Note: This is the beginning of Softball Roundup, a weekly column that will run during the college softball season. My hope is that it will help give more exposure to the Michigan Softball program, help readers understand college softball, and provide more enlightening analysis on the sport for those who are already hardcore fans.

Second Note: This column is written by Alex Drain (@Alex_Drain on twitter). I have been a member of the MGoBlog team since August 2018, but up to this point I have largely been behind the scenes as a podcast manager for the MGoRadio shows during football season. If you’ve come by the Bo Store to see MGoRadio being taped live sometime in the past two seasons, you’ve probably noticed a college kid with large glasses sitting at the end of the table next to Seth. That’s me. I’ve covered Michigan Softball for WCBN Sports (student radio and a resource most Michigan Softball fans are familiar with) for three years now and am generally a good resource for those looking to learn more about the program, so hopefully this column is useful!

Last Weekend: Sweeping Through North Carolina (9-0)

For those who are just reading about how the 2020 team is doing, they are currently 9-0, having gone 5-0 in Tampa (including a win against a good Florida team) last weekend, and just got done with the ACC/B1G challenge down in Chapel Hill. This past weekend pitted Michigan against #25 North Carolina for two games, and against Louisville for two games. Both teams made regional finals last year (and were a sudden death win away from the Supers), so both are pretty solid wins to collect. Here’s a quick recap of the weekend, game by game:

Game 1: Michigan 6, Louisville 2

Against Louisville’s #2 and #3 pitchers, Michigan’s offense went to work, getting 2 in the second, 2 in the third, and 2 in the sixth. L’Ville threatened in the fifth with a two-run HR from pitcher/hitter Taylor Roby, but Meghan Beaubien’s relief effort of Alex Storako went swimmingly, with three shut down innings to win 6-2.

Game 2: Michigan 4, North Carolina 3

The sloppy opposing defense that helped Michigan against Florida also helped Michigan against North Carolina as the Tar Heels committed two errors in the 2nd which scored a combined 3 runs for Michigan. Beaubien labored in the early 2nd, giving up a single/homer/double combo, and Hutch went to the pen. Storako would allow that runner on second to score but wouldn’t allow another run, leaving it tied at 3. Michigan and Carolina both clawed for the next four innings to break the tie in a contest of who could leave more runners on. The Wolverines finally broke through in the 7th with a Lexie Blair infield single to make it 4-3, and Storako closed the door in the bottom half for the win.

Game 3: Michigan 4, North Carolina 0

This was one of those enjoyably boring games that fans of good teams get to enjoy every so often. Beaubien delivered seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts, while Michigan tallied a single run in four different frames. Two of those tallies came from doubles off the bat of freshman Julia Jimenez, which in the testimony of friend-of-MGoBlog Morris Fabbri (who was at this game) came inches away from leaving the yard both times. Nothing much to see here otherwise, just delectable dominance.

Game 4: Michigan 8, Louisville 4

Just like a week ago in Tampa, Michigan battled a potential letdown game in an early Sunday morning contest, this time against the Cardinals. They took an early 1-0 lead on a Lou Allan single, but Taylor Roby struck again for a 3 run HR off of Storako to put L’Ville up 3-1.

Michigan came roaring back in the top of the fourth, taking the lead back on a HR from Taylor Bump that made it 4-3. Storako was yanked after the Roby HR and Beaubien battled errant command in her ensuing relief outing, culminating in a HBP of a Louisville batter with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth to force in the tying run.

But again Michigan showed their resilience, loading the bases with none out in the top of the 6th. That’s when Hutch went to the bench. She pinch-hit freshman Lauren Esman for the slap-hitting Natalia Rodriguez and that difference in power was pivotal: Esman swatted a no-doubter *grand slam* for her first career college hit. With a four*run lead now in hand, Beaubien promptly slammed the door and Michigan left Carolina with another perfect weekend.

[AFTER THE JUMP: thoughts, national update, and weekend preview]

Thoughts on the hot start

The pitching tandem picks each other up: With Alex Storako’s hot start to the season, I’ve been asked by numerous people who have surface-level knowledge of softball the question on everyone’s mind: is Alex Storako now Michigan’s ace? And I’ve answered every time with this: the reality is that to win a national title in softball nowadays, you need two aces.

Does Michigan have two? That's to be determined, but they have two pitchers that are playing really well. Most importantly, Beaubien and Storako have seemed comfortable picking each other up when one is struggling. Just this weekend we saw Beaubien come in to help Storako and close a game out (games 1 and 4), while we saw Storako do the same for Beaubien in game 2. Michigan needs both to pitch well (and probably a third quality arm at some point) to play their way to OKC, and at least right now, that’s happening. At this stage last year, Michigan was 4-5 and Beaubien had an ERA of 3.00, while Storako’s was 2.66. This year those numbers are 9-0 and 1.75/1.70. Pitching has been huge.

Taylor Bump’s power is finally showing. Bump came to Michigan in 2018 as a player who hit a lot of HRs, but through two seasons she had yet to hit a longball at the NCAA level. She now has two in a season nine days old. The biggest reason for that is that she’s finally getting consistent playing time, mostly because her plate approach looks vastly improved. Bump consistently struggled with the strikeout in 2018-19, but this year her K rate has dropped from 28.6% to 8.3%, taking as many walks in 24 plate appearances this year as she did in 35 a year ago. She looks more poised, patient, and now that she’s finally making contact, the power is coming.

A Look Around College Softball

Down in Clearwater: Scientology and softball. ESPN organized a mega 16-team softball tournament this year down in Clearwater, a Florida city known for great beaches and being the national HQ of Scientology. The tournament served as a good early barometer of which teams are going to be very good and which might struggle. UCLA was perfect on the weekend and looks like the team to beat nationally again this year. Washington had an embarrassing game against Alabama but otherwise seemed like a top 5 team. Meanwhile, FSU struggled, losing to UCLA as well as Minnesota and Northwestern. Speaking of Minnesota and Northwestern, Michigan’s main two B1G foes had mediocre weekends. The Gopher bats were nonexistent in shutout losses to OK State and Virginia Tech but they salvaged the weekend with a win against FSU. Northwestern beat FSU and Kansas but dropped games to Virginia Tech and Georgia.

Rankings update. This week’s new rankings are out and you can take your pick of ranking based on source:

• NFCA Coaches: 8th
• D1Softball.com: 11th
• Softball America: 6th
• ESPN.com/USA Softball: 8th

No matter how you slice it though, the Wolverines are now either a top 10 team, or right on the verge of being one. They are also now in an exclusive category with UCLA, Texas, and Oregon as being a ranked team still unbeaten. Also of note, Michigan’s spring break SoCal tour looks even more daunting than originally thought. They will see UCLA, Texas, and Washington over the course of those two weekends, and speaking of rankings… oh… 

On the bright side, at worst, losing to great teams boosts your SOS, and at best it gives you the type of resume-boosting win that could solidify Michigan as a regional- or super-regional- host. Texas Tech is also in that slate of games and they’re a borderline top-20 team, so next weekend will prove to be pivotal towards gauging where Michigan stands nationally. Until then….

This Weekend: Paying a visit to the Other Carolina

Liberty: 1-9, 55th RPI last season

Michigan’s first opponent is from the same athletic department that gave us Hugh Freeze coaching from a hospital bed, so if these games against the Liberty Lady Flames aren’t entertaining it will be a huge disappointment. Liberty isn’t as bad at softball as the record looks, because they’ve played a brutal schedule. The Lady Flames have played six Top 20 teams, and three other games against SEC teams who are not as good, but every SEC team was top 50 RPI last year so they’re still pretty solid opponents. The one non-Top 25/non-SEC opponent was Illinois, who they lost to 8-2 (their lone win was Ole Miss). The big issue for Liberty appears to be pitching, as they had a sterling 1.60 team ERA last season but lost their only two starting pitchers to graduation. Their new ace has an ERA a shade under 4 and the other two have ERA’s over 8 (!). Again, good competition, but when you pair a 6.08 team ERA with a .222 team batting average and a -42 run differential in just 10 games, you get the picture of a team that’s struggled against high-level competition. Still good enough to knock off Michigan if the Wolverines come out sleeping (55th RPI in 2019 ain’t bad), but their track record has suggested that Liberty should give M two more wins.

Iowa State: 5-5, 49th RPI last season

The Cyclones were a team pretty similar to Liberty last season, not a tournament team but also not something to scoff at either, nestling just inside the top 50 RPI. Through 10 games Iowa St. has yet to play a team of Michigan’s caliber, but their resume has not really indicated a team that can consistently hang with the Wolverines. ISU lost to a PSU team that Michigan swept in three games by a combined margin of 23-7, and also have lost two games to the only RPI top 60 team they’ve faced yet (UCF) by a combined margin of 12-3. The problem right now for the Cyclones is that the offense is sputtering, hitting .238 as a team, which is only barely better than Liberty despite playing an infinitely easier schedule, and ISU scored just 11 runs in 5 games last weekend. Their pitching has been pretty good, with both Ellie Spelhaug and Karlie Charles having ERA’s just a tad over 2.00, but if Michigan can get a handful of runs off of them, Beaubien and Storako in the circle should put the game into cruise control.

South Carolina: 5-3, 22nd RPI last season

Here’s the crown jewel of the weekend, giving Michigan an opportunity to bank another quality win. The Gamecocks cleaned up the first weekend against subpar competition (beat OSU) but then were knocked back to reality in Clearwater, defeating Kansas but losing to TTU, VT, and Washington. Like UNC, South Carolina was a top 30 RPI team that made a regional final last year and seem to be roughly on that level again this season. Last year’s SCar team was quite good offensively but struggled in the circle and right now it’s too early to tell about the 2020 edition. The pitchers have thrived against non-top 20 teams, holding opponents to 7 runs combined in their 5 wins, but have allowed a combined 18 runs in their three losses. Kelsey Oh appears to be the ace of the staff and her ERA seems greatly improved from a year ago but again there’s a caveat: she’s been dominant against lesser competition but has been roughed up by the big dogs. The Gamecocks return four of their top five hitters (by average) from last season and generally haven’t struggled to score this year, so I would expect a higher scoring game rather than a pitcher’s duel in this one.

Weekend upshot: This is a weekend where Michigan would reasonably like to go 4-0, but at worst, 3-1 would be acceptable. The Gamecock Invitational is not a terribly difficult slate, but as has been the theme so far this season, the opponents also aren’t bad enough to just totally lay down if Michigan comes out flat. The Wolverines will have to play well to go unbeaten, but Liberty and Iowa St. seem to be teams who can’t hang with very good competition, and South Carolina struggled to keep pace with the elite in Clearwater. If Michigan Softball wants to prove itself as a national contender as they head into SoCal next weekend, a 4-0 weekend in Columbia should be the expectation.