Merchant Breaks HR Mark; Wolverines Keep Streaking

Wednesday, April 14

Ypsilanti, Mich.

3:00 PM

Michigan

34-6

Eastern Michigan

12-18

Michigan

Eastern Michigan

4/14/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Site: Ypsilanti, Mich. (Varsity Field)
Scores: #9 Michigan 5, Eastern Michigan 0; #9 Michigan 5, Eastern Michigan 0
Records: U-M (35-6), EMU (12-19)
Next U-M Game: Friday, Apr. 16 -- at Illinois (Champaign, Ill.), 6 p.m. CDT

YPSILANTI, Mich. -- The ninth-ranked University of Michigan softball team remained one of the hottest teams in the country this afternoon (Wednesday, April 14) as the Wolverines completed a doubleheader sweep of Eastern Michigan with a pair of 5-0 wins at Varsity Field. The victories moved the Wolverines' shutout streak to eight consecutive games while extending their season-best win streak to 18 games. Individually, Jessica Merchant (Wayland, Mich./Wayland HS) owned the spotlight as the junior shortstop drilled her Michigan-record 14th home run of the season in her first at-bat of the day.

Merchant watches her U-M record 14th home run of the season sail over the fence.

Jennie Ritter (Dexter, Mich./Dexter HS) struck out a career-best and Michigan season-best 15 while tossing a complete-game, two-hit shutout in the nightcap. The Wolverines' pitching staff has now put together 55.1 consecutive scoreless innings since Indiana pushed one across in the seventh inning of a 4-1 Michigan win on April 3.

Merchant's record-breaking home run in the second inning of game one was all the offense the Wolverines needed. Just for good measure, however, Nicole Motycka (Sarasota, Fla./Cardinal Mooney HS) sent the very next pitch even deeper over the fence down the leftfield line for a 2-0 Michigan lead.

Michigan used an EMU error in the sixth to score a pair of unearned runs, including a two-out, run-scoring double by Merchant. The Wolverines added an insurance run in the top of the seventh when Tiffany Haas (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill HS) extended her current team-best hitting streak to six games with a run-scoring double down the rightfield line.

Freshman Lorilyn Wilson (Salem, Ore./Sprague HS) started game one and earned the win, while Motycka put in three innings of relief work for the save. The Eagles did threaten to end the Michigan scoreless innings streak against Motycka in the fifth when a strikeout victim reached and moved to third on a two-out single, but Motycka converted one of her four K's to end the threat.

Michigan's bats started even earlier in game two, with Motycka driving a bases-loaded single up the middle for a 1-0 Wolverine lead in the first inning. The Wolverines continued to do damage with the bases loaded when Jennifer Olds (North Palm Beach, Fla./Suncoast HS) connected for a two-out, three-run double in the second. Olds now has 15 two-out RBI this season.

Ritter, meanwhile, dominated from the beginning as the sophomore recorded eight of her first 10 outs of the game via the strikeout. Eastern Michigan put two runners on in both the fourth and fifth innings, but both times Ritter came up with the big out.

The story of the day, however, was Merchant, who surpassed two of the best players in school history in Melissa Gentile (1997-2000) and Marissa Young (2000-03) to become the best single-season home run hitter in a Maize and Blue uniform with nearly one-third of the season remaining.

Merchant and the Wolverines take their show on the road to face a two-game set at Illinois with single games on Friday (April 16, 6 p.m. CDT) and Saturday (April 17, noon CDT) in Champaign, Ill.

NOTES

Jennie Ritter's 15-strikeout effort in the nightcap matches the third-best single-game total in Michigan history. Michelle Bolster (1985-88) still holds the Michigan mark with 17 K's against Oklahoma on March 25, 1988.

Lauren Holland (Grand Blanc, Mich./Grand Blanc HS) started game two behind the plate and responded with the first multi-hit game of her career. The junior doubled, singled and scored a run.

Tiffany Haas went 3-4 with three runs scored and an RBI in the doubleheader to run her hit streak to seven games. Jennifer Olds owns the longest streak of the season at eight games.

Michigan's 18-game win streak is its longest since winning 18 straight from March 31-April 21, 2001.

Contact: Rich Marion (734) 763-4423