Michigan hit four home runs in beating the Gophers 9-4 on Saturday in a matchup of Big Ten softball powers at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium.
The No. 4 Wolverines (32-6, 6-2), who lost the first game of the series 9-1, scored three runs in the first inning off freshman Kylie Stober. She gave up four runs in two-plus innings. Sierra Lawrence hit a solo homer and Lauren Sweet a two-run shot off Stober.
The No. 12 Gophers (30-6, 6-2) got a run in the bottom of the first and three in the second — two on Sam Macken's single — to take a 4-3 lead, but Michigan kept scoring. Nikki Anderson pitched the final five innings for the Gophers, giving up five runs.
Zahui honored
Gophers center Amanda Zahui B. was named to the 10-player Women's Basketball Coaches Association All-America team, announced Saturday at the Women's Final Four in Tampa, Fla. Zahui, a 6-5 sophomore, is the first Gopher since Janel McCarville in 2005 to earn a spot on the WBCA All-America team.
UMD coach named
Maura Crowell, the associate head women's hockey coach at Harvard, was named the head coach at Minnesota Duluth.
She replaces Shannon Miller, whose contract was not renewed after 16 seasons at UMD for financial reasons.
Crowell, whose Crimson team lost 4-1 to the Gophers in the NCAA title game this season, was awarded a five-year deal that starts at $140,000 for the 2015-16 season and jumps $7,500 each year before hitting $170,000 in 2019-2020, according to the Duluth News Tribune.
Miller's base salary was $207,000, making her the highest-paid women's hockey coach in the nation, and the school told her it could not afford to pay her that much.
