Softball Freshman hurls no-no against UD
There wouldn't usually be much to recap in a 10-0 mercy-rule win over a truly dreadful University of Detroit team ("truly dreadful" may be an understatement - they are a remarkable 2-21 on the year). Today is a little different, though, as freshman Megan Betsa got the start and made the most of it, throwing her first career no-hitter in a 5-inning affair. For reference, the last Michigan freshman to toss a no-hitter was Jordan Taylor in 2008. Those who have followed the program may remember her as being kinda good.
Other players performed to expectations - Romero now boasts a .518 batting average after going 2-3 with a grand slam and the offense in general cruised.
It is scored as one in the record books, although obviously 5 no-hit innings are easier to achieve than 7 (or than 9, as one would need in baseball). This I suspect accounts for a lot of the difference in the frequency of no-nos in softball as opposed to baseball (see the discussion below), along with the fact that softball has historically been a more defensive sport than baseball, although that is changing a lot these days.
Regardless, it's great achievement for a young pitcher. Today, no-hitting a terrible UD team, tomorrow hopefully shutting down some of the top offenses in the nation!
that five innings is probably considered more prestigious by most pitchers. It's not uncommon for softball pitchers to be top hitters on their team (AFAIK that's very rare in baseball) and obviously you take the zero any way you can.
This isn't the case for college and high school teams. One example that comes to mind is zach Putnam who batted in the 4osh slot while being our best pitcher a few years ago.
SHE was PERFECT. Not her fault she has a good TEAM behind her. Pretty sure they'd take a season of PERFECT 5 INNING games;-) GO BLUE--BuzzKill
Not to take anything away from the accomplishment, but aren't no-hitters infinitely more common in softball?
The only answer I am able to give is that this was Michigan's 38th softball no-hitter, so about 1 a year on average. Michigan has played 2,044 games all-time (and won 1,491 of them), so that's 1 no-hitter every 50-60 games or so (again, 1 a year).
College baseball no-hitters seem to be about 1 every 1,000 games or so--looking at the NCAA record book, there are about 5-10 a year in all of Division I.
So taking into account the fact that Michigan has been a top-20 softball team for most of the last 25 years, so they probably throw more no-hitters than the average team, I think it's pretty reasonable to say that no-hitters are about 10 times more common in college softball than in college baseball.
The reaction time required to hit a softball is ridiculous even in baseball terms, and it's harder to hit a rising ball than a dropping ball. One other thing I'd add is that many times the most athletic girls are steered into pitching and the bell curve for female athletes isn't the same as for males. A 99th percentile male vs. a 98th percentile male is much closer than the same in women, at least in my observation and looking at past results (chalk wins much more often in womens sports, for example).
I've seen Detroit play four games over the past three years and they are absolutely terrible. On that same note I've seen good, veteran pitchers miss out on a no hitter against them; it's an accomplishment no matter who the opponent is.
is much closer than the same in women."
Are you saying that women don't have fat tails?
blasted Penn State in a doubleheader last Friday 6-0 and 22-0 in 5 innings. They came back and took them out 12-4 in 5 innings on Saturday.
Poor UD just ran into a red-hot team ranked #5.
I just wish the games had more video coverage. They play tOSU on Friday and you can stream the video off mgoblue.
and her girls embody her toughness and class. Her interviews remind me of vintage Bo.