2015 Softball Schedule Released

Submitted by South Bend Wolverine on

In news relating to everyone's favorite non-revenue sport (well, my favorite anyhow), the outlines of the 2015 schedule have been released.  I say outlines because the tournaments we'll be playing in have been announced, but not the specific opponents/dates/times yet in terms of most of the non-conference slate.  As usual, though, Michigan will be taking some challenging road trips including visits to FSU, Alabama, ASU, the Judi Garman Classic, and the lidlfter at USF.

Getting those challenging experiences in during the non-conference schedule will be, if anything, even more crucial than usual, as the Big Ten slate Michigan has been dealt is just dreadful.  Michigan will only face one of the four possible opponents who made the NCAA tournament last year (the defending B10 Tournament champions, Minnesota, on the road) and only one other team that even cracked the top half of last year's B10, Ohio State, who turned in an uninspiring 30-25 (13-10) record last year.

After that, things get really ugly, as Michigan faces three sub-.500 teams from last year's B10 in Iowa, Indiana, and PSU.  Michigan also draws both newcomers, making road trips to Maryland and Rutgers.  Maryland turned in a horrendous 11-35 (7-16, 9th in the ACC) campaign littered with embarassing losses.  Rutgers fared better, going 34-17 in the AAC, but their record was stained by a number of bad losses as well, and they missed the NCAA tournament.

All in all, things set up very well for a battle-tested Michigan team to make a run at yet another Big Ten title, on the strength of Romero's bat & three experienced pitchers.  There's a lot to replace on offense, but a ton of talent as always!

Alton

August 19th, 2014 at 11:13 PM ^

They only have 7 weeks of acceptable weather; it wouldn't really be feasible to have 13 series in 7 weeks.  It looks like what they are doing is essentially splitting into East & West divisions, with teams playing every other team in their own division and only 2 of the 7 teams in the other division.  Even with expansion, they kept the 23-game schedule (7 weekend 3-game series plus 2 midweek games against a nearby rival).

Wolverine Devotee

August 19th, 2014 at 11:18 PM ^

No Northwestern, Wisconsin or Nebraska. Cumong man.

Instead we get Rutgers and Maryland. I hate you so much, Delany. 

Get this: Michigan plays neither ohio nor sparty in baseball in 2015. WTF

Very excited for next season. LOADED pitching staff. Romero is Romero. Plus, a highly touted incoming freshman Aidan Falk. 

I think next year is the year they finally put it together for that complete national championship season--10 years after the 2005 title. Not only will they have a pitcher-a-game with 3 experienced pitchers, but they bring in another great freshman pitcher in Blanco. 

Did I forget to mention Michigan has Romero for two more years? 

Also, Michigan has to beef up their non-conf. At Alabama, at FSU, at ASU and the always tough Judi Garman Classic will give Michigan a great chance for some big wins. 

Minnesota is without a doubt the most important conference series of the season. It's on the road and Michigan has had a hard time with them recently. Other then that, there's no reason for Michigan to not win their 8th straight B1G Championship. 

Alton

August 20th, 2014 at 9:47 AM ^

The scheduling of a 14-team conference in non-revenue sports will be... interesting.

Softball went one direction:  split into East & West (the same groupings as football), play every team in your own division and 2 of the 7 teams in the other division.  Almost identical with football, really, until football goes to the 9-game schedule.  I don't know if Indiana & Purdue are being treated differently as they are in football.

Baseball went the completely opposite direction.  Perhaps because they have 13 teams instead of 14, and obviously a prime number makes it impossible to split into divisions.  Baseball is going to a simple 3-year rotation:  in 3 years, each team plays each other team once at home and once on the road (and they do not meet at all the third year).

You can't really say that one is better than the other, although I think if I were a player I would prefer the divisional play, assuming every road trip is a bus ride instead of a flight.  The problem this creates for softball is that all of the strongest teams in the coference other than Michigan are in the west division.  It makes Michigan more likely to win the regular-season championship but it really hurts their RPI / strength of schedule by keeping them from playing one or two other top-50 teams.

ಠ_ಠ

August 20th, 2014 at 12:24 AM ^

They'll win the whole thing at least once in the next two years. I think 2016 is more likely but they have a great shot this upcoming season as well. Haylie is the key, IMO. She's had to deal with pretty serious injury issues and this past season her confidence was uncharacteristically shaky at times, but if she's healthy she's capable of carrying the team on her back (that's probably not the best idiom to use in this case but you get the point).

South Bend Wolverine

August 20th, 2014 at 12:59 AM ^

I love the confidence I'm seeing on this thread!  I'll admit I'm a little more nervous, given that we're replacing most of the top half of our line-up this year & two senior pitchers next year.  Still, there's no doubt that the team has the talent to do it if everything comes together at the right time.  I just hope the ladies all play to the best of their potential - if they do that, things will go very well.

ಠ_ಠ

August 20th, 2014 at 4:12 AM ^

I've broken it down a bit in previous posts which I'm sure you've seen so I'm not going to regurgitate them. But will say that concerning the offense particularly I'm extremely optimistic. Big upgrade in power, and while Abby will be the only slapper to feature regularly now that Colie and Lyndsay have moved on (barring a conversion), the lineup should have more speed overall. Last season's lineup was usually unbeatable, but also prone to inexplicably bad days. I think next season's will be more dangerous in more ways, which will hopefully lead to more consistency.

Now for my bold prediction: Tera Blanco will play an Ally Carda-like role for Michigan, often playing first base when not pitching. She's good in the field and her bat will be too good to keep out of the lineup.

Thanks for starting this thread by the way!

samdrussBLUE

August 20th, 2014 at 7:50 AM ^

Can't wait to order the season tickets. We are going to win another B1G title and will perform better in the postseason than last year. Do it!

MGoSoftball

August 20th, 2014 at 1:23 PM ^

to take ANYTHING for granted, but the Big Ten schedule is fairly easy next year.  This year we had too many "brain farts" where one simple error cost us the game.  We should have had 4 or 5 more wins than we actually had.

Coach will work on these with the younger players and this will get fixed.  The key is going to be how much the defense will improve.  Pitching and hitting will not be a problem.

Like I always say, "Sometimes even the better team loses".  This is why we actually play the game.  This drives coaches crazy.  When your team gets beat by a superior team, and your team played well, then all the coach can do is work harder.  However, when the defense makes errors, batters look at 3rd strikes, or pitchers walk too many batters; a loss is more difficult to take.  Overall next year will be better than this year.

BRING ON FALL BALL!!!!!!!!!!!

 

FlaBlue2

August 22nd, 2014 at 2:06 PM ^

My understanding is that Michigan will be playing in Traverse City on September 27-28 and at Alumni Field on Oct. 4-5 against Kentucky.  The exhibition games against Kentucky and the tough pre-Big Ten Schedule show that the coaches are preparing the team for post-season play.