Softball Sweeps Fall Tournament

Submitted by South Bend Wolverine on

Michigan softball returned to the diamond for a second straight double-header, squaring off against Central Michigan twice, first in a round-robin game, and then in the mini-tournament's championship match.  The Wolverines took both games, 2-0 and 5-1, completing a 4-game sweep of the weekend's action.

The offense was a bit lackluster once again, as the Wolverines struggled to pull away from the Chips.  The lead never got bigger than 2 runs in game 1, and in the championship game, CMU pulled the margin to 2-1 in the fifth before Alex Sobczak blasted a home run that gave the Maize & Blue a 5-1 cushion.

In the circle, however, Michigan's pitchers were stellar.  Senior Tera Blanco got the start in the morning, and went the distance, ceding 4 hits and 1 walk while dishing out 8 Ks.  The coaches know what they have in Blanco, though, and so when Hutch had to choose a pitcher to get a second start, it came as no surprised that she sent super-frosh Meghan Beaubien out for the championship game.  Beaubien did not disappoint, hurling 6 strong innings of near-perfect softball.  1 hit, which lead to an unearned run, was all that separated the Wolverine southpaw from perfection.  Fellow freshman Sarah Schaefer stepped in to close things out in the 7th.

While you'd like to see the offense produce a bit more against these middling opponents, Meghan Beaubien was a shining star in her first appearances.  In 13 innings (145 pitches) on the weekend, she racked up 22 Ks, allowed only 3 hits, and did not give up a single walk.

The Wolverines will return to action on October 5 when they travel to East Lansing for a match-up with in-state rival MSU.

RoseInBlue

October 1st, 2017 at 2:37 PM ^

If Beaubien can come in and get anywhere within the vicinity of of Megan Betsa's strikeout prowess while also being less wild, we could be in for an awesome year.  

Not sure about the offense.  They did well against SVSU and for whatever reason, the Chips always pitch us tough.  Unless I'm thinking of one of the other directional Michigans.

South Bend Wolverine

October 1st, 2017 at 5:49 PM ^

Softball is one of those sports where recruiting takes place WAY in advance, so we've had Beaubien in the fold for several years.  It's been a long wait while she's racked up absolutely silly numbers in HS & travel ball. (For an overview, check out her MGoBlue.com bio: http://mgoblue.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=16659 - my favorite goofy stat is that she never gave up an earned run in a state final OR semifinal, winning 3 straight state crowns).

You don't want to put too many expectations / too much pressure on a freshman to come in and be elite from day 1, but there are those rare players who are able to do it.  Beaubien is in the right mold, and just might deliver.  If she does, it won't just be a fun year - it'll be a fun FOUR years.

South Bend Wolverine

October 1st, 2017 at 5:41 PM ^

Wish I could say - unfortunately, I'm just going off of what's been reported on the team twitter account, which is pretty sparse.  The good thing is that I was most curious about Beaubien, and they gave full stat lines for her, but other than that, they had very little to say.  It frustrates me every year that they don't put out full box scores for these games.  We do for hockey exhibitions, b-ball exhibitions, etc., so why not for softball?  MGoGrumble...

Mgobluebilly

October 1st, 2017 at 9:22 PM ^

I watched both games. Beaubien was outstanding. Great location and a wicked drop ball. Threw fastball 65-66 consistently. I thought Katie Alexander behind the plate was outstanding. The star of the defense this day was at 3rd base (Taylor Swearingen ?) who made several outstanding plays.

This is a very athletic team and showed great speed on the bases. That said, the offense was seemingly lackluster. Central threw 4 different pitchers, 1 freshman and 3 seniors, in the 10:30am game in which Michigan really only hit the freshman hard. CMU’s other freshman pitcher, Cloe Mallory, had them off balance for the first 3 innings of the Championship game. She was pulled one batter after taking a line drive off her shin. Only a late game home run put the game out of reach.

I will take great pitching and solid defense any day but the lack of overall power on offense is surprising/concerning.



Watching Beaubien for the next few years is going to be a treat.

South Bend Wolverine

October 2nd, 2017 at 12:07 AM ^

Thanks for the first person report!  Glad to hear that Beaubien looked as good as her stats would indicate.  I can't wait to see her on TV or in person - still have a few months to wait for that, sadly.  I am also a bit surprised that the offense hasn't come along more.  Seems like some of the players we've been waiting on to break out just haven't done so yet.  Hopefully they will before too much longer.

JWG Wolverine

October 2nd, 2017 at 12:44 AM ^

For me, my love of Michigan sports is in this order: Football, Hockey, Basketball, Softball, and everything else.

Softball will always be my favorite small sport, so I greatly appreciate the updates SBW! Keep up the tremendous work!