Softball Does It With The Long Ball

26 runs scored, 5 allowed, 4 grand slams, 3 wins, 2 shutouts, 1 regional title captured. Softball turned in a dominating performance over the weekend, slicing through Wright State, Notre Dame, and Kent State to advance to next weekend's super regional.

All weekend, the Wolverines found ways to create big innings to pull away from their competition. In the opener against Wright State, Michigan dug themselves a 4-0 going into the bottom of the 3rd and were still down 5-3 in the bottom of the fifth when the Wolverines' bats exploded. Angela Findlay led off with a single, her sister Sam walked. Maggie Viefhaus flied out to left field, but pitcher Nikki Niemitz drove Angela Findlay in with a single and then Dorian Shaw was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Roya St. Clair was lifted for pinch hitter Marley Powers. All she did was hit a grand slam to center. A note from MGoBlue.com: "Powers is now batting .833 (5-for-6) in bases-loaded scenarios this season with three grand slams and 16 RBI." Holy crap.

Now, as awesome as a home run is, it can be a rally-killer. The bases are clear, so the defense doesn't have to account for that. No matter for the Wolverines. Teddi Ewing and Ali Giampaolo hit consecutive singles, while pinch hitter Angie Danis walked. Having batted around, Angela Findlay lined out to short. With two outs, Samantha Findlay drove in another run with a single. Maggie Viefhaus then stepped to the plate and drove Michigan's second grand slam of the inning over the wall in right center, putting Michigan up 13-5 and triggering softball's mercy rule. It was a ten-run inning.

Things were quiet for both teams through the first three innings of Saturday's contest against Notre Dame. With the Irish acting as the home team, Michigan got things going in the top of the fourth with a Samantha Findlay walk, a Viefhaus sac bunt, and a single by Nikki Nemitz, taking a break from pitching by acting as DH. Once again, Roya St. Clair was lifted for Marley Powers, and once again Powers homered. She's only a freshman, by the way, so Samantha Findlay should watch out for her home run records. Teddi Ewing then singled and was driven home when Ali Giampaolo tripled.

Michigan did it without the long ball in the fifth. They collected singles from both Findlay sisters, a double from Nikki Nemitz, and singles from Roya St. Clair and Teddi Ewing to put up a four-spot for the inning. Unlike Friday's game, it wasn't a walk-off, but a 1-2-3 bottom of the inning from the Irish gave Michigan the 8-0 victory in five.

Today's regional final against Kent State was another slow-starting affair. Neither team could get much of anything going. In the fourth, it took four walks issued by the Golden Flashes for Michigan to finally plate a run. Fortunately for the Maize and Blue, Jordan Taylor was throwing a one-hitter. Things finally broke open in the bottom of the sixth. Again, it was free passes to first coming back to bite Kent State. Both Findlay sisters and Nemitz walked, bringing up Dorian Shaw, who hit a grand slam to right field. Taylor finished her complete game shutout one-hitter without walking a single batter, facing only 22 on the day and collecting 11 strikeouts.

As the fourth overall seed in the tournament, the Wolverines have the luxury of staying at home this year for next weekend's super regional. They'll face the winner of the Knoxville regional. At the time of posting, the Lady Vols are up 1-0 on the Hokies after one, successfully executing a suicide squeeze (UPDATE: Virginia Tech used a four-run fourth to take down Tennessee 4-2. See you in Ann Arbor, Hokies).

Elsewhere at the Wilpon Complex, Michigan's baseball team took Northwestern down 11-2, setting a Big Ten record by winning 26 conference games this season. Ray Fisher Stadium will play host to the Big Ten tournament starting Wednesday, but Michigan won't see action until 7:05 PM on Thursday night.

More Baseball Than You Can Shake an Aluminum Stick At

Beavers Eliminate Wolverines:  The baseball team went down in two straight games Sunday and Monday. Putnam pitched the game of his life on Sunday for the Wolverines, taking a no-hitter down to the last out in the top of the 9th. A walk, a sac bunt, and a weak single were enough to get the only run across the plate, the only run of the whole game, and Oregon State won 1-0 (See Blue Cats and Red Sox for a much better recap). Even a perfect game isn't enough from your pitcher if you can't score your own runs. Monday's game wasn't close, as the Beavers advanced with a sound 8-2 victory, and the season is over. Thanks guys, it was a nice run to watch, and that Vandy series will be a classic for years to come.

Teh NCAA Is Stoopid  During Louisville's 20-2 demolition of [cannon fodder] at their Super Regional, a credentialed reporter from the Louisville Courier-Journal was ejected from the press box for live-blogging the game. The NCAA cited its exclusive relationship with ESPN and decided that live-blogging was a violation. I want to know what terrified pack of lemurs they have for a law firm that they'd decide live-blogging constituted a breach of their agreement, and I'm not alone. Jon Fleischaker, the Courier-Journal's attorney, talked to Rick Bozich for a story in today's paper, and delivered this quote that ended up on Deadspin.

Once a player hits a home run, that's a fact. It's on TV, everybody sees it. They (the NCAA) can't copyright that fact. The blog wasn't a simulcast or a recreation of the game. It was an analysis.

Guy has a point, I'd say. As Craig pointed out repeatedly last night, a live-blog isn't anything more than reporting with a much shorter lag. Even the fastest live-blogger can't keep up with the action as it happens, so it can hardly be labeled a broadcast. Another point that's been hit on is that the NCAA is only going after bloggers in the press box, that it's theoretically just fine to live-blog the ESPN feed. Myles, this is stupid stuff.

One other impact that Deadspin caught is that CSTV had been planning on live-blogging every College World Series game, and now can't. "This is an outstanding decision by the NCAA, because it denies coverage of a signature event to a fanbase that might want to read it."

Weekend Update with HSR

1). Michigan baseball's magical weekend...or not.

Brian pretty much nails it, a complete 180 from last Monday, losing a no-hitter with one strike left (and missing golden opportunities to cash in some runs earlier in the game) leaves Michigan down one game in the best of three. I'd write more about tonight's game, but I am worried that the NCAA might break into my house and bust up my laptop for LiveBlogging.

2). No Cinderella run for HSR in the Ladies... tournament

I lost. I mean, not badly. We garnered 31% in our game, but for the love of Mike, we were up against a blogger in eye black! I mean, come on! Clearly, the voters went for supporting freedom.

So, it is with great pleasure that we throw our support here at the HSR behind Caesar himself, Brian Cook from MGoBlog. The man has a good shot, let's back him up.

Beyond that, have a great week, and we'll see you soon.

Youneverknow...

When former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Joaquin Andujar said that was his favorite word in English, you captured the essence of why so many of us love baseball. Youneverknow.

By all rights, what happened last night at Hawkins Field in Nashville should have never occurred. A Michigan team which had slumped down the stretch, which had blown a golden opportunity to close out the national #1 seed Commodores the day before, and was now facing a raucous and hostile crowd of Tennesseans, looking for anything to be happy about in Nashville sports this spring, between PacMan Jones and the possible move of the Predators, they shouldn't have had a chance. But there they were, manufacturing runs early, getting an Eric Rose sac fly to go up 1-0, and then getting a moon shot by Regional MVP Nate Recknagel, who dropped a home run over the left field wall and onto the roof of Memorial Gymnasium to make it 2-0. (It should be clear, it wasn't Mantle-esque, because the gym is rather close to the field, but it was a heck of a home run). And even when the tide turned against them, when the heart of Vandy's order rallied the Commodores in the bottom of the eighth, well, it began to feel as if the Wolverines run was about to end.

It certainly felt that was in the top of the ninth when, after a lead off walk to Kevin Cislo, Vanderbilt brought in David Price, the best pitcher, perhaps the best player, in the country, a player off whom opposing hitters were hitting a mere .199 and who had 192 K's in 132 innings pitched. After getting the sac bunt to advance Cislo to second, Michigan's next two hitters were made to look silly by Price's heat and control. He blazed Vandy out of the ninth. Adam Abraham had come in from third to work in the eighth and there he was again, trying to get Michigan to hold fast against a rising tide. He held them and the game went to extras, with Michigan still facing the looming specter of Price.

The inning that followed would have to be considered improbable and unlikely at best, and downright absurd in most cases. Price, who looked so in control in the ninth, was now facing Alan Oaks, a little used freshman pinch hitter who was only batting because Michigan had lost the DH when Chris Fetter was pulled in the seventh, went yard against Price. It wasn't the same epic bomb that Recknagel hit, but it cleared the fence and put Michigan up 4-3. Every pitch was more intense now, every moment amplified in meaning and intensity. Vandy had one more chance in the bottom of the tenth facing Michael Powers, who came into pitch for Abraham, who returned to third base. Powers looked like a beaten man when Vandy's Pedro Alvarez hit a hard shot to left, only to be robbed by Derek Van Buskirk (a moment of conjecture here. Vandy's game write up seems to believe that Van Buskirk robbed a double, where as it looked like he saved a home run to me. The important thing is that he did it.) Two outs later, Michigan was through, Regional Champs.

An unlikely outcome, but, youneverknow. CDB

Baseball Survives a Late Night in Nashville

The baseball team had a tough game last night that didn't even start until about 11:00 EDT, but they battled through the darkness to take a 4-3 victory over Vanderbilt. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fifth inning, when Vanderbilt's DH, Parker Hanks, lined a solo homer near the 400' mark in center field. Michigan came right back in the top of the sixth. Jason Christian got a leadoff single and Kevin Cislo was drilled in the back by a pitch. Eric Rose put down a terrific bunt that was supposed to be a sacrifice, but he beat out the throw to first to load the bases for Nate Recknagel. Vandy's outfield was playing at a shallow depth, and Recknagel exploited it, lining a bases-clearing double to right center. Rose was really on his horse and came sliding home right on the heels of Cislo to beat the throw.

But Vandy wasn't done. The Commodores advanced runners to third in the sixth and seventh, and Wilson got himself out of those innings, but Vandy's Matt Meingasner went yard with a two-run shot in the eighth to tie things up. The Wolverines went back to work in the top of the ninth. Adam Abraham singled in the leadoff spot, Doug Pickens had a sac bunt, and Derek VanBuskirk would've driven him in if not for the nice jump Vandy's right fielder got on his liner. Abraham took third on a wild pitch, and Christian drew an unintentional intentional walk on four straight pitches to bring up Cislo, who took a sharp grounder through the hole at short for the game-winning hit. Vandy threatened in the bottom of the ninth with a pair of two-out singles putting runners on the corners, but Abraham earned the save by striking out Ryan Flaherty.

Big win by the Wolverines, who'll play again today. They need to take one more (on two attempts) from the winner of today's Vanderbilt-Austin Peay matchup. As I type, the Commodores are up 6-3– scratch that, 6-4 on Austin Peay with two outs in the bottom of the third. The Wolverines' game is set to start at 7:00 CDT (8:00 EDT) tonight. Good luck, guys.

Pick Six: Hitting For Contact

Full credit for several of these must be given to mgo.licio.us, just as valuable to the Michigan fan as MGoBlog is.

1. Softball bows out. We would've seen more of the three-game series against Baylor if the CSTV app didn't collapse into buffering every 15 seconds, but maybe we're glad we didn't. Lorilyn Wilson and Nikki Nemitz got rocked 9-0 in the opening game, Wilson taking the start and the loss. The Wolverines clawed out a 3-0 win Saturday to stay alive, but went down 4-0 in the rubber match. Baylor's top pitcher is a beast, not allowing an earned run for the series, and 1B Ashley Monceaux had 5 RBI, more than Michigan as a team.

2. Michigan gets at-large bid to NCAA baseball tourney. A season that began with a great deal of promise (and a Big Ten regular season title) fell apart down the stretch and into the Big Ten tournament. Getting swept out of the tournament when you're the #1 and hosting, well, it's a little embarrassing. That left the boys just shy of the magic number of 40 wins, but they still managed to get a #2 seed. But not all #2 seeds are created equal. Truth is that they're essentially the #32 seed nationally, playing in Nashville against the #33 seed in Memphis (which, you know, wouldn't have a small home crowd advantage), and even if they win, they then face national #1 seed Vanderbilt. We guess we're saying that if you're a Michigan baseball fan, don't build your weekend around breathless updates from Vandy. All of that said, Michigan is building something nice here, and with the facilities upgrades on schedule to be completed for next season thanks to the generosity of the Wilpon family, this could be, hopefully, the beginning of a return to baseball glory for Michigan.

3. Kelly Baraka is gainfully employed with the Kalamazoo Xplosion of the Continental Indoor Football League (Mascot: Xplodey the Coyote. No, seriously). We're glad for Baraka that he's no longer literally working at McDonald's, like he was last year. The Xplosion play their last home game of the regular season this Saturday, 7:00PM at Wings Stadium. Fear not if you can't make it; the Xplosion's 8-1 record guarantees them at least one home playoff game (HT: MSC).

4. Brian's Big Ten Network fisking is a must-read about something that, in the abstract, isn't a bad idea, but is lurching into existence in as disastrous a manner as possible, fueled by the hubris Jim Delaney's been dripping everywhere.

5. Crisler could get minor updates for 2007-08 season. We could not be more excited. The reality is that Michigan was not going to quickly get a new basketball arena built quickly, or is there even, necessarily, the money or desire to do so. However, there isn't anything fundamentally wrong with Crisler Arena that could not be seriously improved with some TLC. The lighting thing is huge. Crisler Arena has always looked poorly lit on television and it's a dark and shadowy place when you go there to watch a game. We're not saying it has to be Florida bright in there, but bringing in some experts to make the changes needed to make Crisler look better on television could be a small but important step to improving recruiting. The sound system upgrades are just an additional need. We just hope it doesn't mean that additional speakers mean additional calls for NOISE! NOISE! LOUD NOISES! The band is there for a reason.

6. Braylon Edwards pledging $1 million to fund scholarships. We realize that this is kind of old news, but we just wanted to take a moment to salute Braylon Edwards, one of our favorite Michigan players ever, for making a major financial commitment to improving the educational opportunities for deserving students. We realize that many athletes do good work like this and stories of them are put out there, but in an era where so many NFL players are being help up in the media as exemplars of bad behavior, it's nice to see stories like this. We're hopeful that this kind of thing can make a real difference in the lives of these young people.

WTI: Boermania

Geoff: So we're thinking that, for the offseason, WTI is going to be a bi-weekly affair.
Craig: And I think it's a good idea... May I make a quick note?
Craig: As Michigan alums who have a strong background in trivia, GZ and I would like to congratulate UM's own Pete for winning his Jeopardy! College Championship quarterfinal match yesterday and advancing to the semis. We're wishing him luck as he goes forward.
Geoff: Absolutely. We always support our own in any competition, and especially when it comes to Jeopardy!.
Craig: Even if he did go to CC
Geoff: Hey, we can't all be perfect.
Craig: Maize and blue trumps that. Anyway Geoff, let us begin.
Geoff: Like we reported earlier in the week, Scott Boerma will be taking over the reigns of the Michigan Marching Band.
Craig: From Novi, and then Eastern Michigan from what I have read
Geoff: Yep. And he's been arranging for the MMB since '95.
Craig: As I suggested, it's like promoting from with-side...
Geoff: I like this hire. I think it was definitely the safest of the three finalists, since Boerma's been floating around the program for 12 years.
Craig: And from what I have gathered, this is something that he sees as a destination job, which hopefully means long-term stability.
Craig: We should point out for our readers, of the three HSR primary authors, I am the only one without an MMB connection, beyond being a fan.
Geoff: Hopefully. At Michigan, we tend to get the ambitious ones. It's not a surprise when they head off to be Director of Bands somewhere else. I just want to see them stick around for about 5 years or so, to bring some stability to the program. It was a revolving door in the late '90's.
Craig: Geoff, that's crazy talk, wanting an incoming freshman to have the same director when they graduate. Crazy talk!
Geoff: Here's how it went for me: As a high schooler, I participated in Crisler Concert under Sedatole, had my freshman year under Tapia, and by my junior season Nix was my director.
Geoff: Musically is where Boerma's a known quantity for me. He dealt mostly with the pop classical/movie theme shows we did, and I always really liked his arrangements. The man knows his way around a third trumpet part, which is saying more than you'd think.
Craig: I'll trust you sir.
Geoff: Jeremy's worried he'll blink the bass trombone out of existence, but I hope the lack of parts for that section was just because he wanted to sell the arrangement to others later.
Craig: Well, as always, time will tell. I'm excited to see what he comes up with for the Notre Dame game. And will Living on a Prayer continue as one of the least explicable Michigan Stadium traditions?
Geoff: I hope Boerma keeps going with the rock shows that Nix always did. I am whole-heartedly in favor of blatant pandering to the student section.
Craig: Pandering to the student section is your only guarantee of getting a semi loud crowd.
Geoff: Hey, I've heard that the baseball team is kind of good.
Craig: I have heard similar rumors, and upon [ping] investigation, I have learned [ping] that the maize and blue are [ping] an offensive juggernaut.
Geoff: There's a joke in here with all those pings and a denial-of-service attack, but I can't quite reach it.
Geoff: Right now we're 31-8 overall and a staggering 15-1 in the Big Ten.
Craig: And the games against Minnesota, the only other really good team in the conference, are a washout.
Geoff: That's both good and bad, I suppose.
Craig: Yes, no real test until the tournament, but that may end up at Fisher because of it
Geoff: I might have to find my way to the Fish this weekend. We're feeling the Illinoise on Friday, Saturday (x2), and Sunday.
Craig: It was a great experience last weekend vs. Sparty, enhanced by the Michigan Alumni Band.
Craig: So, we hope that our diamond men can make some noise for northern baseball.
Geoff: Final item: Andrew Cogliano has gone pro. What the heck?
Craig: If by "pro" you mean "wallowing in the AHL."
Craig: Oh I'm sorry, did I write that aloud?
Geoff: He speaks for all of us! Cogs is two seasons from seeing significant PT at the next level. I have no idea why he leaves now.
Craig: I don't get it. OK, wait, I do get it, but I don't think it's a good idea.
Geoff: Does he really think Edmonton's bad enough that he'll break into their fourth line next year?
Craig: Maybe he figures Edmonton would promote him because he's young and cheap?
Craig: Oh wait, salary cap era, that doesn't work anymore
Craig: GZ, why is it that we're more frustrated by hockey defections than we are football ones? Though I wonder if Alan Branch maybe wishes he had stayed in school.
Geoff: Because football guys don't go unless they'll at least get drafted and make the squad.
Craig: Makes sense, you know you're going because you're ready to go.
Geoff: We've seen way too many hockey guys go up, wave hello, and spend two or more seasons in the AHL. Paging Al Montoya...
Craig: Wait, he's still in hockey?
Geoff: He plays for the glory that is the Hartford Wolfpack.
Craig: You're right, he was involved in an EPIC AHL goalie fight this year (it's on YouTube).
Geoff: This is all disheartening. Defections from hockey, arrests from football. Perfect offseason forever!
Craig: Don't forget the lawsuit
Geoff: Blergh.
Geoff: And that's how I'll leave all of this.
Craig: Well, let's hope that we have some better things to discuss the next time.
Craig: Until then, I'm CDB .
Geoff: And there are some who call me...GZ. We're out.