Restless Young Hurls, Hits Michigan into Regional Final

Saturday, May 17

Ann Arbor, Mich.

5:00 PM

Michigan

44-15

DePaul

48-7-1

DePaul

Michigan

Restless Young Hurls, Hits Michigan into Regional Final

5/17/2003 12:00:00 AM | Softball

Box Score

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Senior All-American Marissa Young's (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS) three-run homer in the bottom of the first proved to be all the runs the University of Michigan softball team would need as the No. 3 seed Wolverines topped No. 1 seed DePaul University 3-2 today (Saturday, May 17) in NCAA Regional 7 action at Alumni Field. In addition to hitting her 13th home run of the season, Young also struck out 11 batters in the contest and left the potential tying run stranded at third base in the top of the seventh inning.

DePaul struck first in the opening inning. After earning a walk to lead off the game, Liz Bouck stole second and then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Saskia Roberson's groundout to second base brought the run home and put the Blue Demons up by one.

Young answered for Michigan in the bottom of the inning. The Wolverines' first two batters -- Tiffany Haas (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill HS) and Meghan Doe (Tucson, Ariz./Sabino HS) -- singled and Young came up to the plate with one out and two on. Young homered down the leftfield line to put U-M up 3-1 after the first inning.

The teams' starting pitchers took over the game after the first inning, neither allowing a hit for the next three frames. Then in the fifth inning with one out, DePaul's Katy Kukman singled to record the first hit for either team in three innings. Gina Ramacci followed with a double down the leftfield line, advancing Kukman to third, and Dana Kenney brought DePaul within one with a single that plated Kukman and made the score 3-2. Michigan attempted to respond in the bottom of the inning with runners on second and third with two outs, however, a groundout to second ended the inning.

Neither team was able to muster any offense in the sixth inning and DePaul came to the plate in the top of the seventh still trailing 3-2. After a flyout to lead off the inning, Kenney doubled down the leftfield line and was replaced on the bases by Ashley Parker. Young struck out the next batter but Parker stole third to bring up Bouck with two outs. With a full count, Bouck struck out looking to end the game.

Michigan (44-15) advances to play defending national champion California in the championship game tomorrow (May 18) at noon. If the Wolverines win, there will be a second game at 2:30 p.m. to determine which team returns to the Women's College World Series. DePaul finishes its season with a 48-7-1 record.

Q U O T E S

Michigan Head Coach Carol Hutchins
On the game ... "What a outstanding game. I cannot say enough about what a great team DePaul is. They have had an outstanding year and they are a great team. They hit over .320 as a team and Lindsay Chouinard has had an unbelievable year. To beat them was just a great effort. Marissa Young's effort was particularly outstanding, but a great team effort and a very exciting ballgame all the way down to the last pitch. I am really proud of my kids."

On Marissa Young's performance ... "Marissa has done a lot in her career, but I think today matches one of her best efforts. I told her this morning that she is the heart and soul of this team. She accepted that as a challenge and just did a tremendous job."

Senior Pitcher Marissa Young
On when DePaul started to hit her in the fifth inning ... "Warming up in the bullpen, I said my goal was to have a great five innings. I know that once I hit that mark it is going to be tough. DePaul had some great at-bats from the start and I knew it was just going to be a matter of time before they started to find some holes. I had confidence in my team to make the plays."

Freshman Second Baseman Tiffany Haas
On the importance of getting on base from the leadoff spot ... "As the first hitter it begins with me. It is up to me to set the tone, but I have all the faith in the world in my teammates to get some hits too."

DePaul Head Coach Eugene Lenti
On the game ... "It is tough coming back from a game that you lose, especially such a close one. It is very tough when you are young to handle that and even when you are as good a team as we are it is tough to deal with that. We are very proud of the way they battled. We just ran into two very good pitchers and two very good defensive teams too. They made all the plays defensively and when they needed to come up with a big play they did. It is going to be a great battle tomorrow."

N O T E S

From the second inning of the win over Notre Dame earlier today until there was one out in the fifth of the win over DePaul, Michigan's Marissa Young retired 30 of 31 hitters, only walking DePaul leadoff hitter Liz Bouck in the first. Bouck eventually scored after a steal, wild pitch and groundout.

This is the third consecutive year and 10th time overall Michigan has appeared in an NCAA Regional championship game.

Marissa Young's home run is the 13th of the season, tying her with Melissa Gentile's (1997-2000) 1998 total for the single-season home run record at Michigan.

Contact: Rich Marion (734) 763-4423