lexie blair

Three weeks have passed since we last checked in on Michigan Baseball and Softball, so it's about time to do another update. The two teams were wading into B1G play during the last one and now are well into the meat of those two campaigns. The needle is pointing slightly upwards for softball after a choppy beginning, while it's pointing sideways or slightly down for baseball (in the near term), but plenty of storylines for both. Today we'll be looking at softball, while tomorrow I'll be covering baseball. These are going to be shorter pieces, but I thought it was a little more user friendly to break them up and spread the content out. 

Softball: Still Meeting Expectations

At the last installment, I noted that Michigan's non-conference portion of the season was rather choppy and its signature wins rather ugly, but that they were doing enough to meet expectations. I said that they were on track to make the NCAA Tournament if they could finish in the upper half of the B1G, since a brutally difficult non-conference and notching just enough quality wins had bolstered their RPI. Since then the team has done basically exactly that, nothing incredible but sticking in that top quartile of the B1G they need to be in. Doin' alright. 

Season results since we last talked: Last update came just before the Nebraska series and the first three B1G series of April have been identical to each other, taking two of three from the Huskers, two of three from Illinois, and two of three from Purdue. Given that Purdue and Illinois are both brutally bad, dropping games to both squads is not what you want to see if your goal was to make a run at Northwestern for the conference crown, but I never considered that terribly realistic in a rebuilding year. If the main goal is to stay in the NCAAs and keep momentum rolling forward as Bonnie Tholl turns over the roster, then three series victories is enough to tick that box. 

The Nebraska series was totally fine, as the Huskers are one of the best non-Northwestern teams in the B1G. I lamented Michigan's lack of offense in my last update and then less than 24 hours later, Michigan bludgeoned Nebraska in a 10-0 run rule. Only one homer in that game (another by Keke Tholl), but the Wolverines churned out 14 hits, which was a very welcome sight. Unfortunately, they got run-ruled by Nebraska in game #2 after a dreadful hitting performance, setting up the rubber match on Sunday, a solid win powered by a Lexie Blair two RBI double, small ball offense, and strong pitching from Lauren Derkowski.

 [Bill Rapai]

After that, the team hosted Illinois, a much lower scoring series and one in line with what we've seen from the team this year. They got shut out by the Illini in game one, Derkowski giving up one in the first and a two run HR in the third, and the offense failing to capitalize on eight different baserunners against Illinois' Sydney Sickels (no idea how she's still in college). The Wolverines responded with a 3-2 win in the Saturday game, a rare homer by anyone other than Tholl doing the damage as freshman Maddie Erickson left the yard with a three run blast. Jessica LeBeau worked in and out of trouble and was relieved by Derkowski, who ran into major problems in the seventh, allowing a two-run double to cut it to one run. She allowed a single, moving the tying runner up to third, but then got a foul pop up to end the game. If that tension wasn't enough, Michigan needed extras to knock off Illinois on Easter Sunday and claim the series, winning 2-1 in the eighth on a walk-off Keke Tholl double. 

The team headed off to East Lansing during the mid-week to take on MSU in a game that was re-scheduled from a week prior. The Spartans are currently last in the B1G, but got a 2-0 lead in the first three innings. A three-run fourth with big knocks from Audrey LeClair and Blair gave Michigan the lead and they'd hang onto it for a 5-2 win. Over the weekend they then headed to West Lafayette to take on the Boilers, the other worst team in the conference besides MSU. Derkowski pitched the first and third games of the series and threw *two* no-hitters, giving Michigan shutout wins 4-0 and 5-0 in the two games. Unfortunately, they dropped the second game by a score of 3-2, a two-run double by Tholl not being enough as Michigan's bats were very quiet. Finally, Michigan took on MSU this past week at home, a comfortable 8-0 run rule victory. No third-straight no hitter for Derkowski but another shut out effort as Michigan moved to 9-5 in B1G play. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: The good and the bad]

It's been since the season previews that I've updated baseball and softball coverage, so it feels about time to get a new installment in. A little over a month has gone by and in that time, we've learned plenty about both teams amid the first season with new coaches. Both teams have returned to Ann Arbor and started up their conference slate, so today we'll cover how the non-conference went, who is hot and who is not, and where to set expectations as the weather gets warmer and we get knee-deep in B1G play: 

Softball: Doing Enough

The first season without Carol Hutchins in nearly four decades was going to be a bumpy one, and the roster left behind after transfer portal exits was a stripped down one. We acknowledged as much in the season preview and the start of the season has reflected the inevitable bumps that were going to come with that reality. As it stands right now, the team is 15-13 (1-2 in conference play), but despite the bumps, they're doing alright as it comes to the national picture. Let's break it down.

The season results so far: The team got started with a contest against USF in Tampa, a tough extra innings loss that saw it end on a walk-off wild pitch. From there they went to Leesburg, FL, for a tune-up against low level squads. Three of the four games ended in a run rule and then it was on to Clearwater for the big invitational tournament hosted by ESPN. That weekend went pretty well all things considered, Michigan notching a couple solid wins by defeating Louisiana and Mississippi State, while dropping games to ranked teams UCF, Duke, and Oklahoma State. Adjusting for quality of competition, that 2-3 weekend was fine for a rebuilding Michigan team. 

It didn't get any easier after that, with the team heading cross-country to Palo Alto, CA, to play a tournament hosted by Stanford. That's where things began to take a turn for the worse, a 1-4 weekend with losses to Boise State and Nevada, in addition to being swept by host Stanford. Michigan scored 5 runs in 5 games that weekend. The Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton, CA, was a better experience as Michigan spent spring break in SoCal. They got revenge on UCF and then beat the hosts CSF, losing games in shutouts to ranked teams UCLA and LSU before picking up another one-run win over Seattle. 3-2 was not amazing, but it definitely could've been worse and building a resume is the objective. 

The Wolverines then traveled home, but weather quickly got in the way. They beat Kent State on March 9 but then had four home games canceled until they got to play Bowling Green nearly a week later, a run rule victory. St. Patrick's Day Weekend was spent down in Lexington, KY, where weather again intervened. Michigan beat Longwood 2-1 but lost to #14 Kentucky by the same score, while an additional game with Kentucky and a tussle with DePaul were canceled. Finally, the team kicked off B1G play last weekend against the Ohio State Buckeyes, a series that got postponed until Sunday/Monday and saw the Bucks take 2 of 3, their first series win against Michigan in decades (as an addendum, Michigan beat Oakland yesterday in a run rule). 

[AFTER THE JUMP: send offense plz... for both teams]

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]