University of Minnesota Athletics
2001 SOFTBALL SEASON IN REVIEW
5/8/2001 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Big Ten Update
Michigan won the 2001 Big Ten softball title and will host the Big Ten Tournament beginning Thursday in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Wolverines rallied from a deficit in the seventh inning and defeated Michigan State, 2-1, in eight innings Sunday, while Iowa lost a 2-1 decision at home to Northwestern to give Michigan the title. Sixth-seeded Wisconsin will play third-seeded Ohio State in the first game Thursday, with the winner playing Iowa in the third game. Fifth-seeded Penn State will play fourth-seeded Illinois in the second game, with the winner playing Michigan in the fourth game. The double-elimination tournament concludes Saturday.
Team Big Ten Pct. Overall x-Michigan 17-3 .850 36-14-1 Iowa 16-4 .800 42-11 Ohio State 14-6 .700 46-16 Illinois 12-8 .600 47-21 Penn State 9-11 .450 30-24 Wisconsin 9-11 .450 31-23 Purdue 9-11 .450 34-24-1 Northwestern 8-12 .400 20-23 Minnesota 7-13 .350 36-22-1 Michigan State 5-15 .250 21-39 Indiana 4-16 .200 16-36 x-2001 Big Ten softball champion Minnesota Team Notes
Scoring first and scoring often was a leading factor in the 2001 Minnesota softball season. Minnesota scored first in 31 of the 59 games it played and had a 27-3-1 record when it did score first, including a 16-2 record when scoring in the first inning. The Gophers were 9-19 when the opposition scored first. Minnesota rallied from a six-run deficit to beat UNC-Wilmington and a five-run hole to beat Indiana. Two runs was the magic number for Minnesota offensively. The Gophers were 32-1 when they scored two runs or more, with the only loss coming against Pacific in the final game of the Worth Invitational (Pacific 5, Minnesota 3). Minnesota was 4-21-1 when they scored one run or fewer, including 12 shutouts. In conference play, Minnesota was 5-0 when scoring two runs or more.
Minnesota Individual Notes
First-year pitcher Piper Marten (Farmington, N.M./Farmington) made her mark on Minnesota's single-season record book during the 2001 season. She set a new single-season strikeout record with 249 strikeouts. She ranks second with 49 appearances, tied for fourth with 23 wins, tied for fourth with a 0.80 earned run average, and tied for first with a 1.000 fielding percentage. The earned run average is the lowest for a Gopher since the ball was livened and the pitching distance moved back to 43 feet in 1993.
Sophomore pitcher Angie Recknor (Minnetonka, Minn./Hopkins) shared Minnesota's Player of the Year honor with Marten. She lowered her earned run average from 1.83 as a first-year pitcher to 0.99 this season. Recknor pitched her first complete-game Big Ten shutout against Penn State and pitched the final 2 1/3 innings against Wisconsin for her first career save. For her career, Recknor is 36-36 with a 1.57 ERA and 341 strikeouts in 481 innings. She is third on Minnesota's career strikeout list.
Junior Tammi Hays (Hastings, Minn./Hastings) led Minnesota with a .331 batting average, 37 runs scored, 55 hits and 22 stolen bases. She also led Minnesota in Big Ten play with a .340 batting average, seven runs scored, 17 hits and six stolen bases. For her career, Hays has a .326 batting average, 176 hits in 184 games, 113 runs scored and 61 stolen bases. She ranks fifth in Minnesota history in stolen bases and needs 21 in her senior year to break Mischel Doerr's school record of 81 stolen bases.
Senior Angel Braden (Chino, Calif./St. Lucy's) completed her Gopher career with a flourish against Wisconsin. She hit her team- leading seventh home run of the season in the sixth inning of Saturday night's game, giving her 16 career home runs. Braden finishes her career third on Minnesota's career home run list and tied for fourth in Gopher history with 106 RBI.
Two other seniors finished their Minnesota careers against Wisconsin. Morgan Holden (Los Lunas, N.M./La Cueva) played in 217 games during her four-year career and collected 128 hits, including 24 doubles, six triples and three home runs. Amy Hafemeyer (Kenyon, Minn./ Fairbault) played in her 183rd game Sunday against Wisconsin and scored Minnesota's final run of the season after reaching on her 21st and final hit of her career.
The Co-Head Coaches
Minnesota co-head coach Lisa Bernstein completed her 10th season as a Gopher mentor. Her overall record is 355-252-2 (.585), surpassing Linda Wells as Minnesota's all-time winningest coach April 29 against Ohio State. In the last six seasons, Minnesota is 244-128-1 (.655), qualified for three NCAA tournaments and won the 1999 Big Ten Tournament Championship.
Minnesota co-head coach Julie Standering finished her third season with her current title and her 10th year with the program. Her record is 115-70-1 (.621) as a co-head coach and 200-110-1 (.645) since being elevated to associate head coach in 1996.
Season In Review
The Minnesota softball team was very successful in non-conference play, finishing with a 29-9-1 record out of Big Ten play. The success started in the Metrodome Softball Classic, where the Golden Gophers posted a 6- 1 record and won its tournament for the first time in school history. In the championship game, Veronica Roberts (San Diego, Calif./Mt. Carmel) hit a bases-clearing triple to lead Minnesota to a 6-3 win over Louisville. Braden was named tournament MVP, while Allie Fisk (Orono, Minn./Orono), Hays, Marten, and Recknor were named to the all- tournament team.
After a loss and a tie at North Carolina, Minnesota made its annual visit to the Triangle Classic in Raleigh, N.C. The Golden Gophers were a perfect 3-0 in pool play and defeated East Carolina before losing to Virginia, 2-1, in the semifinals. Braden was named to her second all-tournament team in as many weeks.
Minnesota's next trip took them to Southern California. After a rainout at San Diego State, Minnesota posted a 2-4 record at the Worth Invitational. The Gophers defeated a nationally ranked team (Oregon), and played fourth-ranked California to two tiebreakers before losing, 1-0, in nine innings. Minnesota returned to the Midwest to play in the Creighton Softball Spring Classic. The Gophers won three of the five games to improve their record to 15-9-1 for the season.
Starting with the final three games of the Creighton Softball Spring Classic, Minnesota won its final 17 games against non-conference competition. The Gophers defeated Loyola (Chicago) and Butler in the weather-shortened Boilermaker Invitational and swept non-conference doubleheaders against IUPUI, Indiana State, Northern Iowa, Concordia (St. Paul), Drake and Wisconsin-Green Bay. The Gophers outscored the competition 66-16 during the 17-game run.
Minnesota was able to play all 20 games of its Big Ten schedule, but was unable to collect enough wins to qualify for the Big Ten Tournament. The Golden Gophers were swept by three of the Big Ten opponents (Northwestern, Iowa and Michigan) and split with each of the other seven teams. Minnesota was 1-9 in the first half of Big Ten series and was 6-4 in the second half.
One-run games were the story of the conference season for the Golden Gophers. Minnesota won four one-run games in Big Ten play (Indiana, Illinois, Penn State, Wisconsin), but dropped seven (Northwestern, Iowa, Michigan (2), Michigan State, Illinois, Penn State). In two-run games, Minnesota won twice (Michigan State, Ohio State) and lost four times (Indiana, Iowa, Ohio State, Wisconsin), including one extra-inning game and a 2-0 game won on a 192-foot home run off the foul pole.
The Gophers won the last game of the season, defeating Wisconsin, 2-1. Hafemeyer scored the last run of the season in the fifth inning, and Hailee Nanchy (Ontario, Calif./Ontario Christian) threw out the potential tying run at the plate to end the game.