Softball back in action after two-week layoff

It's about 20 degrees outside, the clouds do not appear to be friendly, and it will probably start snowing at any minute...

Scraped knees are being bandaged, sore shoulders are being iced, heated, then iced again, and weak ankles are being wrapped...

It's a beautiful day for softball.

This time last year, Michigan's softball team was rejoicing over an 18-3 start, opening what would soon become its most successful season yet.

The team finished with 56 wins and seven losses, tying for fifth-place in the NCAA Women's College World Series, and taking second place behind Arizona (67-4) in the NCAA Softball Statistical Rankings.

FILE PHOTO Pam Kosanke and the rest of the Michigan softball team returns to action this weekend after a two-week break when they travel to the Capital Classic in Sacramento, Calif.

This year, the team had a difficult start, losing the first three games.

"At first, we just weren't operating on all cylinders," Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said. "We just needed to build confidence and momentum."

And they did. Since then, the Wolverines have been playing remarkably well.

The team sits at a non-conference record of 15-5 after winning 10 straight, the last eight of which landed the team first place in the Speedline Classic Tournament in Tampa, Fla. two weeks ago.

"Everything is really starting to come together now," said senior co-captain and first baseman Traci Conrad. "We're starting to play like a team, and it really showed in the last tournament."

The team has been enjoying a two-week hiatus, which will end this upcoming weekend when it travels to Sacramento, Calif. for the Capital Classic. The Wolverines will play against unranked teams Baylor, Southern Illinois, and Portland State.

Michigan has one more tournament the following weekend, the Boilermaker Invitational in West Lafayette, Ind., where it will again face unranked teams Indiana State, Loyola (Ill.), Bradley, and Central Michigan.

The team will begin fighting for its fifth straight Big Ten Conference title, on April 3 in Columbus against Ohio State.

The following week it will conclude a five-day road trip in West Lafayette against Purdue, and will return to Ann Arbor to host the Minnesota Gophers in a double header starting at 1 pm on Saturday, April 10 at Alumni Field.

Unfortunately, the team will be playing without All-America and All-Big Ten junior catcher, Melissa "Skeeter" Gentile, due to recurring back pains.

Last season, Gentile set Michigan season (13) and career (19) home run records, before having surgery in late November on two herniated disks in her lower back.

Gentile was ranked in four national statistical categories: 12th in slugging percentage (.768), 14th in home runs (0.22 per game), 20th in runs batted in (0.98 per game), and 41st in batting average (.409).

Although the team will be missing the powerful offense of Gentile, this untimely loss is the least of its worries.

"There's no use focusing on something we can't control," Conrad said.

Despite the absence of its would-be starting catcher, Michigan has one of the toughest infields in the country with only one rookie, freshman second baseman Kelsey Kollen.

The outfield is just as strong. Senior left-fielder and team batting average leader Catherine Davie (.373) and senior co-captain and All-Big Ten right-fielder Tammy Mika.

"We won the Big Ten last year, and we have all the talent to do it again," Conrad said. "It just depends on whether we put it all together at the right times."

03-18-99