When your team is facing three pitchers that have an ERA of less than 1.00, you know you’re going to have trouble.
That’s exactly what happened on Wednesday afternoon for the Falcons as they faced the toughest pitching staff they may see all season, and struggled at the plate getting only a single hit on the afternoon.
Nicole Motycka, who came into the game with an ERA of 0.98, got the start and gave up a single to Gina Rango in the first with two outs, but would recover to pitch three scoreless innings and record a strikeout. The Falcons wouldn’t see another hit on the afternoon as only a walk and error would get them to base for the remainder of the game.
The fourth and fifth innings of work belonged to Lorilyn Wilson (0.27 ERA) who got the win for two innings of scoreless relief recording a strikeout before Jennie Ritter (0.76 ERA), a first-team All-Big Ten pitcher from a year ago came in to finish off Michigan’s 18th shutout on the season.
“I liked the composure and demeanor of our pitching staff,” Michigan head coach Carol Hutchins told Rich Marion, the softball contact for Michigan. “It’s not easy knowing you’re only going to throw so many innings, but they handled themselves well.”
Ritter especially handled herself well as she came in for the final two innings and struck out all six batters she faced. She now has 471 career strikeouts which puts her third on the all-time Wolverine list.
Her pitches, much like those of Motycka and Wilson, drove the Falcon batters crazy throughout.
“Their ball just moves,” said head coach Leigh Ross-Shaw of the Wolverine pitchers. “Every single pitch moves and they have more than one break — they really keep you off balance.”
Off balance would be the way to describe the Falcon batters as they swung at bad pitches all afternoon and at times struggled to even make contact.
After Rango’s hit in the first, Motycka and Wilson would sit down the next 10 batters before Lindsay Heimrich walked to lead off the fifth.
“We weren’t having good at bats,” Ross-Shaw said. “They (BG batters) panicked a little bit and they were swinging at bad pitches.”
Liz Vrabel pitched strong and kept the game close for the Falcons, keeping the game 3-0 going into the final inning. But the BG batters couldn’t get the big hits or runs when they needed them and allowed the Wolverines to pull away in the seventh.
Motycka helped in the run support as she went 3-for-4 in the game as the Wolverines scored three runs to win 6-0.
The Falcons will look to recover from their batting woes when they travel to Northern Illinois on Saturday.
