Motycka Hurls Complete Game; U-M Wins 10th Straight

Saturday, April 3

Bloomington, Ind.

Noon

Michigan

27-6, 2-0

Indiana

21-18, 0-2

INDIANA

Michigan

4/3/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball

Box Score

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The ninth-ranked University of Michigan softball team won its 10th straight this afternoon (Saturday, April 3) and junior hurler Nicole Motycka (Sarasota, Fla./Cardinal Mooney HS) earned her 10th win of the season with a 4-1 decision over Indiana at the IU Softball Field. Jennifer Olds (North Palm Beach, Fla./Suncoast HS) drilled her seventh home run of the season and six different Wolverines collected one hit apiece in the win.

For the second straight day, Michigan (27-6, 2-0 Big Ten) got on the board first with a pair of runs in the second frame, which turned out to be all the Maize and Blue would need.

Michigan's two-run second came with the aid of just one hit, but two Hoosier errors played a big role and helped load the bases with nobody out. Grace Leutele (Sierra Vista, Ariz./Buena HS) connected on a sacrifice fly to rightfield, and after two were out, Indiana committed its second error of the inning on a Meghan Doe (Tucson, Ariz./Sabino HS) ground ball to the shortstop, plating the second unearned run of the frame.

Indiana, which committed two errors yesterday, remained in a giving mood with four more miscues today.

Motycka helped her own cause and stretched the lead to 3-0 with an RBI single in the third. Although the Wolverines put a runner on base in every inning, Olds' long ball to lead off the fifth closed out the Michigan scoring.

Like Michigan, Indiana spread its six-hit attack out over almost the entire game, but the Hoosiers were never able to string together more than one hit an inning until the seventh. Even with two hits in their last at-bat, Indiana still needed Michigan's first error of the game to avoid the shutout.

After taking two from the Hoosiers, Michigan continues its four-game weekend road trip through the state of Indiana with a doubleheader against Purdue tomorrow (April 4, noon EST/CDT) in West Lafayette, Ind.

N O T E S

Monica Schock (Rialto, Calif./Eisenhower HS) went 0-1 with a pair of walks, including an intentional pass, to snap her season-best six-game hit streak. Jennifer Olds now owns the longest current Wolverine hit string at five games.

Nicole Motycka struck out four without issuing a walk. She has now tossed 73.0 innings this season while allowing just eight free passes and striking out 59.

Meghan Doe collected her 16th steal of the season and the 50th of her career to move into a tie with Patti Benedict (1990-93) for fourth place on the Michigan career list.

Nicole Motycka's win today is the 49th of her career, which moves her into a tie with Jamie Gillies (1997-2000) for ninth on the all-time list.

Contact: Rich Marion (734) 763-4423