Driesenga to Return for Fifth Year after Earning Medical Hardship

Submitted by justingoblue on

Excellent news. There had been some chatter about this in July based on her own announcement, but we now have an actual release from MGoBlue:

University of Michigan softball RHP Sara Driesenga will return for a fifth year in 2015-16 after earning a medical hardship upon the conclusion of the 2015 season and regaining the year of eligibility. Driesenga, now a graduate student in the School of Social Work, appeared in seven games before losing the remainder of the season to injury.

"Last year's curse is this year's blessing," said Michigan head coach Carol Hutchins. "We are very excited to have Sara back on our staff. She's a great pitcher, and she's going to be great asset to Team 39."

A two-time All-Big Ten first team and NFCA Great Lakes All-Region selection (2012, '13), Driesenga owns a career record of 49-25 with 405 strikeouts, 12 complete-game shutouts and nine saves. As a sophomore, she established a Michigan record with 54 appearances while tossing 26 complete games and eight shutouts and striking out 233 batters in 263.1 innings. She defeated Arizona State with a complete-game shutout in the WCWS.

A senior captain in 2015, Driesenga played in the Wolverines' first two tournaments, earning a 4-0 record with a sterling 0.78 earned-run average through 27 innings pitched.

A three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, she earned her undergraduate degree in psychology with an emphasis on sport psychology and a minor in gender and health in April 2015. She is now pursuing a master's degree in social work.

After a loss in the national championship game last season, M should be primed to make another serious run this year, especially with Driesenga back.

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justingoblue

September 2nd, 2015 at 5:12 PM ^

I have to imagine they take a step back without Haeger. Delanie Gourley is good (she had a save against M) and sophomore Aleshia Ocasio beat M in the season opener and ended up as a third team AA, but Haeger was national player of the year last year. She pitched 222.1 innings and had 71 RBI's.

Not sure who else they lose, but replacing her will be very tough.

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Scorekeeper

September 2nd, 2015 at 9:03 PM ^

This is great insurance for the team. We need two good starters and it wasn't clear that Blanco was going to be part of the mix. In college softball there are plenty of freshman pitchers that dominate. For instance Osrario and Ocasio.

It will be much easier to replace Blanco at first than Wagner at pitcher. Here's hoping for. a 3 man pitching rotation.

 

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pearlw

September 2nd, 2015 at 6:42 PM ^

I doubt Tera Blanco is too thrilled about this. She was willing to play first for a year given a couple of established seniors but never thought there would be 2 other top pitchers on the team for 2 years.

Joined: 01/09/2011

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Wolverine Devotee

September 2nd, 2015 at 7:12 PM ^

She's a great player at more than one position in the field.

She did great at 1B this past year. This is a huge positive for her as it provides more time to develop as a college pitcher. She only had 6 (iirc) appearances last year. 

Michigan will have a 5th year senior and a JR who both have pitching experience in the World Series along with a versatile sophomore that has played in the World Series and a great incoming freshman that will soon get that experience. 

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pearlw

September 2nd, 2015 at 9:58 PM ^

Yeah but the reality is most good pitchers in college get alot of innings right away as freshman and dont need time to develop. It is extremely rare for a top of the line pitcher not to get close to half of the innings of the team even as a freshman. Like tou said, she only had a few appearances on the ound as a freshman...that isnt going to be helping her development. And more importantly as Hutch herself said at the end of last season, they sure didnt bring Blanco to Michigan just to play first base.



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Wolvie3758

September 2nd, 2015 at 9:59 PM ^

so noone will be burned out at the end of the season and Increases the odds of winning it all next year..I have to think after getting this close this team will be HIGHLY motivated and Im guessing they wil be the preseason #1 team... I cant wait for softball to start!

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pearlw

September 2nd, 2015 at 10:01 PM ^

There is no need for 3 solid pitchers in softball...no one gets burned at the end of the season. Most of top teams historically would have one pitcher throw all the innings in the postseason or at most two. Last year, Michigan had 2 throw almost all of the innings and had no issues.



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South Bend Wolverine

September 2nd, 2015 at 7:22 PM ^

Pretty well-known already, but I agree - always comforting to have things made officially official & all that.  This is a huge get for the team, and puts us in fantastic position.  We have a nationally elite pitcher (Betsa), a 5th-year senior (Driesenga), and a touted sophomore (Blanco) in the circle.  The entire batting order & defense comes back except for catcher Lauren Sweet, and several players will be pushing from behind to crack into the bottom of the order.  The only real question mark is who plays catcher.  If we can resolve that, everything looks great for a phenomenal season.

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South Bend Wolverine

September 2nd, 2015 at 8:12 PM ^

That's my hope, albeit a relatively uninformed one in terms of who else might be going after the job.  That move would take Falk's powerful bat from the DP spot to the C, opening up room for Swearigen & Vargas to compete for the DP role, which we'll probably be using in most games, as Betsa doesn't hit & after a solid freshman season at the dish, Driesenga hasn't done a ton there either.

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