Softball crushes Maryland, 16-0 in 5 innings
Yet another sold out crowd on a sunny day at Alumni Field got to see a great Michigan win. It didn't take very long for them to find out that it would be a win, really.
Wow, so today's game started off pretty crazy.
Si-Lo, the first batter of the day for Michigan, walked. She stole second but the Maryland throw to the 2B was over her head and that allowed Si-Lo to go all the way home to put Michigan up 1-0.
Kelly Christner homered that same inning to increase the lead to 2-0.
After a quick 1-2-3 inning by Sara Driesenga, the 2nd inning came along for the Wolverines. Both Canfield and Ramirez flied out quickly, giving Michigan only one out left to work with. That's all they needed.
With both Si-Lo and Romero on, Kelly Christner reached on an error by the 1B after the ball bounced off of her foot and slowly trickled into RF, scoring Si-Lo for the second time in as many innings.
A passed ball allowed Romero to score, making it 4-0 Michigan. After Susalla walked, Blanco hit a 3-run blast which blasted the game right open. 7-0 Wolverines.
Michigan would plate two more in the 2nd inning with RBIs by Faith Canfield and Abby Ramirez, who were the first two outs of the inning.
Michigan scored seven runs with two outs in the inning to take a 9-0 lead.
Hutch emptied the dugout after that inning. Tera Blanco eventually replaced Driesenga in the circle, giving many their first glimpse at her pitching.
Blanco looked pretty good out there in the circle. Today was the first time I saw her pitch live. She had 4 Ks. Driesenga had 3.
In the 4th inning, Maryland got into trouble. They intentionally walked Romero (the all-time grand slam leader in NCAA softball history) with bases loaded, but that didn't do very much good as Kelly Christner hit a 2 RBI double to give Michigan a 12-0 lead. She has been on fire lately.
Freshman Natalie Peters then got in on the action with a 2 RBI single. So did her classmate Katie Alexander, as she scored Peters with an RBI single of her own.
Michigan would tack on one more with a sac fly by Alex Sobczak, yet another freshman.
Michigan wins 16-0 in 5 innings. An all-out destruction that could've been much worse had Hutch not held up runners in the 4th inning when the bases were loaded. It could've been in the 20-run range.
Michigan is now 36-4 and 14-2 in the B1G. They'll play the same team tomorrow at 1pm.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
She's the all-time leader in college softball history in grand slams. It didn't matter much, as Michigan still scored 6 runs after they walked her.
She's also the Michigan career record holder in walks. She's been walked over 200 times.
are you at The Big House for Lacrosse and a Movie, WD?
I've been watching it on BTN (although I missed a large portion of the 1st half), and to my untrained eye, Michigan was giving Johns Hopkins all they could handle well into the 4th quarter. Down to the final 2:54, Michigan is in deep trouble now though, trailing 18-13.
So Nebraska hits a 3-run homer in the T7 at Minnesota to tie the game at 10-10 only to lose in the bottom of the 7th. Thanks for nothing.
Nebraska faces Minnesota tomorrow on BTN. It would be nice if they can beat minnesota.
I dont think it matters much what Minnesota does. Michigan has a one game lead and 1 game against MD left (near certain win), @Penn State (very probable sweep), and home against Rutgers (near certain sweep). To lose the title UM would have to drop at least 2 games and Minny would have to win out.
Breathing room is always nice, though. Plus, I don't like sharing, and I don't think this team does either - we want the title outright!
Happy to see Katie Alexander get an RBI - a fellow Saline Hornet! Good to see Blanco back out there in the circle, too. Doesn't look like she'll be a big factor this season, but maybe next year she can step in.
at this point......with Florida at the end of the track!
Baseball running away from Iowa 10-1 so far. Would be nice to double up with both regular season titles.
Other notes: Sara Driesenga improved to 17-0 in the circle. Tomorrow's wrap up game for the series is again sold out and Alumni Field will be celebrating Sierra Romero Day.
Baseball's offense has been rolling recently.
sometimes I wish the rule would change so that some of these games could go longer.
Why?
So that some of the gals who seldom see playing time could get on the field for an inning occasionally. I just pulled up the box score and I see that Coach Hutch subbed in several players, but yet, couldn't get everyone in on the field of play. In particular, I was looking to see if one particular player, sophomore catcher Morgan Swift, got in----she's from Caledonia, where my brother-in-law used to coach before retiring (though he still helps there with the pitchers when called upon). He coached Morgan several years ago and still follows her career, but also knows she is buried on the depth chart.
I know there's good reason for the run rule, but think of it this way: If there was a similar rule in football, how would underclassmen get on the field for any meaningful playing time?
True, but you don't want to use up all your runs for the weekend on one game.
Hutch always says that. That's we she pulled almost every starter out when we smashed the game open in the 2nd.
I hope Blanco gets the start against CMU in the midweek game coming up. She needs to get more work because she's gonna be second option at pitcher in 2017.
Blanco will be heavily relied as a batter (probably batting 3rd in the order or taking Romo's #2 spot). I'd almost rather see Crockett emerge as the #2 pitcher next year so Blanco can focus mainly on hitting and playing 1st base.
I'd like to see Crockett emerge as a starter next year as well. But I'd still like to see Blanco come into her own as a pitcher, too. It'd be great to have 3 viable options in the circle next season.