The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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14 THE WOLVERINE APRIL 2020 INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS FIVE YEARS AGO, 2015: Michi- gan's No. 4-ranked softball team shut out Maryland 1-0, completing a three- game sweep of the Terrapins April 24-26 in College Park. The victories boosted the Wolverines to 45-6 on the season. The Wolverines' Megan Betsa fired a no-hitter, striking out 15 in a seven-in- ning, complete-game effort. She walked a pair of hitters and proved perfect oth- erwise, giving Michigan exactly what it needed in a low-scoring battle. The Wolverines only scored once, in the fourth inning. Kelly Christner doubled up the gap in left-center field to open the inning. She moved to third base on an error and came home on Kelsey Sus- alla's single to right field. That's all Carol Hutchins' crew manufactured on offense, and it's all they needed. The no-hit shutout capped off a week- end in which the Wolverines outscored Maryland 19-2, dominating a good- hitting Terrapins crew with very strong pitching. "Maryland can swing it," Hutchins said. "They've got some hitters in that lineup with good averages, and they've scored a lot of runs throughout the season. We gave up two earned runs all weekend. "I thought both of our pitchers did their part really well. They stuck to their game plan. Both pitched very well. I was very pleased to see that." That certainly proved true of Betsa in the series finale, Hutchins added. "We were holding a 1-0 lead," Hutchins said. "That's a pressure situation. She was just really in her moment. She attacked the hitters. She picked the team up in the seventh. She just did a great job." 10 YEARS AGO, 2010: Michigan shocked the field in the NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships April 16-17 at West Point, N.Y., capturing the school's fourth national title in the sport. The Wolverines posted a winning score of 360.500, edging out Stanford (359.800) and Oklahoma (357.050). U-M junior Chris Cameron became an individual national champion in the all-around, posting a score of 90.500 to out-distance all challengers. Senior Mel Anton Santander finished third in the all-around at 88.900. Michigan stood in third place during the competition when it reached its final event, the vault. Needing a stand- out effort to surge to the top, the Wolverines got precisely that, led by a 15.900 by senior Kent Caldwell. "Finishing second last year gave us a lot of incentive," Michigan head coach Kurt Golder noted. "They had a team meeting last year after the NCAA Championships, and they made a commitment to do everything in their power to win it. It's just great for all of us that it worked out." Cameron, the Big Ten Gymnast of the Year, couldn't quite wrap his mind around what played out on the national stage. "I usually grasp everything I've done right away," he said. "Not this. This hasn't hit me yet." 25 YEARS AGO, 1995: Michigan's women's gymnastics team finished as national runner-up in the 1995 champi- onships in Athens, Ga. The Wolverines posted a score of 196.425, just behind Utah's national title score of 196.650. Coming off a season in which she was National Coach of the Year, U-M's Bev Plocki took the Wolverines to the brink of a title. Led by All-American Beth Wymer, Michigan finished out a four-year stretch in which it won four Big Ten titles, went to four consecutive NCAA Regionals, and posted a top-10 national finish in all four seasons. Wymer finished as the national champion on the uneven bars, recording a 9.950, becoming an All-American in that event. — John Borton THIS MONTH IN MICHIGAN ATHLETICS HISTORY Ten years ago, U-M junior Chris Cameron won the individual national title in the all-around while leading the Wolverines to their fourth NCAA championship in men's gymnastics. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS