M Softball wins 1st of DH, loses 2nd on poor officiating
The M SB team won the first game of a DH against Indiana. The score was 2 to 1. The game for tomorrow was bumped to this afternoon to avoid a possible rainout tomorrow. Caitlyn Blanchard hit a bomb to RF with the help of a brisk wind. JT was on the mound for M and pitched well considering the weather. Indiana scored on a bad call (in my opinion) but we still hung in there and JT shut Indiana down. The wind played hell all day by switching around. There was some sleet in the 6th inning but the MGOGrounds crew did a great job between innings. More to come from the 2nd game
Thanks! Love the updates
appreciate your updates
Nice job! Let's go Blue!!!
Just a quick update on game 2...Michigan fought back from 2-0 and 4-2 deficits and knotted the score at 4 with 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th inning, with the 4th run scoring on an IU error. They're in the 8th now.
Gave up a solo bomb with one out in the top half of the 8th. Got the leadoff batter on base to start the bottom half but couldn't push her across. First loss in the BIG.
My wife, oldest daughter and I were there attending their first Michhigan sporting event. Darius Morris and Tim Hardaway jr. were sitting out in right field near us, but left before the rain/sleet/snow hit. It was great fun to be there had the weather been better we would have made both games.
5-4 in extra innings. Indiana was the smallest team i have seen in a whle. Their 1st basemen hit 2 jacks. One to center the second to left. She is only 5'4" and maybe 120 pounds but she can hit ropes.
Insert flamewar comment about <sport> refs here.
Rothstein has an article on the second game at annarbor.com. Hutchins was ejected after the umpires reversed a call, and Indiana snapped a 35-game losing streak to U-M:
They piled on the field like they had won a Big Ten or national championship instead of another regular-season softball game.
But for Indiana, the celebration was understandable. The Hoosiers ended a losing streak as old as some of the players on the field. Eighteen years passed since the last time Indiana had won at Michigan.
Fifteen years had gone by since the Hoosiers had beaten the Wolverines at all.
All of that is now done.
everyone. I have been around this game for a good many years. I have seen some good calls and some bad calls. I even support umpires when they make a mistake because they are human and will make mistakes. Jim Joyce comes to mind.
There were 3 bad calls in the 2nd game. The first was a no-call when the Indiana 3rd baseman missed a throw and Ryan slid into 3rd. The 3rd baseman was laying on top of Ryan with no attempt to allow her to get up and score. Carol challenged the play because she was right there in the coaches box. No call from the umpire.
The second poor call was a bases loaded and Ashley Lane was hit in the hands by a pitch. The home plate umpire said Ashley did not attempt to get out of the way. I have only seen that not called twice in my life. Most umpires give the hitter that option.
The third bad call was on Ryan again. She was on second and a ball was hit up the middle. There was hesitation from the SS but Ryan did not touch her. Ryan made it to third and everyone was safe. The Cry baby Indiana Coach (who played at Michigan for Carol in 1987), protested and the 1st base up called Ryan out. Carol came un-glued. The 1st base umpire was not in position because he was watching the ball, not the runner.
Anyway. Carol say something like "get the fuck off my diamond" and the umpire tosses her. Carol is walking away with her back to the umpire. The umpire was yelling at Carol and followed her to the dugout. The first base coach had to put her hands on the umpire to him to get away from Carol. I thought he was going to attack Carol.
I lost it along with some others in section 3. I had to leave the game but the usher asked me to stay and keep yelling at the umpire. I never had that happen before. So I did. I usually dont go after bad umpires because I dont know them or their situation. All I know is he was going after my coach with a violent demeaner.
Thank God Dave Brandon was there. A few of us were talking with him and asked him to see to it that this umpire NEVER steps foot in A2 again.
On a good note, it was good to chat it up with Dave and his lovely wife. He stayed for the last half of the game and seemed to really enjoy the sport.
how many times in her career Hutch has been ejected? And the last time she was ejected? Just out of curiosity, because I can't imagine it's been very many or recently. She's intense, but she's old enough and has been around long enough to know precsely where the line is. It is absolutely disgraceful that the ump would follow her into the dugout though. Utterly disgraceful. If it comes to it, you eject her and leave it at that. I would have absolutely LOST it, had I been there. I know myself well enough to know that "yelling" doesn't begin to describe everything I would have done. It's too bad Hutch is far too classy to say anything further after she got tossed. I have a feeling that she could more than hold her own in any shouting match.
I have to believe that there's a complaint/appeal process with the Big Ten/NCAA that Michigan can go though and I'm sure that Hutch is respected enough to get a listen and that ump will most likely not be anywhere near AA again.
a disgrace to all umpires. He thought he was big shit, attacking a NC coach like that. He gave he ZERO respect. i did not hear what she said to him. By her body language she expected to get tossed, her head was down, and she was walking firmly away from him to put distance. He actually ran to catch up to her AFTER he tossed her. I wish it was on BTN.
I think Hutch has been tossed a handful of times over her career but she was right to stand her ground. I am proud of her. I caught her after the game as she headed into the locker room and told her how proud we all are of her and what she did today.
She just smiled and said thanks. She was classy. She didnt talk shit about the umpire which i would have. But she is so classy.
I sat next to one of her assistants from 15 years ago. He said Carol doesnt say shit unless she is right and defending her team. I thought he was going to stroke out on me and go after the umpire.
Was anyone else at the game?
I was in Section 3, actually. My friend was the (other) guy who got after the ref most. We were all booing him, though.
Didn't realize the call on Lane was that she didn't move out of the way! I thought the call must have been that it hit her bat first (which it didn't). That's crazy.
But the overturned play was worst. It's just a bad judgment call if they make it originally, but to overturn it like that was terrible.
We still played disappointingly, though. Left too many on. Didn't get enough production from our best hitters, and Jordan was really off in the second game. Haven't really played well at home yet.
Yea your buddy was loud as well. My objection was not with the overturned call. It was done in the course of a normal game situation. I disagree with it but that is a part of the game. Just ask Jim Joyce.
My objection is after Carol made her point, she turned and was walking away. Her back was to the Ump and she said something to really piss him off. He lost control of his emotions. He then continued to follow her across the diamond. She never even looked back to see him. The first base coach had to jump in front of him. I was almost afraid for Carol. That Ump was following her with a threatening demeanor.
The Ashley Lane HBP call was chicken shit. I have only seen this where a player intentionally sticks her hands or leg TOWARDS the pitched ball and gets hit. I have never seen where a girl does not move and not get the call. I rarely see where Umps "have it in for a team". This was one. I am ashamed that these D1 Umpries
again for the updates. 2nd game turned out interesting. This kind of stuff's going to happen. Do you think it'll affect the women going forward either positiively or negatively?
What's Taylor's ERA in BIG? I was up at Northwestern and she was hit hard both days. Her ERA coming into the BIG was under 1.00, and I think it was under .90. The last 4 Big Ten games the opponents have scored 1, 4, 1, and 5 runs. If these are all on JT and all earned, that's an ERA of 2.75! That's a huge issue. Also, it doesn't look like the team is really hitting the ball too well (in terms of getting key hits). It also appears that teams are not pitching to Shaw. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts here MGoSoftball...
the data is clear. Colder weather favors the hitters, warm weather favors pitchers. But our hitters have been quiet the past 5 games, save for Ashley's tater against BGU.
Yesterday we left way too many runners on base. We had runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs and did not score a run. Early in the 2nd game I heard Hutch jump on Chiddy for poor pitch selection. If you remember, she was swinging at balls all day. Smart pitchers know this and will give you those balls all day long. If you continue to swing at them, you will never get a good pitch.
Dorian in her 2nd at bat in the 2nd game disappointed me. She took the first pitch right down the middle. It was a hitters pitch for sure. I do not have the stats to know if Dorian is a first ball hitter or not this year. She got around on a few pitches as she drove 3 or 4 foul balls into the batting cage nets along the LF line. So she was seeing the ball well. She eventually struck out with that at-bat.
So I agree with your assessment. Our hitting has stalled a bit lately. We have played well enough to win in those other games.
Overall I think we will be fine. NW is by far the 2nd best team in the Big 10. We will get bitch-slapped by someone again, possibly Iowa or MSU later in the season. I am not pushing the panic button unless we lose 3 more. My prediction of 2 losses (+/-1) still holds for Big 10 Play.