U-M Drops Close Decisions to Northwestern and Liberty

Saturday, March 24

Louisville, Ky.

11:00 AM

Michigan

24-4

Northwestern

22-6

Michigan

Northwestern

U-M Drops Close Decisions to Northwestern and Liberty

3/24/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Site: Louisville, Ky. (Ulmer Stadium)
Event: Louisville Red and Black Classic
Scores: #7 Northwestern 2, #9 Michigan 1 (9 innings); Liberty 2, #9 Michigan 0
Records: U-M (24-5), Northwestern (22-6), Liberty (15-11)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, Mar. 25 -- at Louisville at Louisville Red and Black Classic (Louisville, Ky.), 2:30 p.m.

Boxscores: Game 1 | Game 2

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The ninth-ranked University of Michigan softball team dropped a pair of close second-day contests at the Louisville Red and Black Classic on Saturday (March 24) at Ulmer Stadium, falling to Big Ten Conference rival Northwestern 2-1 in nine innings before suffering a 2-0 defeat against Liberty.

U-M senior pitcher Lorilyn Wilson (Salem, Ore./Sprague HS) and Northwestern's Eileen Canney highlighted the day's first slate, combining for 27 strikeouts and seven shutout innings after each allowed a run in the opening frame. Wilson had a career-best 15 strikeouts while allowing five hits, including two each in the first and fifth innings.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, after intentional walks to the Wildcats' Tammy Williams and Garland Cooper to load the bases with two outs, Wilson hit Nicole Pauly with an errant pitch to bring home the game-winning run.

Michigan had used a slow Wildcat start to gain the contest's initial advantage. With the bases loaded and one out after a pair of walks and a single up the middle from junior Samantha Findlay (Lockport, Ill./East HS), NU catcher Erin Dyer let a pitch get away from her, allowing junior Alessandra Giampaolo (Pasadena, Calif./Polytechnic HS) to score from third base. Northwestern responded, however, with a run in the bottom half of the inning as Cooper drilled a single to leftfield to score Williams from second.

Michigan failed to take advantage of scoring opportunities in the contest against Liberty, leaving 12 runners stranded on base en route to its first shutout defeat of the season. The Wolverines registered seven hits, including two for extra bases, and loaded the bases twice, in fifth and seventh frames.

The Flames scored the deciding tallies in the sixth as Jessica Moore and Ashley Williams drove back-to-back doubles to the outfield in the midst of Liberty's four-hit inning.

Freshman pitcher Nikki Nemitz (St. Clair Shores, Mich./Regina HS) took the loss after allowing seven hits through 5.1 innings of work, while sophomore Stacy Delaney (Freeland, Mich./Freeland HS) entered the game in the sixth inning and tossed three strikeouts in her third relief effort of the season.

Michigan will close out the Louisville Red and Black Classic tomorrow (Sunday, March 25) with a 2:30 p.m. game against the host Cardinals at Ulmer Stadium.

Contact: Leah Howard (734) 763-4423