Michigan Journal

Issue date: 4/21/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Mike Hicks

Media Credit: Mike Hicks

The University of Michigan - Dearborn softball team has been battling hard this season through injuries and bad weather to get to where they are.

Right now Dearborn is sitting in the number third spot in the WHAC?and with four more days of games scheduled in the regular season the Wolves are looking to make a push for that number one seed.

"We have the players and I am confident that these women will represent the school to their fullest ability as we come down the home stretch in the season," said head coach Sarah?Rotta.

This past week UM-D ran into their tough opponent Madonna University and unfortunately didn't put up much of a fight against them in game one. The dominant crusaders took care of business against Dearborn winning game one 8-0.

In game two Dearborn got on the scoreboard first off an RBI?by Danielle Stabnau putting Dearborn up 1-0. With Stephanie Miller on the mound for the Wolves, their defense was able to hold Madonna to no runs in the first three innings.

After three Dearborn was on top 2-0 but in the fourth Madonna stepped up their game and took it to the Wolves.

The Crusaders would score five unanswered runs to take a five to two lead and from there on out they didn't look back.

Dearborn couldn't get any more offense going until the seventh when they put in one more run which unfortunately wasn't enough to make a comeback and UM-D dropped game two 8-3.

The Wolves then traveled to Cornerstone on Thursday to take on the Cardinals and had no problem with them in both games one and two.

Dearborn treated Concordia much like Madonna treated them. In game one the Wolves jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and never looked back.

From there it was four more in the second and two in the fifth which ended the game early on a mercy rule.

RBI's came in from five different players including Kady Cooper and Heather May who both got their bats swinging today.

In game two it was the same story for Dearborn.

The Wolves took another quick lead but Concordia was able to answer back late in the fourth.

With the game tied up 1-1 Dearborn opened the flood gates in the fifth and poured on three runs to advance the lead to 4-2. Then three more in the seventh put Dearborn on top 7-2 and swept Concorida.

Saturday the Wolves took on Davenport and while on paper it looked like DU?should have taken the game the Wolves were able to pull out the victory.

Davenport got nine hits on the Dearborn defense but left their base runners stranded which gave the Wolves a chance to put in some runs of their own.

With UM-D up two the entire game it wasn't until the seventh when DU?decided to start swinging the bats. The Panthers put in two runs in the seventh to force an extra inning.

When the Wolves got up to bat they wasted no time getting up on the scoreboard.

Two quick runs in the eighth put them up 4-2 and the Wolves squeaked out the victory 4-2

Game two was a defensive battle through the middle of the game. DU?scored one run in the first and held that lead all the way until the sixth when they decided to put in two more runs.

The Wolves offense was able to string together some hits throughout the game but just couldn't get any base runners home to score. The DU pitcher had 26 at bats and posted a shut out 3-0 as the Wolves dropped game two to split the series with the Panthers.

The next day Dearborn went up against Indiana Tech for another double-header. Game one began as a bit of a struggle for the Wolves as IT?got on top 3-1 after two innings.

Taylor Janus was able to find the gap on multiple occasions and brought in three runs for the Wolves.

Heading into the sixth UM-D was down by two but with some solid hitting from Maria Jensen and Janus the Wolves pounded in three runs and took a lead on IT?for the first time all game.

From there on out the defense held strong and kept Indiana Tech off the score board winning game one by a score of 5-4.

In game two IT and Dearborn found themselves deadlocked at one run a piece for seven straight innings. This game went into extra's four times until a winner was decided.

The two teams left batters stranded throughout the game until the 11th when IT got three quick runs in the bottom of the inning to take the second game by a score of 4-1.

All of the Wolves losses this season have come on close games. This team has been having some difficulty closing games when they get up and getting in bad spirits when they find themselves down.

With only four teams left to play until the regular season comes to a close the Wolves will have to fight hard to keep themselves in a good position for the post season.

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