Michigan
32-12, 10-3
Illinois
23-26, 7-7
Ritter Nearly Perfect in Hurling Michigan Past Illinois
4/28/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Senior Jennie Ritter (Dexter, Mich./Dexter) came two outs shy of throwing her first no-hitter of the season, while sophomore Samantha Findlay (Lockport, Ill./Lockport East) tallied her ninth multi-hit game of the season, going 2-for-2 with one RBI and one walk, in the University of Michigan softball team's 5-0 shutout of Illinois Friday (April 28) at Alumni Field.
Ritter gave up a sixth-inning walk and a seventh-inning hit while striking out 14 batters for the complete-game victory. She improved to 20-5 on the season and shut down Illinois slugger Jenna Hall, who led the nation in batting average, walks, on-base percentage and slugging percentage coming into the contest. Hall was 0-for-3 with a strikeout in the fourth inning, running her career batting average to .100 (1-for-10) vs. Ritter.
Offensively, Findlay sparked the Wolverine bats with her fourth game-winning hit of the season on a two-out single in the first inning, scoring senior Becky Marx (St. Joseph, Mich./Lakeshore) from second and giving Ritter all he cushion she would need. Marx finished 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored, while senior Grace Leutele (Sierra Vista, Ariz./Buena) and juniors Rebekah Milian (Grand Blanc, Mich./Grand Blanc) and Tiffany Worthy (Yorba Linda, Calif./Lutheran) each tallied one hit apiece.
Michigan improves to 32-12 and 10-3 in the Big Ten, remaining in second place in the conference standings behind Northwestern (34-10, 12-2 Big Ten), which picked up a win at Michigan State earlier in the day. Illinois falls to 23-26 and 7-7 in the Big Ten, staying firmly in sixth place in the conference standings.
In the first inning, Marx hammered a two-out double down the rightfield line and ran home on Findlay's sharp single to left in the next at-bat to make it 1-0 Wolverines. Ritter held the fort by striking out the side in the second and third innings and fanned two in the fourth before U-M could strike again for four runs in the fourth.
In the Michigan fourth, Findlay hit a one-out single and advanced to third on a misplay by the third baseman in sophomore Alessandra Giampaolo's (Pasadena, Calif./Polytechnic) following at-bat. With runners on the corners, Leutele singled to leftfield, scoring Findlay and making it 2-0 Wolverines. Worthy followed with a two-RBI double, easily scoring Giampaolo from second and scoring Leutele from first base after she dove around the tag and touched home plate, making it 4-0. In the next at-bat Bercaw hit the ball to the pitcher, who overthrew the first baseman, allowing Worthy to score and making it 5-0.
Michigan wraps up its series with Illinois on Saturday (April 29) at 1 p.m., followed by a Sunday (April 30, noon) doubleheader with the first-place Northwestern Wildcats.
Contact: Richard Retyi (734) 763-4423
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Ritter, Jennie (20-5)
L: DeVreese (17-14)
Batting:
2B: Marx, Becky 1 ; Worthy, Tiffany 1
RBI: Findlay, Samantha 1 ; Leutele, Grace 1 ; Worthy, Tiffany 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Marx, Becky 1 ; Findlay, Samantha 1 ; Giampaolo, Alessandra 1 ; Leutele, Grace 1 ; Worthy, Tiffany 1
CS: Milian, Rebekah 1
