Alumni Field has been kind to the No. 12 Michigan softball team over the past few seasons.
Very kind.
So kind, in fact, that the Wolverines had a 27-game home winning streak entering yesterday's doubleheader with Central Michigan.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.
For the first time since March 30, 1996, Michigan (7-4 Big Ten, 37-13-1 overall) was defeated within the confines of its home field, dropping the second game to the Chippewas (24-13), 5-3.
In the first game of the day, Kelly Holmes pitched a complete-game shutout for the 1-0 win, her 15th of the season.
The ironwoman pitched three more scoreless innings in the second game.
Holmes outdueled Central Michigan's Tina Kinney, who only allowed five Michigan hits.
Michigan scored its only run in the bottom of the first.
Left fielder Kellyn Tate led off the game with a walk. Tate moved to second on a sacrifice by Lisa Kelley. After Cathy Davie struck out, the hot-hitting Tammy Mika smacked a double to plate Tate.
In Tuesday's doubleheader sweep of Penn State, Michigan pushed across 12 runs, including a school-record three home runs in one of the games.
Yesterday, however, the hitting woes that plagued the Wolverines last weekend against Northwestern returned.
They stranded five base runners in the first game and left 10 on in the second. In the loss, the Wolverines left a runner in scoring position in each of their final six innings.
One major problem that the Wolverines had was swinging at bad pitches.
On more than one occasion, Michigan batters helped Central Michigan pitchers out of a jam by swinging at pitches out of the strike zone.
"I'm thinking that you have to be tough at the plate, and ... swing at good pitches," Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said.
Perhaps the lone bright spot for the Wolverines yesterday was Holmes' performance.
The senior has shouldered the bulk of the pitching load since the loss of Sara Griffin to injury. And Holmes is showing no signs of slowing down.
"If I have one kid who has really stepped up here, Kelly Holmes has been stellar," Hutchins said. "She did not give up any runs today, so I think that you have got to think that even if she is tired, she is in there getting the job done."
Michigan's other pitcher yesterday was Jamie Gillies, who picked up the loss in the second game of the doubleheader.
The freshman gave up five runs in four innings of work. Four of the five runs were scored with two outs.
"Jamie needs to have better movement and keep the ball away from the zone," Hutchin said. "It's too close to the zone and even with two strikes and two outs to be able to shut the door to an inning and shut the door on a batter."
The Wolverines have played six games in the past four days and now have two days to rest before Minnesota comes to Ann Arbor this weekend.
The teams will play three games on Saturday and Sunday. The Wolverines hope that home will continue to be as good to them as it has been in the past year.