Softball beats Rutgers 8-0 on senior day, celebrates B1G Championship

After Michigan clinched their 9th straight B1G Championship and 1 seed in the B1G Tournament yesterday with an 11-1 run rule win over Rutgers, the only thing to play for today was senior day.

Michigan honored its 7 seniors today in front of yet another sold out Alumni Field crowd: Olivia Richvalsky, Kelsey Susalla, Sara Driesenga, Lauren Connell, Mary Sbonek, Sierra Lawrence and, of course, Sierra Romero. 

After Betsa struck out the side again after doing nothing but striking out the side every single time on Friday, Romero put Michigan up 1-0 with a home run in the 1st inning.

Romero homered in every single game on senior weekend. 

Betsa would mow down the next 3 Rutgers batters, striking out the side for the 5th time in a row this weekend. Si-Lo would score Monte on an RBI single in the 2nd to make it 2-0, and then Abby Ramirez would score from third on a throwing error to first which helped Kelly Christner reach. 3-0 Michigan after the second inning.

Michigan would plate two runs in the 3rd on a fielder's choice by Ramirez and a wild pitch to go up 5-0. 

In the 4th, after Blanco was hit TWICE in the same at-bat where the utterly clueless B1G officials refused to give her the base, she would smack the next pitch over the fence for a 2-run shot to make it 7-0 Michigan.

Si-Lo would again come up big on her senior day, as she scored Monte with an RBI single to put the game in run rule territory with the score now 8-0 Michigan.

In the 5th, Hutch got every single senior into the game. Connell got in at catcher, Richvalsky got in at LF and Driesenga took the circle for the final time in the regular season. 

Romero would fittingly record the final out of the game with a great catch on the run in foul territory outside the first base line. She was phenomenal this weekend but really special today.

Not only did she hit a HR for the 3rd straight game in a weekend series, but she made two huge outs during the game. She threw out a Rutgers runner at home plate and then would chase down a runner who attempted a delayed steal to get the final out in the inning. 

Michigan wins 8-0 in 5 innings and sweeps the series. They outscore Rutgers 28-2 this weekend. 

Michigan moves to 44-4 and finishes with a B1G record of 21-2 for the second straight season.

Michigan is the 1 seed in the B1G Tournament. They'll obviously get a first round (Thursday) bye and will play either the 8 seed Wisconsin or 9 seed Indiana on Friday at 8pm in the Quarterfinals. This year's B1G Tournament will be at University Park, PA. Michigan was just there two weeks ago and knows how to hit bombs in that park.