Softball - Big Ten Tournament Semifinals and Wisconsin

The Jeopardy contestant, carefully attuned to the latest in Big Ten Softball, cautiously answers, "Who is Tessa Magnanimo?"

Yes, they always answer in the form of a question, but it's kind of irritating when they answer as if asking a question. They'd be forgiven today. Tessa Magnanimo is the wisp of a pitcher, standing just 5-4 and looking as if she'd blow away in a good storm, who has led 11-seed Wisconsin to an improbable berth in today's conference tournament semifinal against Michigan.

She has tossed two complete games, beating sixth-seeded Ohio State, 5-1, on Friday and third-seeded Rutgers, 7-3, on Saturday. On the season, the Los Angeles-based graduate student is 11-15 with a 3.42 ERA and an unimposing 104 strikeouts in 167 2/3 innings. This is her first season as a full-time starter.

Can she continue to confound opponents? Will she even play, as two complete games constitutes almost a full five percent of her collegiate production to date and she was limping late in last night's game? The Wisconsin pitching staff was, overall, 13th in the Big Ten with a collective 4.46 ERA going into the tournament, and 230th in Division I.

The Wisconsin offense ranks 11th in the Big Ten with 4.61 runs per game and the Badgers' RPI is 107th. Players to watch on offense include freshman first-team All-League first baseman/designated player Hilary Blomberg (.954 OPS, 2 of her 6 home runs this season in this tournament), second-teamer Ava Kuszak, a sophomore shortstop (.997, 9 home runs), along with junior catcher Emmy Wells (.873, team-high 14 home runs), and senior third baseman Skylar Sirdashney (.886, 3), who hails from Texas, not Camelot.

Michigan, surprisingly, is now the favorite to win the conference tournament. Upsets have been the norm this week and the remaining teams are seeded 2, 4, 8 and 11. The Wolverines defeated Maryland, 10-0, yesterday, in five innings.

If you had tuned in before the bottom of the fifth inning, you would have thought the two teams were trying to set the record for fastest 20-inning game. Neither had scored. Maryland pitcher Courtney Wyche, who had thrown nine innings the night before in an upset victory over Penn State, dominated early, striking out seven Michigan hitters. She had allowed just two infield hits at that point. Lauren Derkowksi was just as effective, however, and allowed only two hits, with three walks, three strikeouts and a hit batter through five innings.

Wyche, the Big Ten leader in strikeouts, ran out of gas in the fifth inning. Ella McVey led off with a single up the middle - just the second Wolverine batted ball to reach the outfield in the game. Ellie Sieler, the leadoff hitter, bunted her over to second base. Then the proverbial wheels fell off. Indiana Langford walked on four pitches. Maddie Erickson hit a come-backer to Wyche, who was unable to field the ball cleanly, loading the bases with one out.

At this point, patience paid off for the Michigan hitters. They had tried to work counts early against Wyche, but didn't get her pitch count up all that much - she was firing a lot of strikes. But that changed. Keke Tholl worked the count full, fouled off a pitch, then took ball four. 1-0. Ella Stephenson did the same. 2-0. Jenissa Conway worked the count full as well and walked. 3-0. All of a sudden, Wyche was at 32 pitches in the fifth inning alone, and that ended her evening. Freshman reliever Julia Shearer was unable to stop the rally. Lilly Vallimont greeted her with a looping single to left field. 4-0. Ava Costales worked the count full, fouled off a pitch, then Shearer hit her with a pitch. 5-0. McVey flied out, deep enough to score a run. 6-0. Shearer hit Sieler with the next pitch to reload the bases.

Michigan sophomore Avery Fantucci pinch hit for Langford, the 12th batter of the inning. Fantucci blasted a 1-1 pitch off the scoreboard in center field, apparently damaging the supports for the board (hopefully it won't fall down today). A 10-0 walk-off victory. In the inning, 12 different Michigan players either scored a run or drove in a run.

Michigan did not play Wisconsin during the regular season. It's hard to say who will start today for the Wolverines. Derkowski only threw 64 pitches last night, and there's no point saving her for Saturday if they don't get to play Saturday. Freshman Erin Hoehn is available, but has struggled lately. Grad student Hannah George has been very effective in relief lately, but has not started any games in her two seasons at Michigan. I would expect Derkowski to start, but leave early if Michigan can take a lead since she can re-enter later if needed.

The other semi-final features eight-seeded Indiana and fourth-seeded Nebraska.

Indiana shocked top seed Northwestern yesterday, 4-3. The Wildcats did not start conference Pitcher of the Year Ashley Miller, who has struggled a bit in her last few starts, but was still 12th in Division I with a 1.34 ERA. Instead, conference Coach of the Year Kate Drohan got a bit fancy and went with freshman Riley Grudzielanek, who had not pitched since suffering an injury against Michigan last month.

The Wildcats held a 1-0 lead until the fourth, when freshman third baseman Alex Cooper welcomed Grudzielanek to her nightmare with a long solo home run. After another extra-base hit, Drohan went to Miller, who shut down the threat. Miller struggled in the fifth, however, walking in a pair of runs to give Indiana a 3-1 lead. After a long rain delay, Indiana pitcher Brianna Copeland was able to stay ahead of Northwestern and complete the upset victory.

Nebraska blasted Minnesota, 11-2, in five innings. Leadoff hitter Billie Andrews, their senior shortstop, hit a pair of home runs and freshman designated player Emmerson Cope added another as the Cornhuskers battered everyone on the Gopher pitching staff pretty much equally. Senior Sarah Harness kept the powerful Minnesota offense under control.

Semi-Final Matchups (overall record, RPI rank, Division I rank in runs per game, Division I rank in ERA):

4 pm: (8) Indiana (40-17), 45th in RPI, 17th (offense), 90th (pitching) versus (4) Nebraska (30-22), 47th in RPI, 41st (offense), 216th (pitching).

6:30 pm: (11) Wisconsin (21-30), 107th in RPI, 111th (offense), 230th (pitching) versus (2) Michigan (39-16), 37th in RPI, 55th (offense), 50th (pitching).