Michigan State University
Michigan
Spartan Softball Defeats No. 13 Michigan, 2-1
5/4/2003 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 4, 2003
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The Michigan State softball team capped a fantastic ending to its best season this decade, handing No. 13 Michigan a loss for the second straight day, 2-1, Sunday in Ann Arbor. The victory gives Michigan State (35-15, 13-6 Big Ten) a third-place finish in the final regular season Big Ten standings - its best finish since finishing third in 1997. The MSU victory also prevented Michigan (39-12, 13-5) from claiming its third-straight Big Ten championship. Iowa, which finished 13-4 in the league, claimed the regular season title and will host next weekend's Big Ten Tournament.
Michigan State, which beat UM 2-0 yesterday in East Lansing, defeated Michigan two consecutive games in the same season for the first time since 1983. MSU hadn't won two games against Michigan at any time in any season since winning two of four meetings in 1986.
"It's our first sweep of Michigan in my tenure," said 10th-year head coach Jacquie Joseph. "It's very satisfying to do that. I think an awful lot of Michigan so it shows the kind of team we have. Our team played very well. It was a hard-fought battle and we're looking forward to the tournament."
Timely hitting and solid defense helped MSU to victory for the second-straight day. Michigan outhit MSU, 9-5, but a costly Wolverine error allowed an unearned run to score, and Michigan stranded eight runners.
Junior Jessica Beech (Okemos, Mich.) earned the win in relief, improving to 24-7 by shutting Michigan out over the final 4.2 innings on four hits and one walk. Sophomore Stephanie Christner (Sigourney, Iowa) started and gave up one run on five hits in 2.1 innings before leaving with one on and one out in the third.
Michigan took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning by stringing together three hits and a sacrifice fly. Senior Tiffany Wallace (Wildomar, Calif.) made a nice play for the third out deep in right field to help Christner escape with just one run scoring.
The third inning proved to be the decisive inning, as Michigan State scored twice in its half and threw out a runner at the plate in the bottom half. Beech and senior Margaret Schick (Grass Lake, Mich.) both singled in the top of the third, and with two outs, junior Natalie Furrow (San Diego, Calif.) lined a single down the leftfield line. When the ball skipped past Michigan leftfielder Melinda Moulden and rolled to the wall, both runners scored and Furrow advanced all the way to third on the error. Wallace grounded to first to end the inning.
Michigan looked to tie the score in the bottom half of the third, when with two outs and a runner on first, Jessica Merchant doubled to left center, but Monica Schock was gunned down at the plate on perfect relay throws from senior centerfielder Sandy Lewis (Empire, Mich.) and Schick.
The final four innings were dominated by the pitchers as Beech and Michigan's Marissa Young kept hitters off balance. Young, who entered in the top of the fourth, did not allow a hit during her four innings on the mound while striking out four.
But it did not matter as Michigan could not push across the tying run. In fact, the Wolverines didn't even get a runner past first base over the last four innings. Michigan had one baserunner reach first in each of the final four innings, but in three of the four innings, there were two outs before a runner reached base.
Michigan State will compete in the Big Ten Tournament May 8-10 in Iowa City, Iowa, as the No. 3 seed. The Spartans will meet No. 6 seed Northwestern at a time to be determined.
