Ritter Hurls Two-Hitter as Wolverines Top Northwestern

Saturday, May 7

Ann Arbor, Mich.

6:00 PM

Michigan

51-4, 14-2

Northwestern

37-13, 15-2

Northwestern

Michigan

Ritter Hurls Two-Hitter as Wolverines Top Northwestern

5/7/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball

Box Score

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 1-ranked University of Michigan softball team came one step closer to claiming its 10th Big Ten Conference regular-season championship in 14 years after Saturday's (May 7) 3-0 win over 19th-ranked Northwestern turned tomorrow's regular-season finale vs. the Wildcats into a Big Ten championship contest. Jennie Ritter (Dexter, Mich./Dexter HS) was the story in front of 1,858 fans at Alumni Field, striking out nine without a walk and allowing just two hits against a tough Northwestern lineup.

Ritter's victory brought Michigan (51-4, 14-2 Big Ten) within just a half-game of Big Ten-leading Northwestern (37-13, 15-2 Big Ten) as the junior won her Big Ten-leading 26th game of the season against just a single defeat.

Michigan needed one of Ritter's best outings of the season and she delivered while engaging Northwestern's Eileen Canney in a classic pitchers' duel. The Wildcats did touch Ritter for a two-out single in the first, but the Big Ten leader in strikeouts took over from there, setting down 10 straight before a leadoff bloop single in the fifth.

Similarly, Canney was having little trouble dealing with a Michigan lineup that entered the week second in the nation in home runs, fifth in batting average and seventh in scoring at 6.21 runs/game. Not known as a strikeout pitcher, Canney struck out seven of the first 10 Wolverines she faced, including six straight at one point, ending with a strikeout of Michigan leadoff hitter Tiffany Haas (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill HS). Haas entered the week as the second-toughest player in America to strike out, having gone down in such a manner just twice in her first 190 at-bats this season.

Alessandra Giampaolo (Pasadena, Calif./Polytechnic HS) broke up a no-hit bid with one out in the fourth on an infield single, but the heart of the Wolverine order went down easily as Jessica Merchant (Wayland, Mich../Wayland HS) and Samantha Findlay (Lockport, Ill./East HS) popped up on the infield.

Michigan still seemed off balance in the fifth, but Stephanie Bercaw (Wooster, Ohio/Hillsdale HS) extended her hit streak to a Michigan-best six games with a single up the middle after two were out. Canney then made a rare miscue on the ensuing batter. She took Becky Marx's (St. Joseph, Mich./Stevensville-Lakeshore HS) soft bouncer back to the mound and threw it in the dirt past her first baseman, allowing the speedy Bercaw, who was moving on the pitch, to score all the way from first.

Ritter kept the momentum in Michigan's favor with a 1-2-3 sixth, but the heart of Northwestern's order awaited in the seventh, including the Big Ten's top hitter in Garland Cooper. Any such concern was significantly eased after Giampaolo singled and Merchant tripled on Michigan's two hardest hit balls of the evening in consecutive at-bats. The result was a 2-0 Michigan lead. Findlay then worked a deep count before Merchant scored on a wild pitch for the final tally.

Northwestern went down 1-2-3 for the fifth time in the seventh. Michigan and Northwestern return to the diamond tomorrow (May 8, 1 p.m.) in a game that will decide the Big Ten regular-season title and determine which school hosts next weekend's Big Ten Tournament (May 12-14) as the No. 1 seed.

N O T E S

Jennie Ritter's 13th shutout tonight is the Michigan staff's 28th of the season, breaking the former school record of 27 set last season.

Jennie Ritter's 13 shutouts this season represent the third-best total in school history behind 15 from Sara Griffin (1996) and 18 from Vicki Morrow (1987).

Alessandra Giampaolo was the only Wolverine with two hits tonight, giving the freshman centerfielder 14 multi-hit games this season. She also came up big in the field, robbing Garland Cooper of a potential extra-base hit in the left-center gap in the fourth inning.

Jessica Merchant's triple in the sixth drove in her 52nd run of the season. Her 52 RBI is tied for the fifth-best single-season mark at Michigan.

Jessica Merchant scored her 122nd career run, moving into sole possesson of 10th place on the U-M career list.

Michigan moved to 10-2 this season vs. ranked opponents with the win over No. 19 Northwestern.

Q U O T E S

Michigan Head Coach Carol Hutchins
On the performance of Jennie Ritter ... "I thought she was outstanding. We needed her to be because there were not a lot of runs being scored either way. For all the home runs and offensive numbers you still have to pitch well and play good defense to win at this level of college softball. Those are the types of games we're going to have to win from hereon out and Ritter is a big reason for that."

On scoring the game's first run ... "You take what you can get against an excellent pitcher who was on her game. Canney was excellent tonight. We had Bercaw moving on the pitch and she has good speed so I was definitely sending her and making Northwestern make a play in that situation."

On what tomorrow's game means ... "I am a big fan of this Michigan team no matter what happens tomorrow. We have a lot of goals and in order to achieve those goals this team needs to just go out, play well, and do what they do best. I like this team a lot regardless of what happens the rest of the season."