Michigan Softball selected for NCAA tournament

Submitted by GoBluePhil on
They will play Thursday in the Kentucky Regional in Louisville against Notre Dame. This is one of the toughest regionals in the tournament to start off in. Good luck ladies. GoBlue!!

Team 101

May 13th, 2018 at 10:46 PM ^

I actually thought the placement was somewhat favorable.  We were not expected to host a series and we are playing the lowest of the top 16 seeds.

South Bend Wolverine

May 13th, 2018 at 11:06 PM ^

I'm pretty pleased with this.  WCWS was always a long shot this season, esp. after the way they've played the last few weeks.  Because of that, I like a regional that gives us a legit shot at a super-regional berth, and this definitely does.  No one here is invincible, and only the 4 seed is too weak to have a shot at advancing.  With Beaubien in the circle, provided she plays like she has for 99% of the season and not like she did against MSU, I like our chances in this group.  Oregon looms as a hellbeast, but you never know, and even reaching the supers this year would be a solid achievement for a re-loading team.

chatster

May 13th, 2018 at 11:13 PM ^

Despite the late-season downturn for the Wolverines and their low RPI (30 before the loss in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals to Michigan State), thanks to geographical proximity that places each of the 48 unseeded teams in regionals, the Wolverines lucked out in getting to play fairly close to home in the regional with the lowest seeded team, 16th-seeded Kentucky. LINK for the Tournament Bracket.

The NCAA Selection Committee might’ve had the 2018 football season opener in mind when it sent Notre Dame to be Michigan’s opponent in the opening game of the Lexington Regional.  
 
The Selection Committee also gave 4th-seeded Oklahoma (and leading hitter Sydney Romero who chose to not follow her older sister Sierra to Michigan) a chance for quick revenge by having it open against one of the three teams it lost to during the regular season, Patriot League champion Boston University.

 

 

 

chatster

May 14th, 2018 at 4:28 PM ^

There are six teams from the northeast that are four seeds in their respective regions (RPI in parenthesis):  Fordham (85), Boston University (91), Saint Francis (PA) (97), Monmouth (114), Albany (NY) (141) and Harvard (172). LINK  Each of those teams would have long-distance travel to a regional site. 
 
Top-seeded Oregon plays Albany. Oklahoma is the four seed in the entire tournament and has lost only three games all season as the defending national champion.  Boston University was one of those teams that beat Oklahoma.
 
So, Oklahoma (50-3; fewest losses of any tournament team) gets to play its opening game against a team with a better RPI than (a) seven-seed Georgia that plays Harvard, the team with the worst RPI among those six northeast teams, (b) ten-seed Tennessee that plays Monmouth, and (c) fourteen-seed Arizona that plays Saint Francis.
 
Most of the top sixteen seeded teams will have their games televised on ESPN 3. Only two of the top sixteen seeds will have their opening game televised on ESPN 2 – UCLA vs. Sacramento State at 11:00 PM on Friday and Oklahoma vs. Boston University at 7:00 PM on Friday.

Solecismic

May 14th, 2018 at 12:15 AM ^

This is the best placement they could have hoped for. The rest of the Big Ten was not as lucky. It won't be easy, but they have a decent chance of advancing. I'm sure Hutch is doing what she can to help them learn from their recent misadventures.

Minnesota's reward for a strong finish to their season was a trip to #5 Washington. Wisconsin is the 3-seed in #12 Alabama's bracket. Northwestern is the 3-seed in #7 Georgia's bracket and Ohio State gets to visit #2 Florida.

The problem, of course, is #1 Oregon looming in a super-regional. But the supers are where you can go with just one pitcher, and Beaubien is certainly capable if anyone is. Michigan would definitely be a huge underdog, but that also means far less pressure.

Solecismic

May 14th, 2018 at 3:29 AM ^

Thanks. It helps that I was a young reporter when Hutch took the job. I've seen her build a program in a place where you can't even play softball half the season.

The first national title for any program east of the Mississippi. Her 25th NCAA tournament appearance this week (23rd in a row). Twenty conference championships, nine Big Ten tournament championships, eleven trips to the college World Series. She was named to the NFCA Hall of Fame 12 years ago and has 1,566 victories as head coach - the most in NCAA history.

I was disappointed just like you with Friday's performance. It was definitely memorable. But what a standard she's set. I'm positive she is far more disappointed than we could ever be and she'll come up with an answer. We are so far beyond spoiled when it comes to softball here.

South Bend Wolverine

May 14th, 2018 at 11:21 AM ^

Hutch is definitely what got me into Michigan softball - what she's done against tremendous odds is absolutely incredible.  That's why, while I'll get down & frustrated during a game, I never get into the negative mindset some posters take about the program, as if the fact that we haven't won a second WCWS title makes it a failure or something.  The standard Hutch has set is incredibly high, and she continues to do it despite huge obstacles.  Wouldn't change her for anything!

tlo2485

May 14th, 2018 at 8:36 AM ^

Like others have said, great regional draw. Making supers was always this teams ceiling without great pitching depth or reliable hitting, so the chance to get some experience, possibly in a super against #1 Oregon will be perfect for our young squad. 

Also- who was it that said I was crazy that Michigan would be treated as the highest 2 seed and probably go to Kentucky?!?!?!? ;-)

Alton

May 14th, 2018 at 10:54 AM ^

I disagreed, so I'm probably the person you have in mind.  In my defense, I never said "crazy" though.  You were right, I was wrong.

I guess I needed once again to absorb the fact that geographic proximity trumps all.  I was going under the assumption that Ohio State would get the Kentucky regional, but that would have meant an extra flight for a 2-seed. 

What I don't think happened, though, is that Michigan was treated as a high 2 seed.  What happened was that they have a mandate to minimize the number of flights they have to pay for, and the only way to do that was to send Michigan to Kentucky.

 

The Krusty Kra…

May 14th, 2018 at 9:54 AM ^

To at least get through the opening weekend, then they will promptly get waxed by Oregon. We knew this team would be "good" in terms of softball in general, but it's not exactly a vintage Hutch team. Leaning too much on Beaubien to get them out of jams (which is how Friday night turned into a mess) and the fact they are 4-10 when the other team scores first is very troubling. Also getting run-ruled at home by Ohio State on the last day of the regular season (First home run-rule loss in 18 years) was ominous. We knew WCWS wasn't a realy possibility this year, but here's to extending the season for a few more games and coming back stronger in 2019. Go Blue!