Softball rebounds with 11-3 win over Northwestern
After a weird disaster of a game yesterday that saw Michigan go up 7-2 and then trail 9-7 in the next inning, eventually trail 13-7 and then mount a comeback to come within one run with bases loaded in the bottom of the 7th inning........Michigan needed some stability.
It started off shaky today. Northwestern hit a 2-run homer in the top of the 1st inning. But Michigan responded in the bottom of that inning with five runs on an almost-grand slam by Tera Blanco and a cuisine of errors by Northwestern to lead 5-2 after 1.
Unfortunately, Northwestern hit another home run in the very next inning. Michigan then responded in that same inning..........with SIX runs.
A Tera Blanco grand slam and a 2-run shot by Montemarano to put Michigan up 11-3. Had the feeling that Northwestern would score again in the next inning but they didn't. The scoring had wrapped up as Megan Betsa finished with 12 strikeouts as she settled down as the game progressed.
Wolverines win it 11-3 in 5 innings.
Michigan is now 23-3 and 1-1 in the B1G. Michigan will face Northwestern in the series finale tomorrow at 1pm. No stream as it is Easter Sunday and BTN+ usually gives the broadcasters that day off.
Pitching is still not up to par, which is disappointing. It's still early, but.........we should've destroyed Northwestern yesterday. The walks piling up is what contributed to their 7-run inning yesterday.
A lot less walks today.
Yeah. Way too many walks. I thought they had settled down with that these last few games. I don't know. Hopefully, it was just some Big Ten opener fluttery stuff, and they're over it now.
On another note, Romero is batting over .500 again and Blanco continues to swing the bat like an All-American.
Good to see the return of Ramirez to the lineup.
March 26th, 2016 at 10:27 PM ^
Assuming were able to secure a win tomorrow (which we should) i think we'll drop to #3 in the polls. Currnet #3 Auburn swept their series this weeked and #1 Gators are still with a single loss. If we can keep our walks under control we shouldnt have anymore issues this B1G season.
Possibly. But I'm not too worried about that. Florida and Auburn will both take their losses in conference play.
Big picture: We came out of non-conference (highest RPI in the country to date this year) with 4 less losses than last year. Save for Nebraska and Minnesota (who we don't see except maybe in the tournament), Big Ten softball is basically Big Ten softball. We shouldn't lose more than 3 more games in conference play this year (including another possible stupid loss like NW).
The walks are the wild card, obviously. If we're going to allow teams to score 7 runs on 2 hits (singles, not even big hits), then all bets are off. The walks have got to be reigned in. The passed balls as well.
March 26th, 2016 at 11:14 PM ^