Michigan Starts Road Weekend With Shutout of Purdue

Friday, April 15

West Lafayette, Ind.

4:00 PM

Michigan

41-3, 8-1

Purdue

28-14, 5-2

Michigan

Purdue

4/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball

Box Score

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The No. 1-ranked University of Michigan softball team won its sixth straight and shut out its opponent for the fourth straight game with a 3-0 win at Purdue earlier this evening (Friday, April 15). Alessandra Giampaolo (Pasadena, Calif./Polytechnic HS) led the way with a 3-4 effort at the plate, including an RBI double and a run scored.

Giampaolo scored U-M's first run and drove in the third.

Michigan's pitching staff, which entered today's action ranked third in the nation with a 0.76 earned run average, kept rolling along as starter Jennie Ritter (Dexter, Mich./Dexter HS) and Lorilyn Wilson (Salem, Ore./Sprague HS) combined for the staff's fourth straight shutout. The Michigan pitching staff has now registered 32 straight scoreless innings, having held its opponent off the board since surrendering two runs in the first inning vs. Wisconsin last Friday (April 8).

Nicole Motycka (Sarasota, Fla./Cardinal Mooney HS) reached double figures in the home run column for the first time in her career when she hit a solo shot for her 10th of the season.

Although the Wolverines pounded out 10 hits, Michigan failed to cash in on a couple early scoring opportunities. Ritter held the Boilermakers at bay until Michigan finally struck in the third on a two-out, RBI triple from Jessica Merchant (Wayland, Mich./Wayland HS) that plated Giampaolo, who had singled ahead of the reigning National Player of the Week. Merchant is actually leading the Wolverines with a .429 average with two outs and shares the team lead for two-out RBI with freshman Samantha Findlay (Lockport, Ill./East HS) at 17. The Wolverines have made it tough for the opposition to close out an inning all season, hitting .326 as a team with two outs.

Purdue leadoff hitter Shellie Messer led of the first with a single and moved to second, but the threat ended quietly and proved to be a rare threat vs. Ritter, who retired 15 of the next 16 in order, issuing only what proved to a harmless walk in the third.

Ritter entered the game leading the Big Ten in strikeouts (188) but only struck out six today, instead using her defense on a variety of ground balls and flyouts. Michigan pushed the lead to 2-0 on Motycka's solo blast to lead off the sixth, and Purdue finally broke against Ritter with a couple hits in the bottom of the frame. However, it was the defense shutting things down as catcher Becky Marx (St. Joseph, Mich./Stevensville-Lakeshore HS) gunned down a potential base stealer and Tiffany Haas (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill HS) scooped up the inning's final out with a potential run at second base.

Haas' assist to end the sixth was the third time Ritter had forced Purdue's big threat, Andrea Hillsey, into a groundout. Hillsey entered today's action leading the Big Ten in on-base percentage.

Giampaolo provided an insurance run with a run-scoring double in the seventh after Haas had reached on an error. A rare Michigan mistake in the seventh did force Michigan coach Carol Hutchins to go to Wilson out of the bullpen. Purdue put the leadoff hitter on second thanks to an error, but Wilson came on to get the final three hitters in order.

Michigan closes up its two-game set at Purdue tomorrow (April 16, noon EST/CDT) before heading to Indiana for a twinbill on Sunday (April 17, noon EST/CDT).

N O T E S

Alessandra Giampaolo has hit safely in six of her last eight games and now leads the team with 11 doubles. Today was her 11th multi-hit game of the season and the second three-hit game of her career.

Michigan has now won 15 straight vs. Purdue and owns a 24-1 all-time advantage.

Jessica Merchant's triple is her team-leading second of the season.

Michigan has now homered in 39 of 44 games this season after Nicole Motycka's shot in the sixth.

After recording 10 hits today, Michigan has now registered double digits in hits in 20 of 44 games this season.

Michigan is now 39-0 this season when scoring first.

Michigan pitchers have collected 23 shutouts this season, which matches the 2000 Wolverines for the fourth-best total in program history.

Contact: Rich Marion (734) 763-4423