SB wins Final Game vs Minny 7-2
The SB Team finished their weekend series with Minny in A-Maizing fashion today at Alumni Field. They defeated Minny 7-2 before a packed crowd.
Megan was in the circle and pitched all 7 innings. She finished with 2 runs (both ER) off 2 hits. She had only 3BB and 11 Ks.
Caitlin was the offensive hero today. She went 2 for 3 with 3 RBIs. Lauren went deep and long today going 1 for 2 with 3 RBIs. Romo went deep as well, going 1 for 2 with 1 RBI and 2 runs scored. Abby went 2 for 3 with a run scored. Lyndsay went 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored.
Sara Moulton was the starting pitcher before we knocked her out in the 6-run 5th inning. she finished with 3 runs (all ER) off 5 hits. She had 2 BB and 3 Ks. Sara is a very good pitcher and she ahs given us fits over the years. I, for one, am glad that she is graduating.
This weekend's 2 wins certainly puts us in the driver's seat for the Big Ten Championship. We travel to Purdue on Wednesday. If we take both games from Purdue, we will in-effect (not mathematicallY) have clinched the Big Ten title. We travel to Illinois this weekend and then hose Wiskey the following weekend.
Michigan also reached 1500 program wins yesterday.
If I am not mistaken, that makes the team 14-1 in the conference and 36-7 overall, which is definitely good for the top of the conference. I think this also moved Minnesota below Purdue for the second spot by conference record too, so not only do we take 2 out of 3 from Minnesota, they move from 2nd to 3rd in conference play. Between this and tennis, not a bad weekend at all for Michigan.
What is that chant they do in the dugout when they score a run?
They count the runs which is similar to hockey, but then I can't make out the rest.
I definitely can't give you the whole chant, but at one point, I think they say "we want some more, we want some more"
April 20th, 2014 at 10:13 PM ^
They count out the runs, all say "We want moooooore runs!", one person says "WILL WE EVA QUIT?" and then everyone says "NO! We want some mo', we want some mo', we want some mo'", which is followed by a tribal war chant and a "HOO" accompanied with a pounding of the chest equivalent to their run total for the game.
No joke.
Great, great game and a huge win. Purdue lost to ILL today as well, giving us a three game lead over them in the loss column (although I don't think they're a real threat - they haven't played any good B10 teams yet). A fun stat that came up on the BTN broadcast today: Caitlin Blanchard is 8 for 11 following an intentional walk of Romo, with a whole pile of RBIs. Her value to this team is probably one of the most unsung aspects of our success, as she's not a flashy player at all, but she gets the job done in a huge way. Good to see her get some credit today!
Very encouraging to see us hit Minny hard today as well. They have a fantastic pitching staff (Hutch says one of the best in the nation, and the stats exist to prove that claim), so this is a big positive indicator for our post-season fortunes. This offense may have a slow game or two, but they don't stay down for long. The pitching as well, of course, is excellent - 11 Ks from a true freshman is something else!
I believe this was THE most important and biggest win of the season. Michigan has know taken control of the Big 10..We now have a 3 game or more lead in the loss column over everyone else.
Megan Besta was FANTASTIC today . we have 3 VERY GOOD pitchers and lead the nation in hitting and are one of the best defensively. This game might have secured a top 8 national seed which is HUGE because we would host..... 2 wins over a top 12 team will really help our RPI as well
Overall a great bounceback after that tough 1-0 loss Friday Night and coach Hutch just keeps on keeping on.....GO BLE
Back in the "old days"; once a pitcher is removed from the circle, she cannot return. This was changed several years ago. Now a pitcher can return to the circle but not in the same inning.
Baseball still have the old rule. So it is not so bad if a coach pulls a pitcher too early. As a matter of fact, I will pull a kid from the circle and let her play RF to get the cob-webs out of her head. Then put her back in the circle the next inning.
Pitchers are "special" people. Sometimes by pulling them, it can get in their head, "I am just not having a good day" or more bluntly "I suck today". When in fact, the pitcher is just a little tired and needs a rest.
Coach Hutch is the best (in my humble opinion) of knowing when to pull a pitcher and return her or keep her on the bench.
I had an Asst. Coach tell to pull a pitcher just because she gave up 3 straight singles. her velocity was high, her ball to strike ratio was improving as the game went along. So just because the 1, 2 and 3 batters figured out her timing and was able to get hits, he thought the backup pitcher would do better. I did not listen to him thankfully as he did not really understand the art of pitching.
It is certainly a difficult decision for any coach but it is made easier with the rule change.
You're not possibly Jimbo Price, are you?
/s
I only logged in at this hour (up for an extra early shift at work) because as soon as I turned the TV on a short while ago while sipping my coffee, I saw Sierra Romero's 3rd inning HR.
WOW!!---I don't think I've ever seen a ball get out so fast! She hit a rope that I thought might be in the gap but it cleared the fence in left-center without ever probably being more than 10-to-12 feet off the ground. That ball was just screaming!
Romero seems way too talented for college softball. I said last year I'd be super curious to see her on a baseball diamond with the guys, and that still stands.
That would be an interesting experiment indeed. The scary thing is that, scientifically, from what I've read a baseball pitch is easier to hit than a softball pitch if you assume equal pitching talent. You have more time to react to a baseball pitch, plus the human eye tracks high-to-low more easily than low-to-high. She wouldn't have the power of some of the big boys, of course, but I bet she could hit for a pretty dang good BA/OBP once she had some time to adjust to the different subtleties.
"Romero seems way too talented for college softball" is a perfect way of putting it. A men's basketball player of equivalent talent would have been a one-and-done, no doubt about it. It's an amazing privilege that we get to watch her for four whole years. I can't wait to get out to a game when I'm back in town and see the phenomenon with my own eyes.
you will not be dispointed in the least. The new facility is just awesome.
We have been blessed over the past 8 or 10 years really. Samantha, Jordan, Dorian, Sara, Haylie, Romo just to name a few.
When you do get the chance, hit me up and the tailgate will be on me.
Thanks for the offer! I am planning on going to as much of the regional as I can, since that's the only softball I'll be around for. I'm so glad we're doing well enough that hosting a regional seems like a pretty sure thing.
And you're absolutely right, we've had just a crazy run of talent representing Michigan in recent years. It's amazing the caliber of young women Hutch brings to Ann Arbor year after year.
April 20th, 2014 at 10:19 PM ^
Let me know if you two make it to a game, I'd love to meet you both and I can try to arrange a tour of the facility if you haven't already seen it by then.
The substitution rule in softball is not just a few years old. However, I can't verify when it was established.
The flex rule is relatively new and allows a coach to use good hit/bad defense or fast, but weak hitting players more effectively:
April 20th, 2014 at 10:14 PM ^
April 20th, 2014 at 11:51 PM ^
April 21st, 2014 at 10:03 AM ^
These threads need links and embeds-I really enjoy the updates and insight-TY!
It will be interesting to see where we sit in the rankings after this weekend. Going into the series we were ranked 3rd in both polls but 18 in RPI. Since RPI is 50% your opponents winnign percentage I can see moving up in RPI as we played Minnesota but possibly moving down in the polls due to the loss Friday night.
Michigan made a huge move in RPI; they are now ranked #7.
The #7 ranking puts them in the all-important top 8. Moving up 11 places as a result of beating Minnesota 2 out of 3 games is a good result, and it shows how much the Big Ten's current schedule format drags Michigan down.
The only B1G teams in the top 50 are Michigan, Nebraska, Minnesota, Northwestern and Wisconsin. Since those other 4 teams are all in the western half of the conference, Michigan only plays each of them every other year. Meanwhile, we get 2 or 3 games each against the likes of Michigan State and Indiana every single year. Baseball doesn't regionalize the conference schedule; I don't see why softball feels like they have to.
That's common in non-revenue sports. It's expensive to get these athletes and all of their gear from one school to another, and the more you can reduce the travel, the better.
Actually, it's not common at all in non-revenue sports in the Big Ten. Refer to my last sentence in my previous post--baseball makes no effort at all to regionalize the schedule (Michigan baseball doesn't play Michigan State this year, and it's not the first time that this happened), but softball is completely regionalized. Why softball but not baseball? There's no real reason--they are both revenue-negative sports played on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in the spring. Same start date, more or less the same end date, same equipment transportation concerns, etc.
As a matter of fact, softball is the only sport in the conference where the "no-play" teams are determined solely based on region (although football is going to become the second regionalized sport next year).