audrey leclair

Michigan Softball's 2023 season kicked off last night with a 2-1 extra innings defeat to USF in Florida, before their slate of weekend games beginning this afternoon. A new season upon us means it's time for another Michigan Softball season preview, which I held off on running until today because I wanted to get a peak at the lineup from last night. The reasoning behind that decision is there is so much uncertainty with this squad, so many new faces and not the least of which being in the dugout. With Carol Hutchins retiring, Bonnie Tholl is beginning her tenure as head coach of Michigan Softball, and she presides over a roster that saw the majority of its batting order depart in the offseason, as well as both pitchers who logged the vast majority of innings. Several new transfers are in as well as a six player recruiting class, so this is going to have a very different feel of a season than a year ago. Today we'll break it all down: 

The Roster

Pitching 

Where last year this section was an re-introduction of two extremely familiar faces, this year it's the great unknown. Michigan said farewell to the graduating Meghan Beaubien and watched Alex Storako transfer to juggernaut Oklahoma in pursuit of a national title, leaving them in a position of more or less starting over in the circle. First name up is last night's starter, Lauren Derkowski, the only returning pitcher to log more than one appearance in 2022 for the Wolverines. Derkowski was a highly touted prospect in the 2021 recruiting class out of Illinois who was used more than expected throughout the season, becoming the #3 arm behind Beaubien and Storako. Still, she wasn't used all that much and that's why it's hard to project for 2023, given the potentially massive increase in workload if Derkowski is to become the hoss in the circle. 

Her final stat line as a freshman sat at 44.2 IP, 2.19 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP, striking out roughly a batter per inning. She battled the walk problem, but if the control can be reigned in, there's reason for optimism. Those who are hoping for a leap from Derkowski in year #2 ought to be encouraged by last night's performance against the Bulls, striking out nine hitters in 7.1 innings, allowing only three hits and two runs, neither of which were earned. It was a confident effort and is already the longest outing of her career. If that sort of performance can be replicated, and her recruiting pedigree suggests it could, Michigan can work with that for sure. 

The other returning pitcher is Emerson Aiken, but she made only one appearance in 2022, something that generally happens for a reason and her one outing showed plenty as to why it was only one game. Aiken faced Elon, far from an imposing foe, and faced six batters. The result? Two outs recorded, three walks, and one HR allowed. Uh huh. The optimistic take with Aiken is that she was also a blue chip recruit and thus the talent should be there to shake it off. The pessimistic take is that Michigan had a highly touted pitcher a few years earlier in Chandler Dennis, who, like Aiken, seldom got to see the circle as a freshman, and things didn't get much better in year #2. Being buried in the bullpen is not a great sign, but here's for hoping for better outcomes. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: More preview]