Reviewing the regions after two days... in each case, except the Duke regional, there's a 2-0 team that needs one win today and a 2-1 team that needs two wins today.
The 5-seed regional goes up against the 12-seed regional. Arkansas is the 12-seed, but Arizona starts play tomorrow at 2-0.
I don't know the hosting rules for certain, but four times under the modern seeding system, both seeded teams designated for a super regional lost in the regionals. The team that knocked off the higher-seeded regional host was the host for the super regional in all four cases.
This makes sense because once the 16 seeds are given regionals, teams sent to those regionals are often determined by geography and a desire not to have intra-conference regional games. But if the SEC expands much more, that might no longer be possible.
Easy inning for both pitchers. George has retired all five Kentucky batters she has faced on groundouts. It's still 4-2, headed into the bottom of the sixth.
Hannah George faces Kentucky Hutch, and induces a ground-ball double play. She then gets the dangerous Peyton Plotts on a grounder and it's still 4-2, Michigan, headed into the bottom of the fifth.
Michigan has been unable to solve Lacatena. They're very aggressive swinging against her, as her stats indicate is the right approach, but they're hitting the ball right to the defenders.
Some damage with a double and a pair of singles, but Hoehn gets out of it with a 4-2 lead going into the bottom of the fourth. Coffel flies out with two out and two on base.
No strikeouts and seven hits for the Wildcats, but Hoehn hasn't allowed any free passes, either.
Kentucky puts in Alexia Lacatena, as Schoonover has thrown an awful lot of pitches against Michigan in this regional. Lacatena has walked 12 and struck out 28 in 48 innings this season, with a 4.96 ERA.
Second time through the gauntlet, Lorsung drives in a run with a two-out single. Probably should have gone through the inning unscathed, but the defense wasn't perfect there.
2-1, Michigan, headed into the bottom of the third.
Conway hit by a pitch with one out. Lilly Vallimont makes Kentucky pay with her sixth home run this season. 2-0 Michigan, one out in the bottom of the second.
Erin Hoehn, p (3.44 ERA, 48 walks and 91 strikeouts in 95 2/3 IP)
A single and a hit batter with two out for Kentucky, but Hoehn's first pass through Coffel and Lorsung ends without damage. 0-0 headed into the bottom of the first.
Stephanie Schoonover is pitching for Kentucky again. She pitched about half of their loss earlier today.
Michigan is going with freshman Erin Hoehn, who hasn't thrown a lot lately, but hasn't really been hit hard, either. Huge challenge for her in her first post-season appearance. She could really step up, though.
Sieler works the count full, but flies out to center. Avery Fantucci pinch hits for Janelle Ilacqua, who probably would have come out anyway for Indy Langford's re-entry.
Northern Colorado turns to their top pitcher, Erin Caviness, who held the Wolverines to two hits in a game earlier this season. But one of them was a Keke Tholl grand slam.
Interesting story out of the MAC. Miami of Ohio is ranked in the top 25 with a 48-7 record headed into the regional. The Redhawks have 159 home runs this season, which leads the country by almost 50 and is just two from the Oklahoma record a few years back. One of their players, Karli Spaid, is one away from tying the single-season record of 37.
The MAC is not strong, though. Miami got a 3-seed, played Virginia (RPI 30) yesterday and were shut out on two hits. Tennessee is the region host.
Keke Tholl reached on an error, pinch runner Lexi Dellamonica took second on a wild pitch and third on an Ella Stephenson groundout. But Jenissa Conway hit a grounder to second and Dellamonica was thrown out at home.
No problem. Lilly Vallimont crushed a double to left center on an 0-1 pitch, and it's 2-2 with two out in the sixth.
The winner of this game plays Kentucky later tonight in an elimination game.
Oklahoma State beat Kentucky, 6-2, earlier today. The Wildcats got on the board quickly against Cowboy (Cowgirl?) ace Lexi Kilfoyl. It was 2-0 with two on before there was even an out. That pretty much ended Kentucky's offense for the game. Oklahoma State took the lead in the bottom of the first and coasted the rest of the way.
Derkowski with two hits allowed, a walk and seven strikeouts through five. A very light 65-pitch load. But the Bears still lead.
Three groundouts and a walk for Michigan in the fourth. It's still 2-1, Northern Colorado. In a continuation of yesterday's troubling trend, the Wolverines have stranded five baserunners today. The Bears have not left any on base.
In other Big Ten news today... Northwestern is off to the loser's bracket, dropping a 14-2 decision to top-ranked Texas. The Longhorns hit four home runs and Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Ashley Miller, who has had serious control issues lately, did not pitch. She only lasted one inning yesterday as the starter, but the Wildcats came back to beat Saint Francis (Pa.) comfortably.
Indiana plays host Missouri in a loser's bracket game starting up in about an hour. Missouri was the only top seed in a region to lose yesterday.
Penn State plays Albany in a loser's bracket game that starts at about the same time. They're in the 16th-seed Texas A&M regional.
Northern Colorado, surprisingly, went with Isabelle DiNapoli, who was battered around fairly thoroughly in a 9-1 mercy game against Michigan back in February.
Michigan's barely touched her in two innings today.
The Wolverines went with Lauren Derkowski. No one else has pitched for them in a couple of weeks now. That was also surprising, because Erin Hoehn held them to one hit in that game.
The Bears have a 2-0 lead headed into the bottom of the third, Ella Gonzales with her fifth home run of the year in the first inning. They scored a second run on one of those run-around double plays with runners on in the third.
They need some of that comeback magic now. The season ends if they lose this one. Northern Colorado's RPI is 159, fifth-lowest in the entire tournament.
Oklahoma State beat Northern Colorado, 6-0. Lexi Kilfoyl, who is fourth in the country in ERA, second among majors, threw five no-hit innings before leaving with a big lead.
Erin Caviness threw 110 pitches for the Bears, but I'd expect her to pitch tomorrow as well. Michigan might counter with Erin Hoehn, since she did well against them the first time they played.
Among other Big Ten teams, fellow three seeds Indiana (against Washington) and Penn State (against Texas State) lost their opening games. Two seed Northwestern, who is in the top bracket with Texas, has a big lead over Saint Francis (Pa.) late.
I think it was the right move. They have two really good hitters on that team, and Lorsung had already homered today while the batter she chose to face had struck out twice.
Bottom 7: one-out singles from Rylea Smith and Coffel get a couple on and Ella McVey flashes some glove to get the second out. Lorsung is walked to load the bases. Kentucky Hutch takes her place at the plate, 0-for-2 with a pair of strikeouts. She singles to right field, and that's a 4-3 win for the Wildcats.
Michigan drops to the loss bracket, where they will likely play Northern Colorado tomorrow. If they win, they play the loser of tomorrow's winner's bracket game. Loser is eliminated and winner gets up to two shots at the 2-0 team.
Top 7: Stephenson reaches on a one-out error, but Schoonover doubles her game total with a pair of strikeouts. 3-3 headed into the bottom of the seventh, Coffel due up third.
With her speed, she always is. But teams scout, and they weren't exactly surprised by it. This is drilled in every practice endlessly, because of the short basepaths.
Top 6: And here's my pet peeve about coach Tholl. The Wolverines have done the hard work to tire out Schoonover. Leadoff single from Costales, then a sacrifice bunt, then another single, but it doesn't move the runner over, then yet another sacrifice bunt. Erickson has a ten-pitch battle that ends in a flyout. Teams tied at 3.
Schoonover is now at 142 pitches, but Michigan has left nine on base and in a game like this, they have thrown away far too many outs with the bunting.
Bottom 5: Leadoff single. With two out and the runner on second, Coffel is wisely given a free pass, but center fielder Vanessa Nesby hits a double to score the tying run. Lorsung is intentionally walked to load the bases and Derkowski gets out of the jam with her eighth strikeout of the game - a freshman named Ally Hutchins (probably no relation, but...)
Top 5: The Wolverines are more aggressive at the plate as Schoonover starts to tire. One out single from Maddie Erickson. With two out, freshman Ella Stephenson homers over the left-field fence. A hit batter and a popup end the inning. Michigan leads 3-2.
Sticking with Stephenson was coach Tholl's best move of the season. She got off to a rough start, OPS below .500 at mid-season. Many coaches would have given up - we've seen that here many times. But Tholl just dropped her further back in the lineup and she's been one of the best hitters on the team over the second half - even made the all-league second team. That was her fourth home run of the season.
Bottom 4: Grace Lorsung scoops her 14th home run of the season with one out. Two more strikeouts for Derkowski, but both of the hits she has allowed have led to Lorsung crossing the plate. 2-1 Kentucky.
Some shade from the Kentucky twitterx after the home run - they did not like that review call for the first out.
If she didn't give you gear and a mask, that's a really shitty thing to do. The movement is weird, up or down, and you have to get used to it. I played fastpitch for a couple of summers and could barely hit the ball at first. I warmed up our pitcher once - never again. I figure he threw about 60-70, but that movement, especially a rise ball that actually rises - you don't expect that.
Bottom 3: Derkowski catches Coffel looking again to end the inning and Kentucky goes down 1-2-3. She has five (or six, depending on the scoring details) strikeouts through three and is at 48 pitches. Score is 1-1.
Top 3: 1-2-3 inning for Michigan. Statbroadcast has Schoonover at 83 pitches, but they are having trouble keeping up with the game - constantly changing the recap. Score is still 1-1.
Bottom 2: Leadoff walk for Lorsung and she's bunted to second. Plotts lines a double off the left-field wall to score Lorsung. A strikeout ends the threat. Score is 1-1.
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Reviewing the regions after two days... in each case, except the Duke regional, there's a 2-0 team that needs one win today and a 2-1 team that needs two wins today.
1 (Texas). Texas (1 seed) 2-0, Northwestern (RPI 29) 2-1.
2 (Oklahoma). Oklahoma (2 seed) 2-0, Oregon (RPI 31) 2-1.
3 (Tennessee). Tennessee (3) 2-0, Virginia (30) 2-1.
4 (Florida). Florida (4) 2-0, South Alabama (33) 2-1.
5 (Oklahoma State). Oklahoma State (5) 2-0, Michigan (36) 2-1.
6 (UCLA). UCLA (6) 2-0, Grand Canyon (59) 2-1.
7 (Missouri). Nebraska - Omaha (RPI 67) 2-0, Missouri (7 seed) 2-1.
8 (Stanford). Stanford (8) 2-0, Cal State Fullerton (72) 2-1.
9 (Louisiana State). Louisiana State (9) 2-0, Southern Illinois (48) 2-1.
10 (Duke). Duke (10) 2-0, South Carolina (27) 1-1 and Utah (39) 1-1 must play each other first.
11 (Georgia). Liberty (RPI 32) 2-0, Georgia (11 seed) 2-1.
12 (Arkansas). Arizona (RPI 21) 2-0, Villanova (RPI 84) 2-1. Arkansas is the only seed that didn't make it to a regional final.
13 (Louisiana - Lafayette). Baylor (RPI 18) 2-0, Louisiana - Lafayette (13 seed) 2-1.
14 (Alabama). Alabama (14) 2-0, Southeastern Louisiana (60) 2-1.
15 (Florida State). Florida State (15) 2-0, Auburn (24) 2-1.
16 (Texas A&M). Texas A&M (16) 2-0, Texas State (17) 2-1.
Records so far, by conferences with multiple bids:
SEC 20-12, Pac 12 11-6, Big 12 9-2, ACC 8-5, Big Ten 5-6, Sun Belt 6-3, AAC 1-4.
The 5-seed regional goes up against the 12-seed regional. Arkansas is the 12-seed, but Arizona starts play tomorrow at 2-0.
I don't know the hosting rules for certain, but four times under the modern seeding system, both seeded teams designated for a super regional lost in the regionals. The team that knocked off the higher-seeded regional host was the host for the super regional in all four cases.
This makes sense because once the 16 seeds are given regionals, teams sent to those regionals are often determined by geography and a desire not to have intra-conference regional games. But if the SEC expands much more, that might no longer be possible.
Long way to go. Very long way to go.
A grounder ends it. Hannah George retires all eight Kentucky players she faced and Michigan moves into the regional championship.
They will need to beat Oklahoma State twice tomorrow to win the regional. Oklahoma State needs only one win to advance.
Two quick outs - Smith, the leadoff hitter, on a foul pop, then Coffel on a fly to center field. One out away...
Lacatena has dropped her era from 4.96 to 4.61 tonight. Another easy inning. Top of the seventh, top of the order for Kentucky.
Easy inning for both pitchers. George has retired all five Kentucky batters she has faced on groundouts. It's still 4-2, headed into the bottom of the sixth.
Hannah George faces Kentucky Hutch, and induces a ground-ball double play. She then gets the dangerous Peyton Plotts on a grounder and it's still 4-2, Michigan, headed into the bottom of the fifth.
Michigan has been unable to solve Lacatena. They're very aggressive swinging against her, as her stats indicate is the right approach, but they're hitting the ball right to the defenders.
Vanessa Nesby leads off with a single, and Hoehn hits Lorsung with a pitch for the second time today. Two on, none out, and here comes Hannah...
Some damage with a double and a pair of singles, but Hoehn gets out of it with a 4-2 lead going into the bottom of the fourth. Coffel flies out with two out and two on base.
No strikeouts and seven hits for the Wildcats, but Hoehn hasn't allowed any free passes, either.
Kentucky puts in Alexia Lacatena, as Schoonover has thrown an awful lot of pitches against Michigan in this regional. Lacatena has walked 12 and struck out 28 in 48 innings this season, with a 4.96 ERA.
Leadoff single for Langford. With one out, Keke Tholl hits her 16th home run of the year. 4-1 Wolverines, still up in the third.
Second time through the gauntlet, Lorsung drives in a run with a two-out single. Probably should have gone through the inning unscathed, but the defense wasn't perfect there.
2-1, Michigan, headed into the bottom of the third.
Conway hit by a pitch with one out. Lilly Vallimont makes Kentucky pay with her sixth home run this season. 2-0 Michigan, one out in the bottom of the second.
Michigan's twitter-x feed just reposted the Erickson walk-off - one of those pitches you know the pitcher wants back as soon it's let go.
Erickson singled after fouling off three 3-2 pitches with two out, but that was the only Wolverine baserunner. No score after one.
Michigan order (season OPS) for game 60:
Ellie Sieler, lf (.949)
Indy Langford, 2b (.688)
Maddie Erickson, 3b (1.014)
Keke Tholl, 1b (.984)
Ella Stephenson, rf (.778)
Jenissa Conway, cf (.890)
Lilly Vallimont, c (.696)
Ava Costales, dp (.925)
Ella McVey, ss (.707)
Erin Hoehn, p (3.44 ERA, 48 walks and 91 strikeouts in 95 2/3 IP)
A single and a hit batter with two out for Kentucky, but Hoehn's first pass through Coffel and Lorsung ends without damage. 0-0 headed into the bottom of the first.
Stephanie Schoonover is pitching for Kentucky again. She pitched about half of their loss earlier today.
Michigan is going with freshman Erin Hoehn, who hasn't thrown a lot lately, but hasn't really been hit hard, either. Huge challenge for her in her first post-season appearance. She could really step up, though.
And Maddie Erickson ends it. 12th home run of the season. 4-2.
On to play Kentucky again in about a half-hour.
Fantucci doesn't, watching strike three go by. Two out.
Sieler works the count full, but flies out to center. Avery Fantucci pinch hits for Janelle Ilacqua, who probably would have come out anyway for Indy Langford's re-entry.
Ella McVey leads off... fights off two 3-2 pitches, then singles down the line to left field. Leadoff hitter aboard, Sieler at bat.
Northern Colorado turns to their top pitcher, Erin Caviness, who held the Wolverines to two hits in a game earlier this season. But one of them was a Keke Tholl grand slam.
Hannah with the heroics!
Popup, short flyout, popup... and it's 2-2 headed into the bottom of the seventh.
Trouble in the seventh. Derkowski walks the first two batters and Hannah George takes the mound.
Interesting story out of the MAC. Miami of Ohio is ranked in the top 25 with a 48-7 record headed into the regional. The Redhawks have 159 home runs this season, which leads the country by almost 50 and is just two from the Oklahoma record a few years back. One of their players, Karli Spaid, is one away from tying the single-season record of 37.
The MAC is not strong, though. Miami got a 3-seed, played Virginia (RPI 30) yesterday and were shut out on two hits. Tennessee is the region host.
Michigan's 11th infield groundout of the game leaves another runner in scoring position, so it's 2-2 headed into the seventh.
Tied it up in the bottom of the sixth.
Keke Tholl reached on an error, pinch runner Lexi Dellamonica took second on a wild pitch and third on an Ella Stephenson groundout. But Jenissa Conway hit a grounder to second and Dellamonica was thrown out at home.
No problem. Lilly Vallimont crushed a double to left center on an 0-1 pitch, and it's 2-2 with two out in the sixth.
1-2-3 Wolverines in the fifth. 2-1 Bears headed into the sixth.
The winner of this game plays Kentucky later tonight in an elimination game.
Oklahoma State beat Kentucky, 6-2, earlier today. The Wildcats got on the board quickly against Cowboy (Cowgirl?) ace Lexi Kilfoyl. It was 2-0 with two on before there was even an out. That pretty much ended Kentucky's offense for the game. Oklahoma State took the lead in the bottom of the first and coasted the rest of the way.
Derkowski with two hits allowed, a walk and seven strikeouts through five. A very light 65-pitch load. But the Bears still lead.
Three groundouts and a walk for Michigan in the fourth. It's still 2-1, Northern Colorado. In a continuation of yesterday's troubling trend, the Wolverines have stranded five baserunners today. The Bears have not left any on base.
In other Big Ten news today... Northwestern is off to the loser's bracket, dropping a 14-2 decision to top-ranked Texas. The Longhorns hit four home runs and Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Ashley Miller, who has had serious control issues lately, did not pitch. She only lasted one inning yesterday as the starter, but the Wildcats came back to beat Saint Francis (Pa.) comfortably.
Indiana plays host Missouri in a loser's bracket game starting up in about an hour. Missouri was the only top seed in a region to lose yesterday.
Penn State plays Albany in a loser's bracket game that starts at about the same time. They're in the 16th-seed Texas A&M regional.
They get one back in the third on a two-out Maddie Erickson single. 2-1 headed into the fourth.
Northern Colorado, surprisingly, went with Isabelle DiNapoli, who was battered around fairly thoroughly in a 9-1 mercy game against Michigan back in February.
Michigan's barely touched her in two innings today.
The Wolverines went with Lauren Derkowski. No one else has pitched for them in a couple of weeks now. That was also surprising, because Erin Hoehn held them to one hit in that game.
The Bears have a 2-0 lead headed into the bottom of the third, Ella Gonzales with her fifth home run of the year in the first inning. They scored a second run on one of those run-around double plays with runners on in the third.
They need some of that comeback magic now. The season ends if they lose this one. Northern Colorado's RPI is 159, fifth-lowest in the entire tournament.
Seems Michigan is cornering the market. Now to work out the NIL issues, so they can market the corners.
Oklahoma State beat Northern Colorado, 6-0. Lexi Kilfoyl, who is fourth in the country in ERA, second among majors, threw five no-hit innings before leaving with a big lead.
Erin Caviness threw 110 pitches for the Bears, but I'd expect her to pitch tomorrow as well. Michigan might counter with Erin Hoehn, since she did well against them the first time they played.
Among other Big Ten teams, fellow three seeds Indiana (against Washington) and Penn State (against Texas State) lost their opening games. Two seed Northwestern, who is in the top bracket with Texas, has a big lead over Saint Francis (Pa.) late.
I think it was the right move. They have two really good hitters on that team, and Lorsung had already homered today while the batter she chose to face had struck out twice.
Bottom 7: one-out singles from Rylea Smith and Coffel get a couple on and Ella McVey flashes some glove to get the second out. Lorsung is walked to load the bases. Kentucky Hutch takes her place at the plate, 0-for-2 with a pair of strikeouts. She singles to right field, and that's a 4-3 win for the Wildcats.
Michigan drops to the loss bracket, where they will likely play Northern Colorado tomorrow. If they win, they play the loser of tomorrow's winner's bracket game. Loser is eliminated and winner gets up to two shots at the 2-0 team.
Top 7: Stephenson reaches on a one-out error, but Schoonover doubles her game total with a pair of strikeouts. 3-3 headed into the bottom of the seventh, Coffel due up third.
With her speed, she always is. But teams scout, and they weren't exactly surprised by it. This is drilled in every practice endlessly, because of the short basepaths.
Bottom 6: 1-2-3 from the bottom of the order. Derkowski at 103 pitches through six, eight strikeouts and four hits. Tied at 3 headed into the seventh.
Top 6: And here's my pet peeve about coach Tholl. The Wolverines have done the hard work to tire out Schoonover. Leadoff single from Costales, then a sacrifice bunt, then another single, but it doesn't move the runner over, then yet another sacrifice bunt. Erickson has a ten-pitch battle that ends in a flyout. Teams tied at 3.
Schoonover is now at 142 pitches, but Michigan has left nine on base and in a game like this, they have thrown away far too many outs with the bunting.
Bottom 5: Leadoff single. With two out and the runner on second, Coffel is wisely given a free pass, but center fielder Vanessa Nesby hits a double to score the tying run. Lorsung is intentionally walked to load the bases and Derkowski gets out of the jam with her eighth strikeout of the game - a freshman named Ally Hutchins (probably no relation, but...)
Top 5: The Wolverines are more aggressive at the plate as Schoonover starts to tire. One out single from Maddie Erickson. With two out, freshman Ella Stephenson homers over the left-field fence. A hit batter and a popup end the inning. Michigan leads 3-2.
Sticking with Stephenson was coach Tholl's best move of the season. She got off to a rough start, OPS below .500 at mid-season. Many coaches would have given up - we've seen that here many times. But Tholl just dropped her further back in the lineup and she's been one of the best hitters on the team over the second half - even made the all-league second team. That was her fourth home run of the season.
Bottom 4: Grace Lorsung scoops her 14th home run of the season with one out. Two more strikeouts for Derkowski, but both of the hits she has allowed have led to Lorsung crossing the plate. 2-1 Kentucky.
Some shade from the Kentucky twitterx after the home run - they did not like that review call for the first out.
Top 4: Two one-out walks, but no hits and two more left on base for the Wolverines. 1-1.
Double-elimination. 1-4, 2-3 today. Then losers and winners tomorrow, then they play until all but one team has two losses.
If she didn't give you gear and a mask, that's a really shitty thing to do. The movement is weird, up or down, and you have to get used to it. I played fastpitch for a couple of summers and could barely hit the ball at first. I warmed up our pitcher once - never again. I figure he threw about 60-70, but that movement, especially a rise ball that actually rises - you don't expect that.
Bottom 3: Derkowski catches Coffel looking again to end the inning and Kentucky goes down 1-2-3. She has five (or six, depending on the scoring details) strikeouts through three and is at 48 pitches. Score is 1-1.
Top 3: 1-2-3 inning for Michigan. Statbroadcast has Schoonover at 83 pitches, but they are having trouble keeping up with the game - constantly changing the recap. Score is still 1-1.
They used to call it more often. The slappers are always trying to push the limit, moving toward first. But slappers are out of favor lately.
Bottom 2: Leadoff walk for Lorsung and she's bunted to second. Plotts lines a double off the left-field wall to score Lorsung. A strikeout ends the threat. Score is 1-1.