from MGoBlue.comhttp://www.mgoblue.com/softball/article.aspx?id=135564
Nemitz' Grand Performance Launches U-M Past Spartans
April 25, 2008
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Wilpon Softball Complex) Score: #6 Michigan 10, Michigan State 0 (5 inn.)
Records: #6 Michigan (42-4, 14-1), Michigan State (25-23, 7-8 Big Ten)
Next U-M Game: Saturday, April 26 -- vs. Michigan State (East Lansing, Mich.), Noon
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Sophomore pitcher Nikki Nemitz (St. Clair Shores, Mich./Regina HS) paced the No. 6- ranked University of Michigan softball team from the circle and the plate en route to a 10-0, five-inning win over intrastate foe Michigan State Friday evening (April 25) in front of a sellout crowd of 2,043 at the Wilpon Softball Complex.
The Wolverine hurler earned her 20th win of the season in strong fashion, fanning six Spartan batters while giving up just three hits to claim her career-high 10th shutout. Nemitz allowed a MSU baserunner into scoring position on just one occasion and set down three straight in the first and fourth frames. On the offensive side of the ball, she was 2-for-3 on the night, recording her first collegiate grand slam and a career-high five RBI. Her walk-off bomb in the bottom of the fifth gave Michigan the necessary run-rule margin and marked U-M's third grand slam in four games.
Senior second baseman Samantha Findlay (Lockport, Ill./East HS) knocked out her 17th home run of the season to put the Wolverines on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second. Findley hit a high, towering ball off the first pitch she faced that caught a strong Northern wind to land in the MSU bullpen just beyond the leftfield fence.
Michigan increased its lead in the third, pounding out four more runs on five hits, including three straight to lead off the frame. After junior shortstop Teddi Ewing (Olathe, Kas./East HS) jumpstarted the inning with a shallow poke to the left side, senior leftfielder Alessandra Giampaolo (Pasadena, Calif./Polytechnic HS) sailed a long ball to centerfield that appeared to be going out of the park -- only to hit padding atop the fence and bounce back into play, forcing the U-M captain to settle for her ninth double of the season. Sophomore centerfielder Molly Bausher (Las Vegas, Nev./Spring Valley HS) drove in both teammates on a blooper to rightfield, securing her fifth multi-RBI effort of the season.
Bausher's RBI single induced Michigan State to make a pitching change, but the Spartans' effort to quell the U-M offense proved ineffective. Sophomore third baseman Maggie Viefhaus (Pacific Mo./Eureka HS) scored Bausher on a hard single up the middle, and Nemitz followed suit, ripping a hard grounder of her own up the middle to allow Viefhaus to race home from second.
MSU threatened in the top of the fifth with a leadoff base hit, but the Wolverines held the Spartan baserunner out of scoring position after a fielder's choice and back-to-back unassisted outs from Ewing. The U-M shortstop made a great diving catch halfway between second and third base for the second out before she extended to snag a high liner to end the inning.
The Wolverines wrapped up the contest with a five-run effort in the home half of the fifth. U-M used a pair of walks and base-hit single to the leftside gap from sophomore rightfielder Angela Findlay (Lockport, Ill./East HS) to quickly load the bases with no outs. Viefhaus laid a soft grounder to the six-hole, but the MSU fielder misfired on the throw attempt to home plate, and Bausher safely slid in for the score.
The run, which padded Michigan's lead to six, resulted in another MSU pitching change. The swap again proved quite ineffective, as Nemitz got ahold of the 1-1 pitch and drove it down the rightfield line, sneaking just inside the right foul pole for her second career home run. The run-rule victory was Michigan's fourth in a row.
The Wolverines (42-4, 14-1 Big Ten) will head to East Lansing, Mich., for the second of two games against intrastate rival Michigan State. The game is slated for a noon start at Old College Field.
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