SFB 2005 vs. Northwestern -- Notes & Quotes
5/8/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
N O T E S
Michigan's Big Ten championship is its 10th all-time and 10th in the last 14 seasons since the Wolverines broke through with their first in 1992. Michigan has won the Big Ten in four of the last five seasons and finished the Big Ten in first or second for 11 straight seasons.
Alessandra Giampaolo went 2-3 today with two runs scored and drove in a career-best three runs. She has now hit safely in four straight games.
Jennie Ritter's save is her fourth of the season.
Samantha Findlay drove in a pair with her double in the sixth. She entered the weekend leading the Big Ten with 54 RBI and now leads Michigan with 14 multi-RBI games.
Michigan's seven runs allowed this afternoon matched the most allowed by a Wolverine pitching staff this season. Michigan dropped a 7-6 decision in the season opener to Baylor (Feb. 12) and defeated Illinois 8-7 on April 3.
Michigan upped its record vs. ranked teams this season to 11-2 with today's win over No. 19 Northwestern.
Samantha Findlay's 56 RBI this season are the third-best single-season total in Michigan history, trailing the 57 collected by Melissa Gentile (1997-2000) in 1998 and the 61 attributed to Kelly Kovach (1992-95) in 1995.
Tiffany Haas scored two runs today to move into sixth place on the all-time U-M list with 143.
Jessica Merchant started her 236th career game this afternoon, moving her into a tie for seventh on the all-time U-M list with former teammate Meghan Doe (2000-04).
Lorilyn Wilson is now 29-2 for her career with an all-time Michigan-best winning percentage of .935.
Michigan is now 7-3 on one-run games this season.
Today's attendance of 1,657 fans is the third-largest in school history and the third straight of more than 1,600 at Alumni Field. Michigan set the new school record for attendance with 1,903 fans at the doubleheader vs. Michigan State on May 1. Michigan hosted 1,858 fans for Saturday night's win over the Wildcats.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Carol Hutchins
On the game overall ... "I am proud of the way we battled back all game long. We were coming from behind from the first inning on, but these kids stayed with it like they have all season. It is not always the big play that makes the difference, but a lot of little ones and we made those today."
On winning the championship ... "We put ourselves behind the eight ball right off the bat in the conference race when we lost the opener to Iowa. Its been an uphill struggle since that point, but we got a little help (with Northwestern losing to Michigan State) last weekend and then took it from there. I am happy with how we dealt with the pressure the last two weekends because those are the type of games we will be playing in from hereon out."
On the weekend series vs. Northwestern ... "They are an excellent team. They have two good pitchers and the top of their lineup is as good as anyone I have seen. We are going to have to beat good teams like Northwestern to get back to the World Series, so this was a great weekend for us in terms of experience. They gave us a good idea of what it's going to be like the rest of the season."
U-M Senior Shortstop Jessica Merchant
On beating out the throw at first in the sixth inning ... "I just told myself to get going out of the box. I'm not known for my speed, but I ran as hard as I could on that play."
On the 2005 Michigan team ... "I love this team and there is not another team in the country I would rather be going into postseason with. This group has had great chemistry since the start and that has been our greatest strength."
