#22 Michigan Softball sweeps Illinois with 6-HR outing in 16-5 rout
This series has been utterly crazy.
Michigan had two 7th inning comeback victories on the road the last two days including a 4-run 7th inning yesterday to win 9-8.
While the final score today is large, this game was also close for a good chunk.
Just like yesterday the Wolverines got out to a multi-run lead to start the game.
Lexie Blair put Michigan up 2-0 with a 2 RBI single. Then it was a 2-run shot by Mackenzie Nemitz to make it 4-0 which was immediately followed by a Haley Hoogenraad homer to put Michigan up 5-0 after the top of the 1st.
Normally a 5-0 lead would be enough comfort to ride out the rest of the game. Not in this series.
Illinois immediately answered with an RBI single and a 3-run homer to make it 5-4 Michigan after 1 complete inning.
Another RBI by Hoogenraad in the 3rd made it 6-4 but Illinois just would not die. They inched closer in the bottom of the 3rd on a passed ball to make it 6-5 Michigan.
The Wolverines had had enough in the 4th and decided to put this game out of reach and blow it open.
A 2-run bomb by Lexie Blair and then an Alex Sobczak homer made it 9-5 Michigan. Back to back dingers for the second time in this game.
Beaubien had a bend but don't break weekend. While she added a lot of earned runs to her numbers, she's gotten wins in every appearance in this series and got the timely outs.
9-5 was the score until the 7th once the game was out of run rule territory. That's when the wheels finally fell off of Illinois.
A leadoff home run by Katie Alexander got Michigan into double digits for the second time this week, making it 10-5 Maize & Blue. With one on, her bestie Faith Canfield hit a 2-run homer to make it 12-5. Still no outs.
Illinois changed pitchers but a single, a walk and HBP juiced the bases with no outs. Another HBP pushed across a run to make it 13-5 Michigan which caused Illinois to make another pitching change.
Not much of a difference as Michigan added 3 more runs on a Mackenzie Nemitz RBI single, ANOTHER bases loaded HBP and a sac fly by Natalie Rodriguez.
Alex Storako got the final 3 outs for Michigan in the bottom of the 7th and Michigan got one of their biggest wins of B1G play.
Michigan beats Illinois 16-5, sweeping the series for the first time against Illinois since 2011. That seems like a long time but keep in mind the two teams haven't met since 2014.
Michigan-Illinois series records were broken for runs scored (previous record: 10 on 4/26/2014 and 4/3/2005) and largest margin of victory (previous record: 10 on 4/3/2005).
Credit Illinois coach Tyra Perry. They're a tough out and I'm kind of glad we don't play them often because these games were very stressful. This is the first time Michigan has faced them since she took over and they're legit. All the more impressive this road series sweep is.
Michigan is now 33-11 and 15-1 in the B1G.
Michigan returns home FINALLY on Tuesday night to play MSU in the second game of the series. Michigan beat MSU in East Lansing this past Tuesday, 12-1. Tickets for the game at Alumni Field this Tuesday are sold out entirely (including standing room) and are going for as much as $60 on Stubhub right now. The game will be played at 7pm and will be televised nationally on FS1 in their first-ever college softball broadcast.
Excellent informative recap.
15-1 in conference highlights how challenging the non-conf schedule was.
The B1G scheduling is a joke, and the regular season title is virtually meaningless these days. The clear top three in the conference are Northwestern (15-0), Michigan (15-1), and Minnesota (13-1). And we don't play either of them. Fortunately NU and Minn. play three games the last weekend of the season. So, if we can win out, there's a good chance we would share or win the title outright.
April 22nd, 2019 at 10:52 AM ^
Sorry if I should know this, but can you explain why the Big 10 scheduling is so off? In addition to Northwestern and Minnesota, Wisconsin has a good squad and we don't play them either. Is it just too much travel or too many teams? Is the draw of our opponents random each year? It is frustrating to not play the best teams.
April 22nd, 2019 at 11:36 AM ^
For reasons unknown to all, softball follows the football scheduling pattern: E- W
Also that the younger players are starting to adjust to the college game. My only concern is that Beaubien is not all that close to last season's level of play.
A resale market for softball tickets. What a long way they've come from when I was a student and you could sit on the hill near the first-base bleachers for free.
GO BLUE!!!
Beaubian seems like she is overrated from her pre college accolades.
Am I right or wrong?
Last season, she was one of the top three or four freshmen in the country. She missed fall-ball with an injury. This isn't like football where there are tons of reporters continually getting information about the status of top players. It's reasonable to wonder if she is still recovering - whether physically from the injury or building back to the condition she was in last spring.
There are lots of pitchers who can throw high-60s these days. When Beaubien is on, she has excellent command and movement - doesn't walk many. She is prone to hitting a lot of batters, though, presumably because many hitters these days wear Barry Bonds inspired elbow armor and umpires are reluctant to enforce the rule requiring hitters to try and avoid being hit.
We also know that Lou Allan, also a top-ten national recruit, has missed most of her first two seasons with injuries. All we know is "knee" and that in limited playing time, she's not showing much.
Like many college pitchers, I think MB10 picks the corners too much and relies on off speed stuff more than she should. Her fastball is 66-68. With good location that's an out pitch. 7 games left with bottom feeders MSU, Maryland, PSU. Should sweep those 7 and probably need to to ensure a BTT. Minn and NW play eash other in 2 weeks to end the season.
Question is who starts against MSU Tuesday 0 they've had MB10s numebr recently
Lea Foerster, Bridgette Rainey and Kristina Zalewski all graduated last year. This is not the same MSU team. I assume Beaubien will start, but the Spartans went from middle-of-the-pack to near the bottom with those losses.
April 22nd, 2019 at 10:54 AM ^
Scoring in softball looks to be up in general this year - a lot fewer 1-0 and 2-1 games. I wonder if there has been a change in the strike zone or whether the batters are finally catching up to the pitchers (or both).
April 22nd, 2019 at 11:37 AM ^
recent trends in pitching 3-4 girls a week instead of 1-2 might have something to do with it, but I suspect teams are doing that b/c there's data that says that will reduce runs. So IDK