Softball Bombs Sparty, Sets up Showdown with Gophers

Submitted by South Bend Wolverine on

After breezing past WMU in a mid-week mercy rule walk-through, the Maize & Blue softball squad took Sparty to the woodshed in a 3-game sweep.  The Wolverines bombed the Spartans back into the Stone Age, delivering 9-1, 8-0, and 14-0 drubbings.

The pitching and defense were outstanding, as Michigan allowed only one earned run (a solo homer off of Wagner) on the weekend and did not commit a single error.  The Wolverines came into the weekend at 11th nationally in team ERA and 4th in fielding percentage, and managed to improve their stats in both of those categories (NCAA won't update their database until later, so I don't know about ranks).  For a team that struggled defensively last year, this is a major bonus.  All three pitchers have been dominating since Big Ten play began, and the fielding is first-rate.  If this can keep up as competition gets stiffer, Michigan has a great chance to go deep in the tournament.

Offensively, it was more of the same.  Romero went 5-for-8 on the weekend and drew a pile of walks.  She crossed home-plate multiple times in each game.  Romo came into the weekend 6th in the nation in runs per game, and improved her numbers.  This is a great testimony to her insane on-base percentage, but even more so to the ability of the rest of the team to push her across.  It has to be a huge help when she's up there drawing walk after walk & hitting singles instead of homers to have that trust, and the trust has been well-earned - major praise to the whole hitting line-up!

A fun side-note on Sunday's game: Michigan hit for the cycle in home runs as a team, delivering, one, two, and three run blasts along with Driesenga's pinch-hit grand slam to finish off the scoring in a 10-run 7th inning.

After a mid-week match-up against CMU, the 2nd place Golden Gophers come to town for a 3-game set.  As long as Michigan gets a win, they'll retain a multi-game lead, and 2 out of 3 would put us in great position, but you can bet the team has it's eye on a sweep!

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carol hutchins
Sierra Romero

Hail To The Blue

April 14th, 2014 at 12:24 AM ^

True. There are no spots in this lineup I would want to face if I were an opposing pitcher. The development of Sierra Lawrence and the offensive renaisannce of Taylor Hasselbach have done wonders for the offense. Tay Hass is hitting the cover off the ball lately.

Speaking of not wanting to pitch against our lineup, I actually felt really bad for MSU's pitcher today. She had a complete breakdown on the mound in the seventh, just bawling on a televised game. Poor girl has probably never been rocked like that before, and her defense was not helping her out. She's just a freshman and that team has absolutely no depth anywhere on the roster. Only two pitchers, so she gets thrust into the fire regularly. It's not like we were running up the score though, they just could not get an out. 

Joined: 10/30/2013

MGoPoints: 1601

South Bend Wolverine

April 14th, 2014 at 1:11 AM ^

"Speaking of not wanting to pitch against our lineup, I actually felt really bad for MSU's pitcher today. She had a complete breakdown on the mound in the seventh, just bawling on a televised game. Poor girl has probably never been rocked like that before, and her defense was not helping her out."

Yeah, that was awfully uncomfortable viewing.  I can't remember the last time I saw a player break down like that while still in a game (injuries & watching the final moments from the bench are different).  It takes a lot to get sympathy for Sparty around here, but that was probably as close as one can get.  And you're absolutely right, there was no running up of the score - we kept throwing subs out there, including someone getting her first at-bat of the season (she walked, so she still doesn't have one!).  That's the tough thing in baseball and softball, though - there's no way to just take a knee or dribble it out.

Joined: 09/11/2009

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