EVANSTON - The 10th-ranked Michigan and eighth-ranked Northwestern softball teams met this weekend for the fifth and sixth times in the past 11 months.

The Wolverines were five outs away from sweeping the conference-favorite Wildcats and taking an early lead in the Big Ten title race.

After an 11-4 win in game one Friday, Michigan took a one-run lead into the sixth inning of game two Saturday. But Northwestern's Jessica Miller crushed a mammoth two-run home run to leftfield that landed atop of the 50-foot high Welsh-Ryan Arena - about 215 feet away from home plate. The shot, the longest hit in Sharon J. Drysdale Field history, gave the Wildcats a 4-3 lead they wouldn't relinquish.

Although Northwestern came back to win the second game of the series, salvaging a split and taking a 2-1 advantage over Michigan on the year, at least one Wolverine is confident her team will have a chance to regain the upper hand.

"Yeah, we did lose (Saturday), but we battled both games, and the second game could've gone either way," freshman catcher Roya St. Clair said. "Unfortunately it went the other way. But we're going to face them again, so I'm not worried."

But a quick glance at Michigan's schedule doesn't show another meeting between the teams in the regular season. So what gives?

"Big Ten Tournament," St. Clair said.

But for the Wolverines to win, or even get, a rematch of last year's Big Ten Tournament Championship, they have plenty of work to do - both defensively and offensively.

"We need our pitchers to be a little more commanding more consistently, every pitch of the game and just have a demeanor of 'I'm going to beat you,' versus holding your breath," Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said. "The bottom line is we had moments of timid, whether it was at the plate, not getting our bunts down . We can't allow it."

The Wolverines (1-1 Big Ten, 26-6 overall) took an early 2-0 lead with back-to-back home runs by sisters Samantha and Angela Findlay in the first inning.

Northwestern (1-1, 25-7) tacked on runs in the third and fourth innings to tie the score at two.

In the bottom of the fifth, junior centerfielder Alessandra Giampaolo drew a one-out walk after falling behind 0-2 in the count. Three batters later, Angela Findlay made the Wildcats pay for the walk by singling Giampaolo in.

After Miller's blast Michigan had one more chance in the bottom of the seventh.

Freshman third baseman Maggie Viefhaus led the inning off with a liner down the third baseline. Northwestern third baseman Darcy Sengewald extended, but was unable to keep the ball in her glove and Viefhaus made it safely to first.

Freshman second baseman Molly Bausher popped up a bunt for the first out. Then Giampaolo walked on four pitches.

With junior Michelle Weatherdon pinch-running for Viefhaus, senior leftfielder Rebekah Milian lined out sharply to Sengewald at third. It appeared that Sengewald could've doubled Weatherdon up at second to end the game, but she decided to throw to first. The throw was over the first baseman's head and Weatherdon advanced to third.

With Samantha Findlay up, Northwestern pitcher Eileen Canney's fist two pitches missed and it appeared the Wildcats were pitching around Michigan's feared slugger. Findlay may have thought so, too, because the third pitch was left out over the heart of the plate, but she didn't swing. Still, Findlay walked to load the bases, bringing up her sister.

The comeback effort ended there, though as, Angela Findlay grounded out to the shortstop on the first pitch to end the weekend.