At practice before the Big Ten softball tournament last Thursday, Michigan softball coach Carol Hutchins ended the short workout with a few words of wisdom. She talked about a runner who tried so hard to impress his father that he kept falling down throughout the race.
Bruised and battered he finished dead last, but his father was still proud of him. Hutchins moral wasn't to try hard, but to relax. The Wolverines ended up tripping over their own few mistakes as they lost in the championship game against Minnesota,
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| MICHELLE SWELNIS /Daily Michigan's bats were swinging, but the Wolverines couldn't quite connect against Minnesota. |
Minnesota's Dana Ballard, pinch hitting in the top of the seventh, poked a looper into left field to score the game winner from second base. The two-out single marked the second time on Saturday that Minnesota came from behind to win in the seventh.
Michigan opened the game with two runs in bottom of the first as they shelled Minnesota's workhorse pitcher, Steph Klaviter. Big Ten player of the year Traci Conrad (3-4) led off for the Wolverines and ran out an infield single. Catherine Davie later lined a shot over second base to score Conrad from second.
Stephanie Volpe next hit a long single off the right field fence moving Davie to third. With runners on the corners Minnesota pulled Klaviter in favor of junk-ball reliever Michelle Harrison.
"They were hitting some pitches down and hard and we knew that if anything could offset the down hard pitches, it was the slow junk that (Harrison) was throwing," Minnesota coach Lisa Bernstien said.
Harrison intentionally walked designated hitter Melissa Gentile, loading the bases to face Rebecca Tune. Earlier in the day Tune, faced with the exact situation, belted a grand slam against Penn State to begin an 11-0 rout. Minnesota was in their hotel at the time and did not know of the play.
"Sometimes it's going to click between you and the pitcher and whatever they're throwing it's going to happen," Tune said. "And it happened for me."
Tune walked scoring Davie from third to end Michigan's scoring for the day. Klaviter came back on with two outs left in the game finishing off Michigan's chances at the conference title.
Big Ten pitcher of the year Marie Barda (22-3) matched Minnesota all the way to the end, recording nine strikeouts, catching six looking.
"I wasn't trying to strike everyone out," Barda said. "They just watched a lot of pitches that hit the corner."
Keeping the Golden Gophers scoreless for five innings, the first three without a hit, Minnesota's Shannon Beeler hit a 1-0 Barda pitch over the left field fence. Her 13th homer tied the game at two. Barda responded by striking out four of the last five outs of the inning.
"Beeler had that look in her eyes when she came up," Hutchins said. "We should have walked her I guess."
Earlier Saturday Michigan lost to Minnesota again, 2-1. Klaviter pitched a five-hitter with five scoreless innings as Jaime Gillies matched her, allowing five hits and no runs until the seventh. Gentile led off the fifth with a towering solo shot into the center field conifers.
Minnesota answered with the winning run on a long fly ball to center. It allowed the runner to tag and score before Volpe, Michigan's catcher, threw out the other runner at third.
Michigan mercied Iowa on Friday 8-0, iced by another Gentile home run in the fifth. The dinger came directly after a member of Michigan's Alumni band yelled for Gentile to hit a homer so "she wouldn't have to run so fast." Barda only allowed two hit .
"We have out most important tournament next," Hutchins said. "We're not going to hang our heads about this very long ... They're going to have hold their head up and work even harder to get it."
And perhaps relax a little bit more in crunch time.
05-17-99
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