By Andrew Borders
Daily Bruin Reporter
OKLAHOMA CITY “”mdash; In a day marked by costly fielding
miscues, the end of the 2001 softball season came for Michigan,
Iowa, Oklahoma and California.
Saturday began with the fourth-seeded Michigan Wolverines
fighting for their postseason lives against the eighth-seeded
California Golden Bears. Michigan junior Stefanie Volpe belted a
two-run homerun in the fourth inning to give Michigan a 2-0
lead.
But the Bears scored in each of their final three at-bats to
beat the Wolverines 5-2, including a sixth inning that included two
Cal runs and three Michigan errors.
In the next game, the seventh-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes met the
third-seeded Louisiana State Tigers with the prize being a date
with defending champ Oklahoma that night.
LSU freshman Julie Wiese homered to left field, just beyond the
reach of Iowa senior Erin Doud to put the Tigers up 2-0.
“The ball was about an inch from my glove,” Doud
said. “I gave it everything I had and I just couldn’t
come up with it.”
Iowa came back with a run in the seventh, but LSU held on for
the 2-1 win.
The nighttime doubleheader began with the fourth meeting of the
year between Stanford and Cal. The Cardinal made it three out of
four versus the Bears.
In the second inning, Stanford junior pinch-runner Jessica
Draemel was able to score from second because Cal senior shortstop
Paige Bowie misplayed a grounder by Stanford freshman Michelle
Thiry. The run stood as the difference in the 1-0 win for the
Cardinal.
Cal Head Coach Diane Ninemire cautioned not to put the
Bears’ loss on Bowie’s shoulders.
“I don’t think the error should be looked at as the
reason we lost the game,” she said. “We had scoring
opportunities and we didn’t come through.”
However, Bowie felt accountable for the loss.
“There’s no excuse for it. I blew it. Your team has
to score to win, but I feel like I didn’t give my team that
chance,” she said.
The 6,817 fans in attendance were treated to an even more
dramatic finish in the last game of the day between LSU and the
fifth-seeded Oklahoma Sooners.
Sophomore Kelli Braitsch homered to open the game for the
Sooners, though it was not the last mark she would make on the
tournament.
After the Tigers manufactured a run in the fifth, the scoreboard
read all zeroes until the 13th inning, when Braitsch’s second
throwing error in as many days cost the Sooners the chance to play
UCLA on Sunday.
With LSU senior Jennifer Schuelke on second, Tiger Head Coach
Yvette Girouard tapped senior Ashley Lewis, who collected the win
in the circle versus Iowa earlier in the day, to pinch hit.
Lewis hit a grounder to the shortstop Braitsch, who attempted to
end the inning by throwing to first. But her throw went wide, and
Schuelke continued home for the winning run.