Congratulations!

To the University of Michigan softball team, who won the national championship game against defending champ UCLA on a 10th-inning three-run home run by freshman Samantha Findlay. I watched the game on ESPN from about the fifth inning, when Michigan trailed 1-0. They tied the game in the sixth, when they would have had more runs if not for a spectacular unassisted double play turned by the UCLA third baseman. (Women's sports seems to have universally kept the masculine terms--soccer players yell "man on!" when their teammate is being approached by an opponent, and basketball teams play "man-to-man" defense.) And UCLA had a leadoff double to start the bottom on the ninth inning and eventually loaded the bases, but Michigan pitcher Jennie Ritter got out of the jam, making Findlay's tenth-inning heroics possible.

My general impression of women's big-time softball in the past has been of pticher-dominated games won 1-0 in the bottom of the twelfth on a walk, an error, and two bunts. But the UM team hit over 100 home runs this season. I guess I should have gone over and watched a few games in person!