Storako and Hannah Carson in the portal
Pertinent to Alex's front page article, Alex Storako and Hannah Carson are in the portal. Could this mean Hutch is retiring? Does it instead signal a lack of confidence in the ability to win big at Michigan? Are they simply interested in leveraging the portal to go to a graduate school program? Let the speculation begin (hopefully not the wild kind).
https://extrainningsoftball.com/alex-storako-hannah-carson-enter-transfer-portal/
Both are grad transfers. Nothing to see here, imo.
With the return of pre-Covid roster limits next year, it's likely a case of one more year for them, or four years with an incoming freshman.
Damn, would be nice to get them back, especially Storako, if they're going to play another year.
Softball only gets 12 scholarships a year. Most players don't get full scholarships. Most likely scenerie is they are trying to get as close to a full ride as possible.
I would be surprised if they weren't really close to full rides as some of the best on the team, especially with Hannah being really good out of high school too. I know they are free to split the 12 however they want, but if two of the best girls on the team aren't getting very close full rides with a roster of 20 athletes that would be stunning. Even if you split the scholarship money equally, they'd be at 60% of a full ride and I imagine they're getting more than an equal share as good as they are so now you're looking at 75-80% of a full ride if not a full ride.
Now looking at Duke, FSU, Florida, Virginia Tech, etc. it appears it's fairly typical to have 23-27 ladies on the team (I guess covid might skew some of this). So if Michigan has one of the smaller rosters, and they aren't getting a full ride here... I find it hard to imagine it's going to be easy for any school to hand them a full ride unless it's a school with a lesser program. You go to a school like any of the top tier ones in the SEC/ACC/PAC12, it's going to be tough for them to go all in on you when they have 25 girls on the roster.
This is all ignoring the point that has been noted below that it's probably more education related than anything.
Both are grad transfers. Probably looking for a school that offers their desired post-grad degree. Softball (and non-revenue sports in general) really isn’t like football with regards to why people transfer. People tend to be in it more for the education than trying to transfer for playing time (obviously not the case here) or attachment to a coach.
Choosing where you go to college based on what is best for your academic success is pretty radical stuff.
I just think too many people look at transfers through the scope of football and basketball. Where players are transferring left and right because their coach left or they’re not seeing the field.
college softball is pretty much the end of the road for these girls. The degree they get out of it is more important than playing for a specific coach or how much playing time they get. I’d say that’s the major reason you see a lot of top tier academic schools excel in the non-revenue sports
This. Nothing really to say besides thanks for the memories and good luck to them in their grad programs.
Will be interesting to see where they end up. Hope the coaching staff can get some new transfers like they did with Burkhardt and Livingston.
Welp.
0.500 record, here they come
You never know... wouldn't be surprised to see freshman and/or sophomore players have success next year. Hutch has them on the team for a reason.
Wow, have we had any major contributors leave the softball team in recent history?
Julia Jimenez was second team all Big Ten last year and hit .293 and she left to play for Utah this season. Lou Allan also left, but she also was a grad student and went to Liberty but that was probably for her specific grad degree of forensic psychology.
Thanks for playing softball at Michigan Alex and Hannah.
On3 board now saying that Widra is in the portal.
This sucks. Maybe Hutch is indeed retiring.
Hutch looks pretty spry for 65. Doubt she's going anywhere. She's prob chasing another championship or at least getting to a F4. Then maybe she hangs em up.
Another championship ? More likely another season like this past one. Weak hitting team, and next season the pitching will be questionable.