Michigan Batters Purdue in Opener But Drops Nightcap

Sunday, April 9

Ann Arbor, Mich.

Noon

Michigan

25-9, 5-0

Purdue

22-21, 2-5

Purdue

Michigan

4/9/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Alumni Field)
Scores: #12 Michigan 14, Purdue 0 (5 innings); Purdue 5, #12 Michigan 4
Records: U-M (25-10, 5-1 Big Ten), Purdue (23-21, 3-5 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Friday, April 14 -- at Iowa (Iowa City, Iowa), 6 p.m. CDT

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan softball team set a pair of season highs on opposite ends of the spectrum with a season-best 14 runs in a 14-0, five-inning win and a season-worst five errors in a 5-4 loss against Purdue, Sunday afternoon (April 9) in a Big Ten doubleheader at Alumni Field.

In U-M's 14-0 win in game one, Michigan's boxscore featured 11 Wolverines with at least a hit and 10 with at least one RBI, led by senior Tiffany Haas' (North Tustin, Calif/Foothill) 1-for-2 outing with three RBI and senior Stephanie Bercaw's (Wooster, Ohio/Hillsdale) 2-for-2 performance with one RBI. Bercaw also scored three times, while Haas, sophomore Alessandra Giampaolo (Pasadena, Calif./Polytechnic) and sophomore Angie Danis (Manchester, Mo./Parkway West) each crossed home plate twice. Starting senior pitcher Jennie Ritter (Dexter, Mich./Dexter) picked up the win, throwing 5.0 innings and giving up one hit while striking out 10 in the shortened game.

In the 5-4 second-game loss, Michigan fell one run short of tying it up in the seventh after entering its final time at bat trailing 5-1. The Wolverines scored three runs in the final frame on hits by sophomore Samantha Findlay (Lockport, Ill./Lockport East), senior Becky Marx (St. Joseph, Mich./Lakeshore) and Danis, but with runners on second and third with two out, a laser of a line drive from pinch-hitter junior Tiffany Worthy (Yorba Linda, Calif./Lutheran) was snared by Purdue centerfielder Staci Falzon for the final out. Junior starter Lorilyn Wilson (Salem, Ore./Sprague) was chased from the game in the first inning after giving up three runs off two hits with a walk, ending her streak of consecutive scoreless innings at 42.2. Ritter entered to shut down the Boilermakers in the first inning and threw 5.2 innings, allowing two hits and two runs and striking out 10.

Michigan moves to 25-10 and 5-1 in the Big Ten while Purdue remains above .500 with a 22-21 overall record with a 2-5 mark in conference. Ritter improves to 13-4 on the season, while Wilson falls to 10-5. The Boilermaker win was just the second in program history over the Wolverines and the first since April 8, 1997. Michigan leads the all-time series, 26-2.

The first game began auspiciously enough in the first at-bat when Bercaw robbed Purdue's Falzon of a home run with a leaping catch over the rightfield fence to ignite the 1,063 fans at Alumni Field. Ritter promptly struck out the next two batters, and the Wolverine bats rewarded her with a run in the bottom half of the first on a senior Grace Leutele (Sierra Vista, Ariz./Buena) single up the middle that scored Haas.

Michigan pounded the Boilermakers with nine runs in the second on seven hits and one error, batting around and bringing 13 hitters to the plate in the inning. Bercaw led off with a hit and added a RBI single later in the inning to tally the most impressive numbers in the frame. Freshman Teddi Ewing (Olathe, Kan./Olathe East) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to record a RBI, and Haas doubled in the middle of the inning, bringing three runs across the plate. Giampaolo and Findlay also added RBI and Danis smacked a two-run double near the end of the inning to score the final two runs of the frame and post U-M to a 10-0 lead.

Worthy added a RBI double in the third inning to make it 11-0, and a double by sophomore Lauren Talbot (Walled Lake, Mich./Western) and a two-run single by junior Stephanie Winter (St. Charles, Mo./St. Charles West) added three more in the fourth as Michigan emptied its bench of pinch hitters.

In game two, Michigan led 1-0 after the first thanks to a sacrifice fly by Leutele, but Purdue took advantage of a pair of Wolverine errors and scratched across three runs in the bottom half of the inning to lead 3-1. The Boilermakers added two runs in the third on a home run by DaQueta Johnson to make it 5-1.

The Wolverines' near comeback began in the seventh with back-to-back one-out doubles by Giampaolo and Findlay, cutting the deficit to 5-2. Marx singled Findlay home from second base in the next at-bat to make it 5-3, but Purdue took a Leutele grounder and made the force at second to record the second out. Bercaw was hit by a pitch, and Danis followed with a bloop single to leftfield, scoring Leutele from second while advancing to second on the throw to put runners on second and third with two outs. Worthy entered the game as a pinch hitter, but her screaming line drive to center was snared by Falzon to end the game.

Michigan continues Big Ten play with a conference series at Iowa beginning Friday (April 14) at 6 p.m. in Iowa City, Iowa, with the second game on Saturday (April 15) at noon. Saturday's game will be carried live on CSTV.

Q U O T E S

Michigan Head Coach Carol Hutchins
On the second game ... "We lacked focus in the second game. We did not play good enough softball and they made the plays and we didn't. We set a poor tone at the start and got ourselves into a hole. There is a big difference between hitting when you are ahead and hitting when you are behind. We needed to wait for a hittable pitch. We were aggressive in the first inning but not in the second, then we got stupid aggressive when we fell behind. I'm happy with how the team fought back in the seventh, which is what we'll look to build on for next week."

U-M Senior Third Baseman Grace Leutele
On how the 14-0 win in game one affected the team in game two ... "We knew both games would be different and like you saw, it was. Both teams want to play the best that they can and nobody is going to give up. We came out strong in the end which is some consolation. We fought hard in the beginning and at the end but it just wasn't enough. We need to continue to fight throughout the game but we just couldn't put it together.

Contact: Richard L. Retyi (734) 763-4423