Wagner's GW HR avoids sweep by Minny; win 5-3
The Michigan Softball team avoided a rare Big Ten sweep today by beating Minny 5-3. It wasn't easy however as it took 10 innings to do so.
Haylie Wagner hit the GW HR in the 10th inning for the win. Amy Knapp scored the insurance run off a Bree Evans single. Haylie finished 1 for 4 with the lone RBI and run. She also pitched the entire game. She finished with 3 ER off 5 hits. She struck out 7 and surrendered 5 walks.
Amy Knapp went 2 for 3 with an RBI and 2 runs scored. Bree Evans was in the lead off spot today and went 3 for 6 with an RBI. Lauren Sweet went 2 for 4 with an RBI.
It is good to see Bree back in the #1 hole and she does not appear to be injured. Coach must have just wanted to juggle the lineup yesterday and put Bree in the #9 hole.
We stay atop the Big Ten standings sitting on 12-3.
2) Purdue 10-4 lost to Illinois today 8-6, so they are 1 game behind.
3) Wisconsin 11-4 beat Penn St. 9-0
4) Nebraska 10-5 lost to ohio 4-0
I think it is safe to say that we will not get a #1 seed to host a regional. It is possible that we would be a #2 seed in an Ann Arbor regional with the MAC champion and possibly Megangoblue's team or maybe my buddy's team Valpo. This would be a long shot.
Michigan is 12-3, not 11-3.
Wisconsin is second at 11-4, 1 game behind.
Purdue is third at 10-4 (with 1 game cancelled due to a rainout), 1.5 games behind.
Nebraska & Iowa are tied for 4th, 10-5, 2 games behind.
Big upcoming series include Wisconsin at Purdue next weekend, Michigan at Wisconsin on May 5 & 6, and Purdue at Michigan and Wisconsin at Nebraska on May 11 & 12.
Alton. I made the correction. We are indeed 12-3.
Thanks for the game report. I agree that it is looking almost impossible for Michigan to get a #1 seed, and right now I would say it is only about 50-50 that Michigan gets to host as a #2 seed. Obviously winning the Big Ten would help make Michigan's case for hosting, so they need to take at least 2 of 3 from both Wisconsin and Purdue the last 2 weeks of the season.
They avoided disaster..with Purdue and Neb losing it kept Mich in first place with the worst road trips out of the way..Wisc will be tough but losing would have been very bad today...I watched the game and I kept thinking why is Hyalie Wagner batting? she never gets on base and then BAM she hits a home run..wow...
Phew, man I thought purdue was gonna take the lead in the standings.
I had a feeling this was gonna be a tough series. Michigan hosts a putrid illinois team at Alumni next weekend. Saturday will be a televised doubleheader, and the final game on Sunday.
need to take all 3 from Illinois. This will help but some distance between us and Purdue.
I really think they will.
Huge conference matchup with wisconsin at purdue next weekend.
Disappointing weekend, but we knew going in that this would be at least somewhat of a rebuilding season. Fortunately, for us "rebuilding" still involves contending for the B10 title, and we've got some freshmen showing great potential.
you have a wonderful way of framing this. This year is a rebuilding year for sure, but we are in the drivers seat for a B1G title. I still believe we will win the B1G. We play Illinois for 3 and they are, as previously posted, not so good.
April 22nd, 2012 at 10:04 PM ^
Getting all 3 against Illinois would be huge. After that all we have left is Wiscy & Purdue, and neither of those will be easy. I'm really looking forward to that Purdue series - I'll be back in Ann Arbor for it, so hopefully we'll be able to clinch a B10 title while I'm there!
Updated B1G Standings
| Team | B1G | Overall |
| 1) #20 MICHIGAN | 12-3 | 32-13 |
| 2) Wisconsin | 11-4 | 27-13 |
| 3) Purdue | 10-4 | 28-15 |
| 4) Nebraska | 10-5 | 29-17 |
| Iowa | 10-5 | 20-22 |
| 6) Minnesota | 7-8 | 20-22 |
| Indiana | 7-8 | 22-23 |
| 8) Ohio | 6-8 | 27-13 |
| 9) Northwestern | 6-9 | 18-24 |
| 10) Illinois | 5-10 | 21-21 |
| Penn State | 5-10 | 13-25 |
| 12) State | 0-15 | 11-33 |
Shout-out to the Baseball team who won on a walk-off against northwestern! I was listening to the game on WLBY while watching the ladies beat minny.
While Illinois is in the bottom third of the BIG it gave Purdue a loss. And, we struggled against Illinois last year, although we beat them. Illinois has two reasonable pitchers - Guy and Gay.
Michigan is in the driver's seat for the conference title. They need to play good defense (4 of the 6 runs we gave up in Game 2 were unearned); put the ball in play - cut down on Ks. Our pitchers, especially Wagner, are doing their jobs.
They could easily host, but I doubt they'll be a #1 seed. That is not an uncommon scenario for cold weather sites, but it would be big change for UM. I'm not even sure we'd want host under those circumstances.
April 22nd, 2012 at 10:29 PM ^
under any conditions!!!! Home Field is Home field...period
April 22nd, 2012 at 10:38 PM ^
Especially since, if they factor RPI into the equation at all, the upper midwest host is likely ND if Michigan is passed up. After that it could go to Evanston, although I don't think Michigan would get put in that regional, since NU and UM are both B1G schools.
April 22nd, 2012 at 10:45 PM ^
but a theory that Louisville would get the Mid West Home site although ND, UM, MAC Champion, and possibly Summit League Champion will get in. So maybe AA would be a host site. I think we will hold an RPI advantage over ND.
April 22nd, 2012 at 11:03 PM ^
It just depends on who you project to win the MAC and Summit League. If ND is in, UM is in, WMU takes the MAC and IPFW takes the Summit, there's a logjam for local(ish) teams, especially since the OVC and Horizon champions could be in that group as well (and you consider that they'll be bringing in a one or two seed from out west).
And we'll have to see about ND. As of last week it was UM at 24, ND at 32; if they won a few games this week they could jump Michigan.
April 22nd, 2012 at 11:15 PM ^
Notre Dame swept a 3-game series from DePaul this weekend, which probably solidifies ND as a 2-seed, since DePaul was also in the top 40 of the RPI.
I still believe that either Notre Dame or Michigan will host as a 2-seed. Since teams from the same conference can't be in the same regional, figure Notre Dame and Louisville from the Big East, Michigan and Purdue from the Big Ten, plus the MAC, Horizon and Summit champions--that's 7 teams from this area in the tournament (not counting MVC team Illinois State and possibly the OVC champion as well) which would easily be enough for 2 regionals. Louisville is likely a 1-seed, so they would host, but there is still a need for a Midwestern 2-seed to host a regional as well--Michigan or Notre Dame, since the other candidates (DePaul and the minor conference champions) don't have the high quality facilities that M & ND have.
If I had a bet, I would guess that whomever has the better RPI between Michigan & Notre Dame is hosting a regional as a 2-seed.
April 22nd, 2012 at 11:32 PM ^
If ND gets ahead and stays ahead of M, you have...
South Bend, IN
Florida/Arizona*
ND
Purdue
Louisville, KY
Louisville
Michigan
with the Horizon, Summit, OVC and MAC champions being split between the two, with the odd man out flying somewhere (or a team like NDSU wins the Summit [which isn't happening, by the way]).
It seems like Michigan edging out ND in RPI creates a weird situation, since they probably won't rise enough to get a one seed, Louisville is a lock one seed and ND can't be placed in their regional. It looked odd to me, so I just assumed the worst for M and plugged in the easy scenario.
*Those looked like the highest rated teams with regionals being hosted close to their campuses, I'm probably wrong, but someone has to be there.
April 22nd, 2012 at 11:50 PM ^
What a series she pitched. 17 innings in the weekend must have been her limit. Just watching the GameTracker it did not seem like they needed to pull her, but they must have seen her weakening. Maybe we win game 2 yesterday if the rain delay did not give her an extra couple of hours to recuperate. Surely it helps to have two pitchers with this new 3-game series format.
Can't wait for next season. Gonna be a lot more interesting. It will be 3 game series in a weekend. A Friday-Saturday-Sunday format like baseball, and the return of the B1G Tournament too.
April 22nd, 2012 at 10:42 PM ^
I think next year will be awesome for us. I feel for the this year's seniors who came so close last year. The Freshmen are going to be exciting for the next 3 years.
I have my order in for season tix.