Softball trio faces Olympians

By Benjamin Singer

Daily Sports Writer

Near the end of the 2000 softball season, Michigan coach Carol Hutchins asked rightfielder Melissa Taylor, catcher Stefanie Volpe and pitcher Marie Barda to stay after practice.

"We thought we were in trouble," Taylor said. "I hadn't done anything wrong, but I thought maybe she dug something up."

Hutchins did not confront her players with a reprimand, but rather an opportunity.

The United States Olympic team was going to prepare for the world's best in Sydney by taking a tour around the country against the nation's second-best.

Regional All-Star teams were being formed and Hutchins asked her three stars to represent the Midwest team for a doubleheader in South Bend on June 18.

"It was a good opportunity, a good experience," Volpe said.

"I just thought it was a great honor," Taylor said.

Volpe led the team in batting average at .363 and also in homeruns with five. Taylor had a .325 batting average and led the team with 62 hits. Barda was their ace pitcher with a record of 17-7 and a 0.79 ERA.

The Michigan trio was facing their assistant coach - not just the defending Olympic gold medalists. Jennifer Brundage, an alternate for the 1996 team in Atlanta, was the starting left fielder.

Brundage is in the top five in eight major offensive categories for the Olympic team for the tour.

She led in homeruns (17), runs (43) and is tied for first with 3 sacrifice flies. She also hit .371 with 51 RBIs.

The players did not feel too awkward playing against their own coach. They were, of course, very excited.

I was excited to play "not just her, but the whole team," Volpe said.

The Olympic team swept the doubleheader winning 3-1 and 12-0.

Both Volpe and Taylor started in the first game going 1-for-3 and 0-for-2 respectively.

Barda was the starter in game two, pitching the first three innings and notching two strikeouts. Though she allowed four runs, none were earned.

On the other side of the field, Brundage went a combined 3-for-6 with two runs and an RBI, including a single against Barda.

"Jennifer was on first base kind of cheering for (Barda)," Volpe said.

A little bit of teasing went on between Brundage and her pupils as well.

"I told her, 'We'll do better than you,'" Volpe said.

"We didn't care if we won or lost. It was a one in a million chance that we'd win. We were just out there having fun."

The run scored by the Midwest in the opening 3-1 loss was the first given up in 16 games by the U.S. team.

Such a close game made Taylor feel the odds of winning were higher than one in a million - although the U.S. team went 60-0 for the tour.

"If you take the best of the U.S. against the best of the Midwest, I'm not sure they beat us 10 out of 10 times," Taylor said.