Take that!

Softball stuns Iowa twice to take Big Ten

As the lone tuba played "The Victors" at Alumni Field on Saturday evening, history repeated itself. For the fourth straight year, the Michigan softball team took the Big Ten Tournament crown.

The Wolverines (52-5) took a unique path to the championship this time, becoming the first team to come out of the loser's bracket to win the championship. Michigan completed its comeback with 5-1 and 6-1 victories over No. 19 Iowa (37-18).

Not only did the Wolverines accomplish their championship in a way that they weren't used to, they also got a great pitching performance from a different source than usual - sophomore Jamie Gillies.

Gillies had the most impressive performance of her career Saturday, pitching eight consecutive perfect innings in two games and only giving up one run.

JOSH KLEINBAUM/Daily Catcher Melissa Gentile led the Michigan charge out of the loser's bracket in last weekend's Big Ten Tournament. The Wolverines beat Iowa twice Saturday to claim the title.

"We needed Jamie to go in that first game," Hutchins said. "She pitched some great ball."

While the pitching was consistently good over the weekend, the major difference between Friday - when they fell to the Hawkeyes - and Saturday came at the plate.

The leader of Saturday's hit parade was catcher Melissa Gentile.

In the fourth inning of the first Iowa game, Gentile doubled on a hit that landed near the warning track.

After she got back to the dugout, second baseman Melissa Taylor was overheard telling the power hitter that she was due for a home run.

In her next at-bat two innings later, with the score tied 1-1, Gentile blasted a home run over the left-centerfield fence that almost went into neighboring Ray Fisher Stadium.

After Gentile touched all the bases, Taylor was again overheard: "I told you that you were due."

Taylor wasn't the only one who had confidence in Gentile.

Hutchins "had a comment to me before I hit my home run," Gentile said. "Hutch came over to me and said, 'Skeeter, it's time for you to dance.'"

Gentile and the entire Michigan dugout were dancing at the end of the first game as the homer sparked a five-run inning for the Wolverines.

MATT MADILL/Daily Pam Kosanke had six putouts in Michigan's championship win over Iowa.

"Our team is so contagious," Gentile said. "It's like the measles - if one person hits, everyone hits. It's been like that all year. We just need one person to get it started."

In the first game Saturday against Minnesota, Sara Griffin pitched a seven-hit shutout, improving her record to 31-1 on the year with the 4-0 victory.

In the first day of the tournament, the Wolverines had trouble generating offense.

In Friday's second game, Iowa took a 1-0 lead on a fourth-inning home run by Shawnte Vallejo. That was all the scoring that the Hawkeyes needed as they silenced Michigan offensively.

The main problem for the Wolverines on Friday was that their usually powerful offense floundered against Iowa's Leticia Castellon.

"This isn't our game," Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said after the loss. "We're an offensive team that scores a lot of runs, and today we just couldn't get going."

Despite the offensive woes, Griffin's pitching propelled Michigan to a 1-0 victory over Minnesota in the first game.

05-11-98