Softball ranked #6 in both polls

Submitted by South Bend Wolverine on

Both the USA/NFCA Coaches poll and the ESPN/USA Softball poll came out today, and our women are slotted at #6 in both.  I have to admit that I find this a little optimistic, given how much talent we just graduated, but we've still got a great team.  Hopefully we'll be able to stay in that top-8 & remain on track to host a super-regional.

Other teams of interest include #4/#3 Florida, #3/#4 Florida State, #8/#8 UCLA, #19/#18 Texas A&M, #20/#20 Kentucky, #21/#21 Baylor, #22/#22 Notre Dame, #25/#24 USF, RV/RV Arizona State, and RV/RV Cal State Fullerton, all of whom Michigan will see at least once in the non-conference schedule.

In the Big Ten, Michigan will be keeping a close eye on #16/#14 Minnesota, our toughest challenger for conference hardware, although once again we won't play head to head in the regular season.  Nebraska and OSU both received votes in both polls, and Northwestern got a few from the coaches.

First pitch is just ten days away, and we've got yet another top-ten Michigan team with Carol Hutchins at the helm.  Full season preview will go up within the week.

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RoseInBlue

January 31st, 2017 at 1:56 PM ^

Higher than I was expecting but perhaps we've earned it.  Only 10 days away.  I forget how early in the winter softball season starts every year.  It always sneaks up on me.  

Joined: 02/21/2016

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South Bend Wolverine

January 31st, 2017 at 2:23 PM ^

We've certainly earned it in the sense that consistent success breeds respect.  We've been in 3 of the last 4 WCWS tournaments, and missed the 4th by the narrowest of margins.  I'll have to see who emerges to fill the big, big shoes left behind before I fully believe it, but Hutchins certainly has a record that you don't want to bet against.

Joined: 09/11/2009

MGoPoints: 7918

South Bend Wolverine

January 31st, 2017 at 2:27 PM ^

Similar problem to football, but exarcerbated by the structure of softball season.  In order to keep down travel costs & to avoid too many mid-week games, the softball season functions as a set of 3-game series.  The conference isn't formally split into divisions like in football, but it functionally is for scheduling purposes.  So basically we play everyone in our football division every year, and then fill up the remaining weekends with series against the other division (there's also a mid-week home & home mixed in - for us, that's always against Sparty).  It's about as good as you can do for a 14-team conference, but it has given us some unbalanced schedules in the past (we've benefited from that, to Minnesota's detriment, in recent years), and it means missing out on the match-up everyone wants to see, b/c it's a cross-division one.

Joined: 09/11/2009

MGoPoints: 7918

ak47

January 31st, 2017 at 2:57 PM ^

Man now I'm just reminded that the best hitter in Michigan history never won a national championship while she lost to a team with her little sister in her senior year.  That fucking blew last year.

Hope for some revenge this year.

Joined: 05/05/2011

MGoPoints: 33614

Solecismic

January 31st, 2017 at 7:40 PM ^

No mo' Romo and Silo. Hutch isn't quite in Geno territory, but it isn't exactly a rebuild. I only worry because it's still a pitcher-dominated game and Betsa is the last pitching recruit who had an impact (and, of course, what an impact). I'm sure Romero hated never getting that title, but from everything I've read and seen, she's genuinely happy for her little sister - it softens the blow, if anything. It's too bad Sydney didn't want to come here. Understood that few 18-year-olds want that kind of legacy pressure, though. Hutch didn't pick up a pitcher this year, but there are a couple on the roster who were great in high school. Tera Blanco turned into a plus hitter fairly quickly, but only pitches (so far) against the weaker opponents. Leah Crockett played in only one game, but the word on her was when she fine-tunes her control, watch out. Does anyone know the red-shirt rules in softball? And there is some serious pitching talent in the 2018 class. So, yeah, no Minnesota again. No Nebraska, which is usually strong. The Big Ten needs to find a way to make this happen. Those are games that would do a lot for the conference. C'mon Delany - think of how much Hutch has brought to Big Ten softball. And how much better it would be with real conference rivalries. This is a problem that can be solved.

Joined: 11/27/2016

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rob f

January 31st, 2017 at 11:09 PM ^

would be to boot Rutgers, Maryland, and Ped St. out of the conference. Probably wouldn't be enough to allow for a round-robin schedule, though. Spring weather just isn't cooperative enough to allow for that many conference games. But I'm in favor of anything that would eliminate those faux B1G schools.

Joined: 11/11/2010

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