Taylor, Four-Homer Attack Help Michigan Run-Rule Indiana

Saturday, March 29

Bloomington, Ind.

1:00 PM

Michigan

27-3, 0

Indiana

7-21, 0

Indiana

Michigan

Taylor, Four-Homer Attack Help Michigan Run-Rule Indiana

3/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball

Box Score

Site: Bloomington, Ind. (IU Softball Field)
Score: #6 Michigan 8, Indiana 0 (6 innings)
Records: U-M (27-3, 2-0 Big Ten), Indiana (7-21, 0-2 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, March 30 -- DH at Purdue (West Lafayette, Ind.), Noon

Boxscore

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The No. 6-ranked University of Michigan softball team earned its fifth consecutive win and completed a two-game series sweep of Indiana with an 8-0 shutout in six innings Saturday (March 29) at the IU Softball Field. As it did the previous day, U-M used a balanced attack to defeat the Hoosiers, scoring runs in four innings, including three in the bottom of the sixth to end the game prematurely.

The shutout was Michigan's 11th of the season and the sixth of the year for freshman ace Jordan Taylor(Valencia, Calif./Valencia HS), who earned her third straight victory to improve to 15-2 on the season. Taylor stifled the Hoosier offense, striking out seven batters while allowing just three hits. Indiana was unable to advance a runner past second base as Taylor extended her shutout streak to 20 consecutive innings.

Home runs accounted for the bulk of Wolverine scoring as four U-M batters found the grass beyond the Hoosiers' outfield fence, including sophomore centerfielder Molly Bausher(Las Vegas, Nev./Spring Valley HS) and senior second baseman Samantha Findlay(Lockport, Ill./East HS), who both went deep in the opening frame. The home runs marked the first of Bausher's collegiate career and the 51st for Findlay. Sophomore designated player Nikki Nemitz(St. Clair Shores, Mich./Regina HS) also registered her first collegiate home run, in the second inning, while sophomore catcher Roya St. Clair(Livonia, Mich./Stevenson HS) knocked out a two-run blast in the fourth.

Bausher's leadoff shot in the opening frame proved to be the game-winner. The Wolverine sophomore got ahold of the game's third pitch and took it deep to rightfield, giving her team the only run it would need. After Indiana pitcher Sara Olson set down the subsequent two Michigan batters, Findlay launched a solo homer of her own down the leftfield line to pick up her 10th long ball of the season.

Nemitz led off the next inning in similar fashion, mirroring her classmate's effort with a towering blast over the rightfield fence on the first pitch she saw. Olson retired six of Michigan's next nine batters -- only allowing three walks -- but was chased from the game after St. Clair's two-out bomb to leftfield in the bottom of the fourth.

The pitching change did little to affect the Wolverines' hot bats, and after leaving three stranded in the fifth they manufactured three runs on three hits, a fielder's choice and a sacrifice in the sixth to seal up their fifth run-rule victory of the season. The three tallies came over a four-batter stretch with one out. Bausher drove in her second run of the contest, as her fielder's choice brought home freshman first baseman Dorian Shaw(Burke, Va./Robinson SS), who had led off the frame with a double down the leftfield line. Junior shortstop Teddi Ewing(Olathe, Kan./East HS) trotted home from third base on a sacrifice fly by sophomore leftfielder Angela Findlay(Lockport, Ill./East HS), and freshman pinch hitter Marley Powers(Owosso, Mich./Owosso HS) drove in the game-ending tally on a base hit to right centerfield. Powers now boasts two collegiate RBI on two hits.

The Wolverines (27-3, 2-0 Big Ten) will travel to West Lafayette, Ind., to face Purdue tomorrow (Sunday, March 30) in a noon doubleheader at the Varsity Softball Complex.

Contact: Leah Howard (734) 763-4423