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Wolverines shut down Wildcats on diamond

It was cold and windy with a hint of snow but the Wolverines were in a mood for spring cleaning.

So they brought out the brooms.

The Michigan softball team swept Northwestern in a 3-2 squeaker in the opener and then blanked the Wildcats the next two games.

Despite the slow start, Michigan rolled, maintaining its second-place slot in the Big Ten standings.

The first game started out with Michigan spotting the Wildcats two runs. The Wolverines' flawed defense was highlighted in the second inning as senior co-captain Kathryn Gleason made a poor throw to first base on a soft grounder.

The poor throw allowed Northwestern's Erin Robson to reach base. She promptly stole second before Jessica Lang followed suit with a errant toss of her own that allowed Robson to score. Michigan's Erin Martino misplayed a hit soon after, allowing Northwestern pitcher Alison Ward to score on the two-base error.

But that was the end for the Wildcats. Not only for the game, but for the weekend. Northwestern did not score again -- for the next 19 innings.

Michigan settled down, mounted a comeback and, with some timely hitting, got back into the game. After Cathy Davie's triple in the fourth, Gleason hit a deep sacrifice fly to score Davie from third.

The Wolverines' hopes for another run in the inning were dashed as Cheryl Pearcy was thrown out at the plate attempting to score on Kellyn Tate's single to left.

With the heart of Michigan's order due up in the bottom half of the fifth inning, pitcher Sara Griffin set down the Wildcats in order. The Wolverine rally came in the bottom half of the inning as first baseman Traci Conrad doubled and Ward began to lose control of the game.

Ward walked Tracy Carr and Jennifer Smith to load the bases. Lang followed then singled up the middle to knock in the tying and go ahead runs.

That was all Griffin needed, closing out the Wildcats by allowing just one hit over the next two innings and sealing the win. The game improved Griffin's season record to 15-4.

"Three errors in one inning, I would say that was bad defense," Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said. "We are fortunate that we came back and outscored them.

"Other than (the errors) we played a good game, but that inning was horrible."

The second game of Saturday's doubleheader was the Wolverines' chance to be the road team in their home park.

The second game was Michigan's turn to get out to an early lead and it did not hesitate to capitalize. In the first inning, before many of the fans had even returned to their seats, Tate started making waves.

She reached base on a single up the middle and stole second on the next pitch. That put her in position to score when Carr dropped a single in front of Robson in center. Robson tried to nail Tate at the plate, but the throw arrived too late, and Michigan was on the board before Northwestern had even come to the plate.

From the beginning of the game, Michigan pitcher Kelly Holmes was on a roll. The Wildcats had trouble adjusting to the Holmes' slower pace after facing Griffin's heat in the opener. Holmes was perfect through 3 1/3 innings while effortlessly mowing down the Wildcats.

Michigan had yet to fluster pitcher Misty Lauby, who was held the Wolverines to only two runs heading in the fifth. But the Wolverines began to attack. Pearcy reached base on a bunt single and Hutchins started playing strategic ball.

Tate sacrificed Pearcy to second and Conrad reached base on an error. Michigan had two baserunners and were on the brink of a rally. The Big Ten's leading hitter from a season ago, Griffin, was at the plate.

Hutchins sent in the sign for Griffin to advance the runner but the All-American wasn't listening. Instead she swung away and ripped a double down the line, scoring Pearcy from second, advancing Conrad to third and sending the steady Lauby to the showers.

Lindsey Prezell replaced Lauby on the mound for Northwestern and despite getting Carr to ground to short, Conrad was able to score. Prezell got out of the inning down only 4-0 and had stopped the bleeding -- albeit temporarily.

Holmes, meanwhile, was calmly sitting the Wildcats down, three at a time. She faced only five batters above the minimum, holding Northwestern to only three hits the entire contest.

But Michigan was not finished and had no intention of sitting on a four-run lead. The Wolverines looked to put the game away in the sixth inning, and did so. Michigan sent all nine batters to the plate in the inning

The barrage began as Lang's single went through leftfielder Peggy Mandel's legs for a two-base error. Smith scored Lang easily from third with a deep fly to right field.

Sophomore Lisa Kelley, new to the Michigan squad this season, pinch hit for Gleason and singled. Pearcy's and Kelley both scored on a Tate double.

Relief came for the Wildcats when Jenni Beseres replaced Prezell. Michigan scored twice more in the inning, closing the Wildcats out 9-0.

Holmes' near-flawless performance was the 17th shutout of her career, as well as the 16th of Michigan's season. Her record improved to 2-1 in the Big Ten and 12-5 overall.

After the second game of the day, Hutchins was already looking ahead.

"We need to sweep when we go ahead 2-0 in a weekend series," she said. "We want (another victory) now."

The series concluded yesterday with another Michigan whitewashing of the Wildcats. The Wolverines, buoyed by a strong outing by Griffin, fought the frigid temperatures to pull off the sweep

Michigan pitched another shutout and got clutch hitting from an unlikely source. The freshman Davie was the spark the Wolverines needed to get their offense moving. Her single in the second inning scored Conrad and got the Wolverines on the board.

Michigan led off the fourth with three straight singles before Davie's heroics. After knocking in two with a single in the third, she legged out an infield single in the fourth, scoring Tate. The timely hitting gave Davie four RBI for the game and boosted her confidence.

"I just focused on the ball today," Davie said.

Griffin was outstanding on the mound for Michigan once again, completing her undefeated weekend with the 6-0 shutout of the Wildcats. For the two games, she allowed no earned runs and struck out six.

The Wolverines travel to East Lansing on Tuesday for a doubleheader with Michigan State.