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Michigan's success at the plate has kept most opponents at bay

With two marquee starting pitchers, sophomore Sara Griffin (16-4) and junior Kelly Holmes (12-5), the Michigan softball team knew its pitching staff would keep it in most games.

It's the Wolverine bats, however, that have kept opponents out of most games and lifted Michigan to a fast start in the conference.

Michigan (7-1 Big Ten, 28-9 overall) ranks No. 15 in the nation in batting with a .329 team average.

Lead-off hitter and outfielder Kellyn Tate has proved she deserved an earlier move to the top of the order.

The sophomore leads Wolverine starters with a .471 on-base percentage and a .419 batting average.

Tate, sophomore shortstop Lisa Kelley, senior third baseman Tracy Carr and junior utility player Jessica Lang all rank in the top 20 in Big Ten batting.

And quickly moving toward the top 20 is the Wolverines' hottest hitter of late, junior catcher Jennifer Smith. In her last 12 games, Smith is 18-for-34 (.529) with 11 RBI.

WHERE ARE THE DINGERS: Despite the on-going hitting extravaganza, Michigan is without a home run in eight games of conference play.

For the season, no Wolverine has more than one homerun. Tate, Carr, Griffin, Smith and Lang are the only Wolverines to put it over the fence so far.

"We'll take base hits. Base hits score just as many runs as homeruns if you look at the average," Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said. "All we care is that we're 7-1."

Among the nation's best: Besides hitting, Michigan ranks among the country's top 25 in four categories.

In pitching, the Wolverines rank No. 21 with a 1.53 team ERA. Conference foes Michigan State and Iowa pitching are also ranked, at No. 16 and 19 respectively.

Not to be outdone, the Wolverine defense occupies the No. 22 slot with a .961 fielding percentage. Again, Michigan is not alone, however, as Minnesota and Michigan State also rank among the top 25 in the category.

Michigan, as well as Minnesota, also ranks in the top 25 in scoring and the all-important won-loss category.

"STOP ... STOP ... I SAID STOP!!": The Wolverines might lead the country in number of times base runners have ignored their coach's stop signal at third base, at least for yesterday.

Due to the wordiness of the category, though, the statistic is not kept.

Twice yesterday, Michigan base-runners ignored coach/third base coach Hutchins stop sign and at third and headed for the plate on base hits to the outfield. Both times, the runners scored.

"The first one, I almost sent her anyway, but we just got lucky on the other one," Hutchins said. "We were obviously being aggressive."

TRYING TO CLEAR THE BASES: Good hitting usually leads to a lot of base runners. For Michigan, that has translated to several bases loaded situations recently and ,consequently, runners left on base.

The Wolverines have stranded 268 runners for the season, while opponents have left 192 runners on base. Against Northwestern this weekend, Michigan stranded 24 while the Wildcats left 12.

"With the bases loaded, the pressure is on the pitcher, so wait for her to throw one you like," Hutchins said. "As the season goes on, I think you get better, and we are definitely working on it."

PITCHERS KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON: Michigan pitchers Griffin and Holmes have met or exceeded expectations all season long.

Recently, though, the two have gone in opposite directions.

After 35 innings of conference play, Griffin posts a remarkable 0.40 ERA compared to her current overall ERA of 1.28.

On the other hand, Holmes' Big 10 ERA of 2.33 is up from a 1.47 overall ERA.

ARGUE MUCH?: Northwestern coach Sharon Drysdale had her share of conversations with the umpires this weekend.

Yesterday, before the game, Drysdale alerted the umpires that the size of the batter's box was off a couple inches.

Drysdale, coach of the Wildcats for 22 seasons, also chatted with the umps during the game when she protested a no-call.

After a Wildcat runner was called out for leaving first base too soon on a steal attempt, Drysdale felt a Michigan runner committed the same infraction later in the game. When Northwestern didn't get the call, Drysdale made her point to the umpire.