#22 Michigan Softball clinches series vs Penn State with walk-off & mercy rule wins
On Friday night #22 Michigan began their final home series of the season against Penn State. It was another nail-biter, heart thumping game that the Wolverines were able to grab. This team has been very good in those games this season with senior leadership being the catalyst.
The game was silent for the first two innings which made me concerned that it was gonna be close since Michigan is far better than Penn State.
The Wolverines got on the board first in the 3rd inning, going up 3-0 on an RBI single by Faith Canfield and a 2 RBI single by Lexie Blair.
But Penn State went ahead in the 5th inning with back-to-back home runs on Meghan Beaubien, the second being a 2-run homer to take a 3-2 lead.
Michigan responded promptly, tying the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the 5th on another RBI single by freshman Lexie Blair. Michigan regained the lead in the 6th inning on a 2 run double by....you guessed it......Lexie Blair. 5-3 Wolverines with Michigan just needing 3 outs.
Penn State would not go away, tying the game with 2 outs in the top of the 7th on another 2-run homer into RF drawing groans from the frozen crowd. Wind played a huge factor last nice as there were gusts of 22 mph that carried balls all night.
Madison Uden used that to her advantage as she jacked a leadoff homer into RF for a walkoff to give Michigan the 6-5 win over Penn State.
Today's game was a MUCH different story.
The pink game was yesterday, finals were this week and the Michigan Softball Academy was Thursday. Distractions galore and I think that factored into the team's performance yesterday. They seemed tight. Hutch gave them the right message today.
Faith Canfield started the game off today with a leadoff home run to put Michigan up 1-0 right off the bat and getting the sold out crowd into it. RBI singles by Alex Sobczak and Haley Hoogenraad gave Michigan a 3-0 lead after 1.
Alex Storako got the start today and Penn State had much more trouble with her. The inverse of last week where Storako killed MSU but had a rough outing in the weekend series. Storako gave up a hit in the first at bat but surrendered nothing more the rest of the day while striking out 9.
Lexie Blair continued her success against PSU today with a sac fly, putting Michigan ahead 4-0 in the 3rd inning.
Penn State had a full meltdown in the bottom of the 4th inning. A walk and a HBP got two on base for Michigan. Natalie Peters drove in a run with a single to make it 5-0. The bases were loaded shortly after and then Penn State walked in TWO runs to give Michigan a 7-0 lead with no outs and bases still loaded.
Kenzie Nemitz put the game in run rule territory with a fielder's choice RBI to make it 8-0.
Alex Storako breezed through the top of the 5th and Michigan finished off Penn State, beating them 8-0 in 5 innings.
Michigan is now 36-11 and 18-1 in the B1G.
Tomorrow is senior day at Alumni Field. Michigan will face Penn State again to go for the sweep. The game will be at 2pm.
Friday night-
Today-
April 27th, 2019 at 11:55 PM ^
Bring water wings to stay afloat.
April 28th, 2019 at 12:17 AM ^
April 28th, 2019 at 12:45 PM ^
1 pm I think, not 2 pm
Now need to go out and win the B1G!
Going into the final weekend, Northwestern (ranked 21st) is 20-0 in the Big Ten, Michigan (22) 19-1 and Minnesota (16) 18-1.
Northwestern travels to Minnesota for a season-ending three-game series next weekend. Michigan travels to Maryland, which is near the bottom of the standings.
A couple of weeks ago, Minnesota had their three-game series with MSU limited to a Sunday double-header by the weather. I don't think they can make up the game.
That makes us Gopher fans this weekend, I guess. But not Big Ten fans. I've written this many times, but why can't Delany pay five minutes of attention to the softball schedule and make it so Michigan plays the other decent Big Ten teams every year? They last played Northwestern in 2017 and you have to go back to 2015 to find a regular-season game against Minnesota.
Meanwhile, concern about Beaubien. For the first time, she didn't start two games of a three-game series. Alex Storako started today and allowed one run in six innings. Beaubien pitched the seventh and allowed four baserunners and a run. This after giving up three home runs on Friday (she allowed seven in all of 2018 - and those to far better hitting teams than Penn State). Without Beaubien (and she's just not close to the same pitcher she was last season), it's going to be tough to win the Big Ten tournament and/or advance in a regional.