Kornacki: 'Monte Pizza' Sparks Wolverines in NCAA Tourney Opener
5/15/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Michigan continued its softball dominance Friday (May 15) evening, beating Oakland, 9-1, in the NCAA Regional opener with the mercy rule going into effect in the sixth inning.
But this one was definitely different for the power-hitting Wolverines. Sierra Romero, who has 20 home runs and is one shy of the school's career homer record of 62, kept a first-inning rally going by dropping a rare bunt down the first-base line.
Romero later knocked in two runs to tie Michigan's career runs batted in record of 219 co-held with Samantha Findlay, who supplied the College World Series-clinching homer in 2005 and played through 2008.
The Wolverines have never hit more homers (107) or scored more runs in a season (479) and are known for clubbing teams into submission. But this time, they simply scrapped and clawed their way around the bases. And learning to manufacture runs for when the competition improves and the scores get lower can't be a bad thing.
No. 3 Michigan (52-6) has won 21 straight games and maintained the roll it began in last weekend's Big Ten Tournament by winning three games by a combined score of 31-2.
And the pitching remained brilliant. Megan Betsa was dominant, before Haylie Wagner came on to finish it with two perfect innings. Betsa (27-4) struck out 10 in four innings and allowed a solo homer for her only hit allowed.
The Wolverines had six homers in the conference tourney -- with three by Romero -- but they only had a pair of extra-base hits against the Golden Grizzlies with run-scoring doubles by Lindsay Montemarano and Taylor Swearingen.
Afterward, Montemarano, who instituted a pizza-creating analogy to run scoring, was in the mood for a steak and cheese pizza.
The pizza phenomenon began last fall in an exhibition tournament in Traverse City, Michigan. And Wolverines players use hand signals and cheers to communicate the pizza additions during games.
What kind of pizza did the third baseman, known as "Monte Pizza" to teammates, have a hankering for after this win?
"I'm kind of feeling like steak," Montemarano said. "Maybe I'll put some cheese on that steak.
"We don't always get it after games, but we're a very fun and energetic team. We'll always joke around with each other and have fun. I like to brag about New York pizza because I'm Italian, and I think Italians are great, and New York pizza is better. One of the girls said 'sprinkle the cheese' when I hit a double. Everyone kind of collectively came up with the idea of making pizzas as we go around the bases."
And the Wolverines got the big inning they've become known for -- scoring five times in the third inning and at least once in all but one inning. Montemarano's double came in the middle of that, and she scored the third run as 10 batters came to the plate.
"Big innings have been the way we roll," said head coach Carol Hutchins, whose team scored 13 in one inning last weekend against Penn State. "But we made things happen. We took advantage of some walks and were able to put some things together. I didn't think we swung particularly well, but we found a way to score some runs. And Monte got the big hit there to break it open for us."
Montemarano, a sophomore from Seaford, New York, came up big by connecting while down, 0-2, in the count. Hutchins, however, joked about Montemarano doing that only after being allowed to hit because she couldn't get down a bunt.
"When you're down 0-2, you have to hit anything close," said Montemarano. "I have confidence in myself, and everyone has confidence in me, which is nice. So, I'm thinking, 'Anything close, I've got to put a good cut on it.' You don't want to go down looking. You need to put good bat on good ball and hit it hard."
Montemarano and Romero both had two hits, and leadoff hitter Sierra Lawrence and Montemarano each scored twice. Romero led with two RBI despite dropping down the bunt "on her own" in the first inning because the infield was playing her so deep.
"All she has to do is put it on the ground, and she can walk to first base," said Hutchins. "But to her credit, she made something happen."
Hutchins said she wanted Wagner to pitch as well as Betsa in order to assure both her lead pitchers got a chance to "get the adrenaline out" at the beginning of the national tournament.
Oakland's hitters, with the exception of that one swing for a homer by Laura Pond, couldn't touch Betsa. They were overpowered and couldn't time her pitches.
"My rise (pitch) ladder was working really well," Betsa said. "I was throwing it for strikes and getting them to chase at it."
Hutchins didn't commit to her starting pitcher against Cal (39-16) in the next round on Saturday (May 16) at 4 p.m. Betsa is rested enough to once again get the call, but there's no going wrong with Wagner (21-2).
Hutchins hopes her team got the early-game jitters worked out.
"Of all the opening-round wins we've ever had at Alumni Field," said Hutchins, "I can never remember one with nervous uptightness. That's normal, but I thought we had a little of that, and we had to work through it. And at this point in the season, we're just playing to win and playing to survive."
Moving into the winner's bracket in a double-elimination tournament is the way to get the jump on surviving and moving on to next weekend's NCAA Super Regional. Winning that gets a team to the World Series in Oklahoma City. But we're getting ahead of ourselves -- which is easy with a team as good as Michigan's.
