‘M’ uses bats to topple Toledo

Putting up three runs in the fifth inning and seven in the sixth, the Wolverines rounded out a perfect 4-0 weekend in Louisville, Ky. with a 10-0, six-inning victory over Toledo.

After managing just one hit as a team through four innings, Michigan found some offense. Sophomore center fielder Alessandra Giampaolo finally got No. 12 Michigan on the board in the fifth inning when she drove in two runners on an 0-2 changeup that she laced down the first-base line into the corner. Following sophomore first baseman Samantha Findlay’s ground-out to third base, senior catcher Becky Marx doubled down the leftfield line to drive in the Wolverines’ third run of the inning.

Michigan (17-9) put the game away with a whopping seven runs in the top of the sixth inning – an inning that saw Toledo (7-16) pull its starting pitcher only to put her back in the game five batters later. With two runners in scoring position, freshman Teddi Ewing hit a sharp ground-ball that bounced off Toledo’s shortstop and into the outfield, allowing both Wolverine runners to score.

Michigan’s next two runs came on a warning-track single by sophomore Samantha Findlay. To top off the slugfest, Marx crushed a 1-1 offering over the 220-foot sign in straightaway centerfield for her seventh home run of the season.

“In the beginning of the game, I wasn’t seeing the ball at all,” Marx said. “I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Then Angie (Danis) told me that it didn’t matter what was wrong, just make it right. And that’s what I tried to do.”

Despite the final run output, Michigan coach Carol Hutchins expressed disappointment with the lack of run production in the game’s early innings.

“I don’t think our approach at the beginning of the game was where it needed to be,” Hutchins said. “I said, ‘You mercied them in two innings – where were you the other four?’ ”

Nevertheless, the 10-run showing was a welcome sight for Michigan, especially considering it posted just eight runs in its previous three games of the weekend.

Coming off of a no-hit, near-perfect game victory against No. 20 Louisville on Saturday, sophomore Lorilyn Wilson continued to rebound from her early-season struggles with a second straight shutout victory. Recording 11 strikeouts, Wilson got ahead of almost every batter and managed to work out of a jam in the bottom of the fourth inning when she struck out Toledo’s last two batters with a runner in scoring position.

Michigan will finally return to the friendly confines of Alumni Stadium when it hosts Bowling Green in the home opener on Tuesday at 4 p.m. It will be the Wolverines’ final tune-up before they host Minnesota in the Big Ten opener on Sunday.