U-M Sweeps Ohio State as Hutchins Hits Milestones

Sunday, March 31

Ann Arbor, Mich.

12:00 PM

Michigan

23-7, 2-1

Ohio State

29-7, 2-1

Ohio State

Michigan

3/31/2002 12:00:00 AM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Alumni Field)
Scores: #13 Michigan 5, #25 Ohio State 4; #13 Michigan 8, #25 Ohio State 2
Records: U-M (24-7, 3-1 Big Ten), OSU (29-8, 2-2 Big Ten)
Next U-M Game: Wednesday, April 3 -- vs. Bowling Green State (Alumni Field), 3 p.m

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The 13th-ranked University of Michigan softball team used a couple of different styles Sunday afternoon (March 31) in sweeping 25th-ranked Ohio State 5-4 and 8-2 to give head coach Carol Hutchins her 750th career win and her 300th win all-time in Big Ten action. The Wolverines (24-7, 3-1 Big Ten) won game one in dramatic fashion as the Maize and Blue plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh, including a bases-loaded walk by freshman Jessica Merchant (Wayland, Mich./Wayland HS) to force in the game-winning run.

Kollen

Merchant's home run in game two, her second of the season, was the big blow in a five-run Michigan third as the Wolverines used 13 hits to gain an 8-2 victory. Freshman Nicole Motycka (Sarasota, Fla./Cardinal Mooney HS) won her 11th game of the year in game two, while senior second baseman Kelsey Kollen (Cerritos, Calif./Santa Ana Mater Dei HS) went 7-9 in the doubleheader with five runs scored and one RBI on her third home run of the season. Marissa Young (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS) earned the win in game one.

Kollen also led off the Michigan seventh in game one with a single up the middle to start the rally that would eventually give the Wolverines the victory. Meghan Doe (Tucson, Calif./Sabino HS) followed that up with an infield single to put the tying and winning runs on first and second with nobody out. However, Stefanie Volpe (Plymouth, Mich./Plymouth-Salem HS), who was 3-3 on the game, struck out before Monica Schock (Rialto, Calif./Eisenhower HS) moved the runners up to second and third on a groundout following a lengthy battle with Ohio State pitcher Jennifer Allen.

Young stepped up with the game on the line and hit a ground ball to the Buckeye second baseman that was bobbled, scoring Kollen from third to tie the game. It was the second of three unearned runs the Wolverines would score in game one. Ohio State coach Linda Kalafatis then intentionally walked Melinda Moulden (LaCresenta, Calif./Crescenta Valley HS) to load the bases for Merchant, who battled Allen to a full count before taking ball four and scoring the Doe for the win.

After Ohio State leadoff hitter Jennifer Link took the first pitch of game one over the rightfield fence for a home run, Michigan bounced back to take a 2-1 lead in the fourth when doubles from Volpe, Schock and Moulden plated a pair of Michigan runs. The lead was short lived, however, as Ohio State came back with three runs in the fifth on an RBI double from Link and a two-run home run from Anna Smith after two were out to go up 4-2.

Michigan cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single from Volpe, which drove in Kollen from third. Kollen had singled and moved to third on an Ohio State misplay of a ball of the bat of Doe. The Wolverines threatened to take the lead back later that inning with the bases loaded and one out, but Ohio State forced Doe at home and then got Moulden to hit into a fielder's choice to end the inning.

Game two was a different story as the Wolverine offense keyed the win with 13 hits, including a pair of long balls from Merchant and Kollen. Michigan broke open a 1-1 tie with five runs in a third inning that was started again at the top of the order. This time it was Doe reaching with a leadoff single. Volpe followed with a single and both runners were driven in on an RBI double to the left-center gap off the bat of Schock. Three hitters later Schock and Moulden were on the corners when Merchant sent a pitch over the fence in left-center for the freshman's second career home run and first at Alumni Field.

After allowing a run in the first, Motycka settled down to hold Ohio State to just two baserunners in the second, third and fourth innings while the offense opened up a 6-1 lead. Michigan also scored in the first on a Kollen double and Schock RBI single. Kollen scored twice more on a solo home run in the fourth and on an RBI double off the bat of Young in the sixth to give the Wolverines the 8-2 win.

The Wolverines step out of the Big Ten on Wednesday (April 3, 3 p.m.) to face Bowling Green State in a makeup game for the originally scheduled home opener that was postponed due to inclement weather Tuesday (March 26). Michigan returns to Big Ten action at Indiana on Friday (April 5, 4 p.m.) and Saturday (April 6, noon) with a pair of games in Bloomington, Ind.

N O T E S

Michigan head coach Carol Hutchins is now 751-316-4 in 19 seasons as a collegiate head coach and 728-305-4 in 18 seasons at Michigan. Hutchins, who is now 300-114 in the Big Ten, was 23-11 in her one-year stint as head coach at Ferris State in 1982.

Michigan, which did not commit an error today, has now gone seven straight games and 53 consecutive innings without committing an error.

Michigan's 13 hits in the game two win is its second-highest total of the season. The Wolverines connected for 15 hits in a 9-0, five-inning win over Pittsburgh on Feb. 17.

Nicole Motycka's win was her sixth straight.

Kelsey Kollen, who leads Michigan with 12 multiple-hit games this season, is now tied for the team lead with three home runs. She shares that honor with Stefanie Volpe and Marissa Young.

Q U O T E S

Michigan Head Coach Carol Hutchins
Overall thoughts on the sweep ... "The first game was key and that was a big win for us to come back like that. When you give a home run on the first pitch of the game it just surprises everybody and it may have shook up Marissa's (Young) confidence a little bit. When you look at it though, Marissa really threw a very good game for us against a great offensive team. She just had a couple of bad pitches that they took advantage of, but she hung in there and gave us a chance to win. I think the way we won the first game affected the second game a little because it was such an emotional ending. I do have to give our hitters credit because they came out aggressive in the second game and jumped on their starter, who had to go nine innings yesterday in a game."

Contact: Rich Marion (734) 763-4423