Michigan Softball/Baseball open thread
Wow, looks like its been a tough year for softball. Whats happened over the last few weeks?
At least up 2-0 on MSU to start this game in the bottom of the first
Yeah, kinda scary looking at the B1G standings and seeing Michigan at 1-4 in the conference. Started league play losing two at home to first place Nebraska and then 2 of 3 @ Northwestern (who were ranked in the top 5 nationally a week or two ago).
They're 20-9 overall, but little room for error the rest of the way if they want a shot at the league crown and NCAA tournament.
Let's beat sparty and get this thing turned around!
Softball is pretty much their usual self. Baseball-not so good...staring .500 directly in the face-down 6-3 in the bottom of the 8th.
Softball isn't really where it has been. The pitching is still a strength, but neither ace is pitching as well as in the past. With Beaubien, back for a fifth year, it's not a surprise. She's in a demanding grad program and it's not unusual for softball players to regress as the seasons pile up. With Storako, just a lot of home runs lately. Maybe she's tipping one of her pitches - that seems like a scouting issue.
The hitting showed signs of turning a corner. Bump is hitting well after a slow start and the freshmen are contributing. The two grad transfers have been excellent. Infield defense is more an issue now, and their leadoff hitter extraordinaire, Lexie Blair, was recently hurt and Hutch doesn't give injury reports. Hopefully that's not a season-ender for her.
The 0-4 start to the conference schedule probably means they won't win the regular-season title, but the pieces are all there for a potential run at a World Series spot. Whether they come together is hard to predict - this could be their best team in a long time, just not the usual great pitching but unable to score runs against top competition.
Run at a World Series spot ? This team would be lucky to win a regional, let alone a super regional. Limited power hitting, and the pitching is very good, but not dominant.
Obviously, they'll be an underdog at a regional. I think the ceiling is higher than in recent years because there are more quality bats. But will they even get to the level of recent teams?
Can I ask why you say it's not a surprise Meghan has regressed/what you mean by regressed? I understand it was going to be tough to match her 1.16 ERA freshman year and that the past two years have been tough to judge with Covid and then her bounce back last year was with an all Big Ten schedule.. Is it simply the fact that her sophomore year pitching was more likely who she truly is as a pitcher or fatigue of five years? I know you know have a good understanding of the game from the past so I'm curious your thoughts.
I appreciate the compliment - I don't have any special insight here, just some discussions long ago with various high school softball coaches.
It isn't unusual for a softball pitcher to be as good as they will ever be at age 18-20. They've been throwing so hard every year for 7-8 years at that point. It's their life. Pitchers are identified by middle-school and the promising ones are trained by experienced coaches.
Girls mature faster than boys and reach their athletic peak much, much earlier as adults. The muscle-memory a pitcher needs is there, the strength is there, all they can add is experience and Beaubien is an intellectual about this process. She had pretty much figured it out by the time she got here.
You look at Beaubien's numbers - a top-ten national prospect who was locked into Michigan from the minute Hutch first saw her. She lived up to every bit of it as a freshman, only dropped back a little as a sophomore with even more responsibility. Much lower workload during the COVID seasons, especially last season without the non-conference schedule. Her numbers came back, but you could see against Washington in the regional that she wasn't as strong.
Now, she's 23 and we've had the COVID seasons and she is in a very demanding graduate program - she is well set up to have every bit as great a career in engineering as she has in softball. How in the world has she kept up her training all this time? She also doesn't look the same, obviously aging is most of that. 23 is quite young for everything except women's athletics.
So it wouldn't surprise me if the inconsistency with COVID and now the need to work hard in grad school that she's simply not game-ready right now. She was pulled after four batters and three baserunners yesterday - Derkowski, one of the promising freshmen (looks like Hutch's best class in ages), came in and saved the day. We'll see what happens. Hutch has no patience for freshmen who aren't able to get the job done - there's always next spring for another look. But she is very attached to established upperclassmen. I think Beaubien will get more starts, but it is possible she won't get the big starts any more as #2 behind Storako.
Softball up 4-1 in the 5th.
Melina Livingston with a 2-run bomb making it 6-1 Michigan in the bottom of 5!
Softball over 6-1. Storako had 12 strikeouts.
Storako throws a 3-hitter...strikes out 12 in a 6-1 win.
Pitching woes for the baseball team.
I just checked, they have two pitchers with ERAs under 4 and two with ERAs over 54!
Ouch!
#firebakich
Starting to look like it's going to be a down year for Michigan baseball and Big Ten baseball. Maryland (23-6), Rutgers (22-6) and Purdue (19-6) are the only Big Ten teams with a winning record, and Purdue at 1-3 is in 11th place in the Big Ten standings. LINK
In softball, although the team is ranked 22nd nationally, possibly thanks to a 2-7 record against ranked teams and 19-4 against all others, it's too early to tell if this will be a down year for Michigan softball. Nebraska, in first place in the conference standings, but unranked and receiving no votes in the NFCA coaches poll), has played only one ranked team, but has two wins over that team (unfortunately, it's Michigan).
Because graduate student Meghan Beaubien has gone from first-team All American, Big Ten Pitcher of the Year and Freshman of the Year with a 33-6 record and a 1.16 ERA in 2018 to being Michigan’s second-choice starter with a 5-4 record and a 2.37 ERA might be reason to suspect that the Michigan softball program might struggle this year.
The next two weekends (home against 22-13 Penn State and at 19-15 Maryland) could determine whether Michigan will have a chance at earning a bid to the NCAA tournament. A sweep against two teams above them in the standings would raise the Wolverines’ record to 8-4 in the Big Ten.
Meanwhile, the men’s tennis team is 14-2 and at 3-0 in the conference, tied for first in the Big Ten (LINK) and ranked sixth in the ITA college team rankings and the women’s tennis team is 11-5 and 5-1 in the conference, tied for third in the Big Ten (LINK) and ranked 22nd in the ITA college team rankings.
Now, on to the Frozen Four. #BeatDenver and Go Blue!