#25 Softball sweeps first-ever B1G home series vs Nebraska

Yes, you read that right.

Nebraska joined the conference in 2011-12 and yet hadn't played Michigan at Alumni Field ever despite Michigan playing three 3-game series in Lincoln over the years. 

Ridiculous. Nebraska actually did play at Alumni Field once but it was in the 2017 B1G Tournament and it was not against the Wolverines. 

Well the two teams finally did meet on Alumni Field and I guess we know why they didn't for so many years as Michigan steamrolled the Cornhuskers, outscoring them 27-2 on the weekend.

Friday's game was postponed to Saturday due to frigid temperatures so the two teams played a doubleheader.

Michigan crushed Nebraska 8-0 in 6 innings via the run rule in the B1G opener. The game was scoreless until the 5th inning when Michigan finally put together runs.

Abby Skvarce scored on an error with bases loaded to get things going and then Madison Uden brought home two runs with a double. A wild pitch then gave Michigan a 4-0 lead after 5 innings. The Wolverines added on the required 4 runs in the bottom of the 6th to end the game early. An RBI double by freshman Lexie Blair made it 5-0 and then Alex Sobczak ended game 1 with a 3-run SMOKE SHOT into Ray Fisher Stadium to give Michigan the 8-0 run rule win in 6 innings.

Game 2 was more of the same but with no struggles early on offensively. 

Bases were loaded in the bottom of the 1st and Michigan went up 3-0 with fielder's choice RBIs by both Kenzie Nemitz and Katie Alexander and then Nebraska walked in a run. In the 3rd inning, it was Nemitz again as a 2-run single down the line made it 5-0 Wolverines.

Nebraska scored in this one with a 2-run homer in the 4th inning to make it 5-2 but Michigan added two insurance runs in the bottom of the 5th on a sac fly by Faith Canfield and a Lexie Blair RBI single. Freshman pitcher Alex Storako was relieved by Meghan Beaubien in the 4th inning when Nebraska had bases loaded after their homer and she got the save as Michigan held on to win 7-2 and sweep the doubleheader.

Beaubien had just 3 hits allowed in the 2 games through 8.2 innings pitched, striking out 11 and only allowing 3 hits for 0 runs. 

In the series finale today, it wasn't even close.

In the 2nd inning, Natalie Peters tallied 3 RBIs as she doubled and then a throwing error brought home the runs to put Michigan up 3-0. Lexie Blair then brought Peters home to push the lead to 4-0.

The 3rd inning was a historic run as Michigan recorded back-to-back-to-back home runs in the same inning for the first time since 2001. First it was Mackenzie Nemitz, then it was Madison Uden who was then followed by Haley Hoogenraad. 7-0 Michigan.

In the 4th inning it was Kenzie Nemitz AGAIN coming up big, putting the game into run rule territory with an RBI single. Madison Uden then hit an RBI single but then another run scored on a fielding error and Michigan increased the lead to 10-0. Michigan added another run on ANOTHER Nebraska error and then Abby Skvarce closed the weekend how she began it, producing another run to make it 12-0.

The Wolverines got the 3 outs needed in the top of the 5th and finished the series sweep, beating Nebraska 12-0 in 5 innings via the run rule. 

This weekend Michigan set new records in the Michigan-Nebraska series for most runs scored (previous record: 7 in 2016) and margin of victory (previous record: 7 in 1991) this weekend. In addition to that, Michigan broke the 10-10 series record tie and now leads the all-time series with Nebraska 13-10. 

Michigan is now 19-10 (3-0 B1G) and will go back on the road starting with a trip up to Central Michigan on Tuesday at 4:30pm.