Young Carries Wolverines to Big Ten Tournament Crown

Saturday, May 13

Iowa City, Iowa

Noon CT

Michigan

42-14-1

Penn State

37-17

Michigan

Penn State

5/13/2000 12:00:00 AM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Amy Carlton

Site: Iowa City, Iowa (Pearl Field)
Event: Big Ten Conference Tournament
Results: #14 Michigan 2, Penn State 0 (Loser's Bracket Final); #14 Michigan 2, #15 Iowa 0 (Championship Game)
Records: U-M (43-14-1), Iowa (44-13), PSU (37-17)
Next U-M Game: Thu-Sun., May 18-21 -- at NCAA Regional (Site TBA)

• Boxscores: Penn State | Iowa

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Freshman Marissa Young (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS) pitched a pair of 2-0 shutouts and helped her own cause with three hits and three RBI, leading the University of Michigan softball team to the Big Ten Conference Tournament championship and an automatic berth to the NCAA Championship Tournament. Michigan (43-14-1) beat Penn State in the semifinals and top-seeded Iowa in the title game both on Saturday afternoon (May 13).

Young smacked a pair of RBI singles into leftfield -- one in the third and the other in the fifth -- to help score the only runs Michigan managed against Penn State (37-17) in the semifinal game early Saturday afternoon. In the circle Young struck out eight Nittany Lions in a one-hit effort, her second one-hitter of the season. Kelsey Kollen (Cerritos, Calif./Santa Ana Mater Dei HS) picked up the game's only extra-base hit with a leadoff double in the top of the seventh, giving her two hits for the game.

Michigan and Iowa (44-13) played scoreless ball through the first four innings as the Wolverines stranded five base runners and the Hawkeyes three. Kollen reached on a fielding error by Iowa first baseman Alicia Gerlach with one away in the top of the fifth, then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Melissa Taylor (Pettersburg, Mich./Summerfield HS). Stefanie Volpe (Plymouth, Mich./Plymouth-Salem HS) put the Wolverines ahead 2-0 when she sent an 0-1 pitch over the right centerfield fence. U-M tagged Iowa starter Kristi Hanks for two more singles before the Hawkeyes ended the inning with a forceout at third.

Young, who threw all 14 innings on Saturday, sat down 10 Iowa hitters by strikeout. The freshman (16-3) took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, allowing two hits and giving up a pair of walks. Hanks (21-7) worked four and two-thirds innings before being relieved by Kelly Zeilstra. The two allowed nine Michigan hits.

Maize 'n Blue Diamond Gems

• Announcement of the 2000 NCAA Tournament field will be made Sunday (May 14) at 9:30 p.m. EDT, and the announcement show will be televised on UMTV (MediaOne channel 22 in the Ann Arbor area). Forty-eight teams advance to the national tournament that will begin Thursday (May 18) with the regional championships.

• Michigan collected its fifth Big Ten Tournament title in six tries, beating Iowa in the championship game for the fourth time. . . . U-M won the 1997 tournament in Iowa City after finishing runner-up to the Hawkeyes in the regular season.

• Stefanie Volpe's home run is her fifth of the season and her career. . . . Marissa Young totaled five hits and Kelsey Kollen six hits in the four tournament games.