Softball falls to Illinois, 2-1
February 28th, 2021 at 11:08 AM ^
Stupidi Illini
February 28th, 2021 at 11:14 AM ^
Cue Illinini partisans yelling about how Michigan is overrated.
February 28th, 2021 at 11:32 AM ^
"Illinini": typo or deliberate, it's brilliant. The Illini ninnies = Illinini
Also, you're right: cue the Illinini whining.
February 28th, 2021 at 11:18 AM ^
Agreed. No offensive explosion in the 1st four games vs mediocre pitching indicated to me that this team will be the same as the last 3-4 years.
Gonna need 2-3 players to really break out. Allen and Bump don’t have the power you’d hope for and Carston isn’t hitting much at all, which is an issue bc they had her in the 3rd spot indicating they expected big things from her.
February 28th, 2021 at 12:21 PM ^
It seems like what I have read about Michigan Softball is that they seem to reel in some top rated talent from across the country. I don’t follow softball recruiting services enough to know but are we just getting some at certain positions and not across the entire team or what? I have watched enough with my wife that elite pitching can make up for a lot of offensive woes.
February 28th, 2021 at 12:27 PM ^
Can one of the softball followers educate me on something? I dont really understand what happened that caused us to go from nationally dominant every year to not-so-much anymore. Is it coaching, player recruitment, player development, something else?
I dont follow the sport other than at the end of the year when the tournament starts so I plead total ignorance on the "why" of why we arent kicking ass and taking names like we used to anymore.
What happened?
February 28th, 2021 at 12:33 PM ^
Same here mGrow, although I do follow when I can during the season.
This was a bad loss.
I second this inquiry...
February 28th, 2021 at 12:38 PM ^
I was kind of asking the same thing above but got downvoted for whatever reason. Seems like what I’ve read is that we do bring in some talent but like you all I don’t follow it as closely as basketball and football. I’m wondering the same thing.
February 28th, 2021 at 12:42 PM ^
Well, I’ve been staring at this thread for about 15 minutes considering commenting just to agree with the handful of us who are confused as to what might be actually going on. So I guess I will cosign these posts regarding being aware that we get talent but unaware as to what exactly would be going on to keep us from winning the majority of our games and or scoring runs. Perhaps it’s likely to correct itself?
February 28th, 2021 at 2:32 PM ^
I'd say it's a combination of development and recruiting, with a bit of bad luck?
I'm not sure M has recruited a top-top tier non-P in a few years. Some that come close are not super defensively (Lou Allen, who also busted a knee and was out for most of her 1st 2 years), or not a power hitter (Lexi Blair who hits for her share of power for her size). Some just don't pan out to be .350/12HR/60RBI hitters. Maybe some development in there, but I can't say what they aren't doing that OU does (OU from what I've hears has more runs scored and HRs this year than M the last 2 years combined <-- this is hyperbole but when you look up OUs offensive numebrs in '21 you will think there's a typo in there somewhere).
All I know is Hutch has always been a pitching and defense 1st coach and it's worked very well over the years. The best M teams ('05, '14-16) also add top ten-twenty power and hitting deep into the line-up. They aren't an LSU that can bunt for basehits and steal 5-6 bases a game so power is the biggest issue with the program.
I'll also remind everyone that 2020 was trending the same before C19 hit.
February 28th, 2021 at 12:34 PM ^
I think you hit the nail on the head. Just not enough offense from this team. We have the pitching to compete with anyone but the offense is going to hurt us
February 28th, 2021 at 1:46 PM ^
Lost game 2, 2-1 as well.
This is trending to being one of the weakest teams we've had in awhile. We lost 1 game the entire Big Ten season in 2019, and Illinois is only supposed to be decent.
Just no offense and Hutch doesn't really help matters by giving away so many outs.
February 28th, 2021 at 2:12 PM ^
Looks like recruiting from what I found we have had the number 10,7 and 14th classes from 2017-19. 2020 we weren’t in the top 25. That could be a numbers crunch thing because we took 4 or 5 in all of those other classes. It doesn’t appear to be a talent issue.
February 28th, 2021 at 2:18 PM ^
Michigan has had a lot of trouble scoring runs they last few seasons. Just a complete waste of Beaubein. Very frustrating and unfortunately this season looks to be no different. At least we didn’t have the annual loss to Florida this season.
February 28th, 2021 at 2:52 PM ^
Other than getting killed in a softball game by a women who played college softball—D1 athletes are goooood—I'm no expert on women's softball.
However, maybe this early sense (right or wrong) of a down year is a good time to marvel again at what Coach Hutch has managed to accomplish with a northern team in snowy, cold Ann Arbor. (Trips south help but it's not the same as having warm weather outside your door year round.)
First national championship by a team east of the Mississippi. 21 Big Ten titles in 36 years, and counting. More wins than any other softball coach. No other Big Ten softball team has had or has now what she's brought to Michigan.
Amazing.
February 28th, 2021 at 2:57 PM ^
We lost both games of a doubleheader today - each game by a 2-1 score. It could be the sign of a problem but with 6 games in 3 days it could have just been a bad day for us. It sucks that we are going through a second season where we won't be able to see them play.
February 28th, 2021 at 3:14 PM ^
Softball information is really hard to piece together in terms of recruiting since FloSoftball, Extra Inning, and Softball America even have player rankings locked up (and each cost 70-$100 yearly). The lineup for the second game today had the top four in the lineup that were all top 30 players in their class (28th, 20th, 8th, 21st), while the bottom five featured four players ranked in the 50-100 range (64th, 94th, 50th, NR, 57th) in their class and one who wasn't was "only" all state in Thais.
What does seem puzzling was the 2020 class that was signed seemed to have only signed one top 100 player (Sierra Kersten at 94th) and the class was ranked 21st nationally, just four spots ahead of MSU who is not good in a bad Big Ten. The 2019 class was much better and 5th nationally with players ranked 16th, 21st, 32nd, 51st and 58th. The 2018 class was similarly ranked 7th with five signees (18th, 21st, 28th, and 60th) and the one who wasn't was Storako, who has done a pretty good job overall. The 2017 class has Meghan (6th overall), Natalia (57th) , Lou Allen (8th) and Sarah Schaefer and they all play a role except Sarah who has no spot pitching with Rocko and Meghan.
Looking ahead there's more talent on the way as the class of 2021 has landed the 8th, 16th, 26th, 44th, and 101st ranked players and is ranked 11th according to Extra Inning softball, but two of the five kids being elite pitchers so not sure the offensive help is on the horizon.
I don't know what this says about anything... Kinda just leaves me with the same questions already presented and bummed the offense has been pedestrian for a few years.They seem to be recruiting decently (aside from the 2020 class), but I also guess I don't know what the top 10 teams are signing yearly.. For sure seems as though some haven't developed the way you'd think in terms of their ranking, and Lou Allen certainly had an injury set her back early in her career. It's also unfortunate the strong 2019 class didn't get much of a chance to get experience last year, so you have roughly half the roster being athletes who haven't really played college softball. Now certainly every team is going though this so that leaves you with the upperclassmen needing to step up while the younger ladies hopefully figure it out.
February 28th, 2021 at 4:30 PM ^
The biggest challenge is gaining experience against quality opposition. That's a major reason why Michigan runs through the Big Ten so easily most seasons - the starters have faced elite pitchers and the game slows down a lot.
The schedule changes caused by COVID will have more impact on Michigan than just about any team in the country, since they won't be playing at top tournaments early on. Just this Big Ten bubble.
The game has evolved in two major ways over the last decade or so. First, the game itself has become more power-oriented. Scores are higher and the days of playing for one run are over. This means you can't "teach" as much - lowering the advantage coaches like Hutch have had for ages teaching small-ball. You simply need several hitters who either have exceptional power, hit line drives all the time, or both. Recruiting is where the Big Ten is at a disadvantage. Hutch has done well, but getting multiple power hitters in, every year, is too great a challenge. And even when you seem to have struck certain gold (Lou Allan), an injury can have an enormous effect.
And second, the AAU-type leagues are more sophisticated. Girls mature earlier, the talents are known. There are more qualified, higher-paid college coaches who have the connections to these leagues. It's not unusual for coaches to develop relationships with top prospects in middle school. Hutch's advantages in having connections steadily decreases, parents are more aware of the process.
While other Big Ten programs are getting better (Illinois is one example, Minnesota probably the best example and Nebraska carrying over from the Big 12), there's a huge disadvantage for schools not in the south or the west coast in not being able to play home games or even practice outdoors until April.
Unfortunately, both of these factors make Hutch's job much, much harder, and I don't think it's reasonable to expect her to string together WS appearances or even have a seeded NCAA team every year. Doesn't mean she's losing it or that there won't be great teams in the future, just that it's not reasonable to expect her to continue Michigan's dominance in the sport every season.
February 28th, 2021 at 5:24 PM ^
Appreciate the insight, if you could help me understand something I would love to know more about the travel ball leagues being more sophisticated and how that relates to Hutch. When you're talking about the connections to these leagues is it just the simple misfortune of geography and so Hutch can't establish relationships with these leagues despite being a very good coach herself? Or is she a step behind coaches now in terms of her approach to the game, and the other coaches also have more to offer other than simply location which I get will always be a factor as a northern state.
You also added that her connections have decreased because of the new set up, does this mean that prior to the new wave she knew high school coaches and that was more the route to top end players and now the connections are in the travel ball circuit? And one final question, the parents being aware of the process looping it back to recruiting means what in terms of how Hutch is fighting an uphill battle? Sorry if these are ignorant questions and I'm just dense in the head understanding the landscape.
February 28th, 2021 at 9:44 PM ^
Maybe it's me not being clear enough. Hutch is fine. She's still as connected and I think as energetic as ever. It's that more coaches have learned the ropes - one of the changes, and it's not that long ago this wasn't the case, is that just about every Division I university pays softball coaches enough that it's a good career financially. It's easier to connect to people these days (COVID aside).
The main problem is still geography. It's a huge strain not being able to play outside until April. This doesn't affect the travel teams as much - you have good players in every area and they play when they can into the summer, though the deepest leagues (which means better opponents and faster learning) are in California and Florida. But it hurts the Big Ten most of all. Minnesota lost its promising young coach to Mississippi this year (their top assistant took over, so it probably won't change that much there). It's just not as prestigious to play or coach in the Big Ten.
That makes a lot of sense, though my response is very delayed I appreciate the clarification and insight. Good to know Hutch still has it, and that sadly it's just factors she can't control.
February 28th, 2021 at 10:25 PM ^
My direct experience here is limited to several years of small college recruiting...but I believe the issues we faced here in Kansas extrapolate out to the larger picture. Travel ball is very expensive. This distorts relationships between all entities-college programs/coaches, travel team coaches and players. For a variety of reasons the elite players develop from Florida to Texas then to California. As the AAU/Travel consortium has continued to increase its power in these areas the universities more local to the pockets of elite talent are also increasingly benefited. The cost of participating in the current system concentrates and limits the numbers of kids who have the opportunity to develop. I don't know if the elite travel leagues have a quality of coaching issue but the lower levels of play most certainly did. What I saw too often were a mom or dad coaching a team of their daughter, who may be or not be a solid player, and they didn't know a damn thing about the game...or coaching it. Michigan is behind the eight ball in these regards...there is no way Coach Hutch can be in the ear of those coaches of the top prospects like Florida, Alabama, LSU, Texas, Oklahoma and UCLA...can be.