Softball Bounces Back against Illinois St., 6-1
After a disappointing Saturday in which the offense never really got going, the Michigan softball team had a bounce-back performance Sunday against Illinois State. The bats heated up in this one, as the Wolverines pounded out 13 hits. The offensive headliners were Aidan Falk and Faith Canfield, with two hits apiece. Falk & Canfield are hitting .400 and .389, respectively, and are showing every indication of being the core of the offensive leadership for the 2018 squad.
In the circle, freshman Meghan Beaubien got the start again, and again looked the part of the ace. Outside of a bumpy second inning, in which she surrendered 2 hits, a BB, and a HBP, leading to ISU's only run, Beaubien kept the Redbirds off the base paths while she was pitching.
With a substantial lead, Hutch decided to go to the bullpen in the 5th, sending her other freshman pitcher, Sarah Schafer, out for her first NCAA action. Schafer surrendered a pair of hits, but also picked up 2 Ks and did not allowed a run.
Next weekend the team heads to Tallahassee for 2 games against Notre Dame & 2 more against Florida State. With 4 games against tournament-level teams, including 2 against a top-10 opponent, this will be one of the pivotal weekends in the non-conference schedule.
February 11th, 2018 at 1:16 PM ^
February 11th, 2018 at 1:21 PM ^
Good to see that softball is off to a good start. Can't wait to start watching them when it gets warmer!
February 11th, 2018 at 1:29 PM ^
Yeah, this weekend proved that everyone in the lineup CAN hit. But they're still struggling with runners on base. Still some lineup tweaking to be done over the next few weeks as is tradition.
Also, the young outfield seems ready to excel. They made some nice plays out there this weekend. But the infield committed some errors and a few mistakes that weren't called errors that led to runners being on base that really shouldn't have been. This was somewhat expected given the departures but they'll need to tighten up if we're going to challenge good teams. Especially since our offense isn't as potent as it has been in years past.
Also, good to see Schaefer come in and get some innings. She loaded up the bases but she did manage to clean it up after that so I'll chalk that up to a freshman moment for now.
February 11th, 2018 at 2:01 PM ^
Concise, yet very informative. Makes it easy to keep track of our softball adventures. Let's get our combatants in shape, Hutch! Go Blue!
February 11th, 2018 at 2:58 PM ^
February 11th, 2018 at 3:12 PM ^
except for the loss to USF. Is USF currently ranked ?
February 11th, 2018 at 5:41 PM ^