Softball - Still November in Our Minds

Apologies for the redundant new item - had this written before I saw the other one...

The Wolverines finished their regular season this weekend, winning the opener against Ohio State, but dropping the final two contests as their bats went silent - netting only five hits and one run over 14 innings - against the 177th-ranked pitching staff in Division I.

The series dropped their season record to 38-16, 18-5 in the Big Ten. They will have the second seed for the Big Ten tournament, which begins on Wednesday.

Friday: Michigan 9, Ohio State 6

The Buckeyes came into the weekend 24th in Division I with 6.11 runs per game, second in the Big Ten to Indiana. They got on the board almost immediately with three on the top of the first, but the Wolverines kept pace. Ohio State led, 6-5, going into the bottom of the sixth, when Maddie Erickson hit a two-run double followed by a home run from reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week (again) Ella Stephenson.

Erickson had three hits and a walk, driving in three runs in the game and raising her OPS this season to a team-high 1.041. Lauren Derkowski struggled a bit against the powerful Buckeye offense, allowing eight hits and four walks before giving way to Hannah George in the seventh inning. George earned her first save as a Wolverine.

Saturday: Ohio State 6, Michigan 0

On Saturday, a standing-room-only crowd, swelled by this weekend's graduation ceremonies, cheered the Wolverines against visiting Ohio State. A partly-cloudy, warm, celebration of accomplishment that only May can provide.

The frigid days of spring were long past. Oh, the loyal season-ticket warriors remember. You can identify them from their uneven gaits, ravaged by frostbite and worse, faces lined with the memories of teams that actually lost an occasional home game.

Michigan had won all 14 games at home to date, and were also on a 14-game winning streak, second place locked up for next week's Big Ten tournament.

Their opponent? A sophomore from Carroll, Ohio named Lexi Paulsen. She was 2-2 on the season with only five starts and a 5.89 ERA over 38 innings pitched. As middle-game starters go, about as unintimidating as you'll ever find.

The game moved along quickly. In the top of the third, nine-hitter Kaitlyn Farley opened with a single. Leadoff hitter Tegan Cortelletti bunted and catcher Lilly Vallimont was on it in a flash, ending in a 2-4-5 double play. Or maybe not. The Buckeyes issued two challenges on the play, conferences were held. And when the smoke finally dissipated in Rome, there were two runners on base and none out.

That's the doubled-edged sword of the sacrifice. Baseball, as you all know, has perfect dimensions. Ninety feet. Sixty Feet and Six Inches. A Flawless Diamond. Softball... not so much. The bigger, heavier ball doesn't travel as far and the field is much smaller. After years of 20-inning, 1-0 games, the NCAA finally moved the mound back a few feet and the game is vastly improved. But the shorter basepaths mean that any batted ball must be fielded perfectly in the infield, or it's a hit. So what makes for poor strategy in baseball becomes somewhat effective in softball. Teams probably wouldn't bunt at all in softball except for the fact that they aren't necessarily throwing away an out. Faster runners are usually decent bunters and defenses are often too aggressive.

After another single, the Buckeyes led, 2-0. No problem, right? The Wolverines have been masters of the comeback win this season, and middle games are often parties with double-digit scoring.

But Paulsen had other ideas. She was efficient, she threw strikes, and Michigan could not solve her. Still trailing, 2-0, in the bottom of the sixth, Keke Tholl, leading the Wolverines with 14 home runs on the year, came up with two out and two on base. Here's the script this season: "Plate us home, 'Ke." It was not to be. Paulsen induced a grounder to shortstop. The Buckeyes added four runs in the seventh. Paulsen finished, allowing just three hits and one walk over seven inninings. Michigan's first shutout loss since a pair of them on March 1.

After the game, it was rumored that C.J. Stroud himself called to congratulate the conquering sophomore. Ryan Day plans to have her speak in the locker room before this fall's Michigan game. Urban Meyer offered some free drinks at his bar.

Sunday: Ohio State 2, Michigan 1

Derkowski had a solid outing against that 24th-ranked offense, allowing just five hits. The problem was, two of the hits were solo home runs by senior center fielder Kirsten Eppele, who, and this is another one of those rumors I couldn't confirm, Day has hired as a graduate assistant to the offense for this fall.

Eppele, according to the Ohio State athletic web site, is the cousin of former New York Yankee standout Sparky Lyle, though I don't know how these things are calculated since he's about 60 years her senior. Eppele, who now has 13 home runs in four years for the Buckeyes, hit three of them on consecutive at bats against Michigan, going back to the seventh inning on Saturday.

Allison Smith, Ohio State's top pitcher, dominated the game, allowing only two hits with no walks. One of the hits was a leadoff home run from Ellie Sieler in the bottom of the fourth, her sixth on the season. That gives the Wolverines 56 this season, matching their highest season total since 2016.

Conference Tournament:

I will post later today once the Big Ten bracket is unveiled. Northwestern will be the first seed, Michigan the second seed and Rutgers the third seed. Twelve teams are invited, and the top four seeds receive a bye to the quaterfinals. So Michigan will play the winner of the 7/10 game, which could involve any of a number of teams depending on today's results and multi-level tie-breakers between teams that did not play each other this season. Ohio State could well be that seventh seed.

NCAA Bid:

Going into the weekend, Michigan was 37th in RPI, well on the good side of the bubble. However, Ohio State was 55th, and losing two at home will hurt a bit. It may very well come down to whether Michigan wins or loses that quarterfinal game on Thursday.