The Michigan softball team is looking up, and not at its own high expectations. The Wolverines will enter the Capitol City Classic Invitational Thursday tied with South Carolina for the No. 9 ranking in the nation.
At 15-5 so far this season, with the Speedline Invitational championship trophy in their case, the Wolverines climbed five places in the polls this week from their previous ranking of 14.
"We don't talk much of rankings," freshman second baseman Kelsey Kollen said. "We have a saying that it's not where you start, it's where you finish."
When Michigan travels to Sacramento to participate in the Classic this Thursday through Sunday, they will have a chance to climb even further. The Wolverines take on Baylor in the first game, then Southern Illinois and Portland State to finish out the scheduled play. But the bracketed play in the latter half of the Invitational will give Michigan their greatest chance to move up in the rankings.
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| JOSH KLEINBAUM/Daily Melissa Taylor and the Michigan softball team broke into the top 10 of the national rankings with a championship in the Speedline Invitational.
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"We're just looking at it by the way we play," Kollen said. "We haven't gotten much playing time because of the snow, but we are going to take it one game at a time."
Big Ten powers Minnesota and Iowa could also face Michigan in the bracket play of the invitational. If that happens the games will present an interesting preview of the Big Ten season title race because the teams are ranked 18th and 23rd, respectively.
But a championship run in this invitational might not be as easy to come by for the Wolverines as their last win in tournament play at the Speedline. Michigan will have had the last two weeks off and will not have the advantage of coming off a fresh victory.
The break will have the given the Wolverines the chance to overcome the flu bug that was starting to infect the team at the end of spring break. A few of the pitchers, freshman Kate Eiland and junior Jaime Gillies, and few of the role players were affected by the virus, but the team expects to be at full strength for this week's action.
"Everybody is back on their feet and everybody is back to full strength," Kollen said.
If the team is healthy, Michigan might be able to continue the 10-game winning streak it is on. Several players have been on a hot streak as of late. Sophomore pitcher Marie Barda and senior left fielder Catherine Davie were both named to the all-tournament team of the Speedline classic.
Davie currently leads the team in hitting with a .373 average. She also leads the team with 19 runs batted in and two homers.
Leading the team in clutch hitting has been junior catcher Karmen Lappo. Lappo was named to the Speedline all-tournament team and also named the tournament's most valuable player after hitting her first home run of the season - a grand slam against South Carolina.
"Our coaches have a philosophy that hitting is contagious," Kollen said. "And with Kate's and Catherine's hot bats, that allows us to gain confidence."
1999 Michigan Softball
schedule
Mar. 18-21 Capital City Class. Sacramento
Mar. 27-28 Boilermaker Inv. W. Lafayette
March 31 E. Michigan Ypsilanti
April 3 Ohio State Columbus
April 4 Ohio State Columbus
April 7 Purdue W. Lafayette
April 10 Minnesota Ann Arbor
April 11 Minnesota Ann Arbor
April 13 Penn State Ann Arbor
April 14 C. Michigan Ann Arbor
April 17 Northwestern Evanston
April 18 Northwestern Evanston
April 21 Michigan State Ann Arbor
April 24 Iowa Iowa City
April 25 Iowa Iowa City
May 1 Wisconsin Ann Arbor
May 2 Wisconsin Ann Arbor
May 8 Indiana Ann Arbor
May 9 Indiana Ann Arbor
03-16-99
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