and the 2-1 defeat dropped the Wolverines' record in one-run games this season to 14-6.

Meghan Doe's bunt single in the fourth is her 100th career hit.

Q U O T E S

U-M Head Coach Carol Hutchins
On the game overall ... "It was a disappointing loss because I felt our team was as ready as we have ever been for a World Series opener. We were loose and we felt like we were ready to play well and come away with a win. Marissa Young and Erica Beach both threw excellent games and it came down to a couple plays in the sixth inning. I give Erica Beach a lot of credit, but we also need to do a better job of making adjustments as the game goes along."

On dealing with adversity ... "We will find out on Saturday, but this team has done a great job all year long of not looking ahead or dwelling on the negative so I fully expect us to play good softball on Saturday. I emphasized after the game that we are still in this tournament and to focus on what we need to do on Saturday."

On the strategy in the sixth inning ... "You never want to walk the leadoff batter and then we knew we had to pitch around a couple of their better hitters. Marissa did a great job to get Wright and our decision was to pitch around Beach. Then Wardein sticks her bat out and comes up with a similar hit that we scored on earlier in the game. That is just part of the game, but I still feel we made the right decisions in that inning. It could have worked out, but it did not."

U-M Junior Pitcher Marissa Young
On her performance ... "I was glad to get through the first inning and our defense made some great plays behind me. Things settled down in the middle innings and then a couple of plays just did not go our way in the sixth and that was it."

On the team's attitude after dropping the first game ... "It is still positive and it was even positive after the game. We did a good job of staying up throughout the game and we will carry that with us into Saturday. That has been one of the trademarks of our team this season."

Contact: Rich Marion (734) 763-4423