carol hutchins stadium

Three weeks have passed since we last checked in on Michigan Baseball and Softball, so it's about time to do another update. The two teams were wading into B1G play during the last one and now are well into the meat of those two campaigns. The needle is pointing slightly upwards for softball after a choppy beginning, while it's pointing sideways or slightly down for baseball (in the near term), but plenty of storylines for both. Today we'll be looking at softball, while tomorrow I'll be covering baseball. These are going to be shorter pieces, but I thought it was a little more user friendly to break them up and spread the content out. 

Softball: Still Meeting Expectations

At the last installment, I noted that Michigan's non-conference portion of the season was rather choppy and its signature wins rather ugly, but that they were doing enough to meet expectations. I said that they were on track to make the NCAA Tournament if they could finish in the upper half of the B1G, since a brutally difficult non-conference and notching just enough quality wins had bolstered their RPI. Since then the team has done basically exactly that, nothing incredible but sticking in that top quartile of the B1G they need to be in. Doin' alright. 

Season results since we last talked: Last update came just before the Nebraska series and the first three B1G series of April have been identical to each other, taking two of three from the Huskers, two of three from Illinois, and two of three from Purdue. Given that Purdue and Illinois are both brutally bad, dropping games to both squads is not what you want to see if your goal was to make a run at Northwestern for the conference crown, but I never considered that terribly realistic in a rebuilding year. If the main goal is to stay in the NCAAs and keep momentum rolling forward as Bonnie Tholl turns over the roster, then three series victories is enough to tick that box. 

The Nebraska series was totally fine, as the Huskers are one of the best non-Northwestern teams in the B1G. I lamented Michigan's lack of offense in my last update and then less than 24 hours later, Michigan bludgeoned Nebraska in a 10-0 run rule. Only one homer in that game (another by Keke Tholl), but the Wolverines churned out 14 hits, which was a very welcome sight. Unfortunately, they got run-ruled by Nebraska in game #2 after a dreadful hitting performance, setting up the rubber match on Sunday, a solid win powered by a Lexie Blair two RBI double, small ball offense, and strong pitching from Lauren Derkowski.

 [Bill Rapai]

After that, the team hosted Illinois, a much lower scoring series and one in line with what we've seen from the team this year. They got shut out by the Illini in game one, Derkowski giving up one in the first and a two run HR in the third, and the offense failing to capitalize on eight different baserunners against Illinois' Sydney Sickels (no idea how she's still in college). The Wolverines responded with a 3-2 win in the Saturday game, a rare homer by anyone other than Tholl doing the damage as freshman Maddie Erickson left the yard with a three run blast. Jessica LeBeau worked in and out of trouble and was relieved by Derkowski, who ran into major problems in the seventh, allowing a two-run double to cut it to one run. She allowed a single, moving the tying runner up to third, but then got a foul pop up to end the game. If that tension wasn't enough, Michigan needed extras to knock off Illinois on Easter Sunday and claim the series, winning 2-1 in the eighth on a walk-off Keke Tholl double. 

The team headed off to East Lansing during the mid-week to take on MSU in a game that was re-scheduled from a week prior. The Spartans are currently last in the B1G, but got a 2-0 lead in the first three innings. A three-run fourth with big knocks from Audrey LeClair and Blair gave Michigan the lead and they'd hang onto it for a 5-2 win. Over the weekend they then headed to West Lafayette to take on the Boilers, the other worst team in the conference besides MSU. Derkowski pitched the first and third games of the series and threw *two* no-hitters, giving Michigan shutout wins 4-0 and 5-0 in the two games. Unfortunately, they dropped the second game by a score of 3-2, a two-run double by Tholl not being enough as Michigan's bats were very quiet. Finally, Michigan took on MSU this past week at home, a comfortable 8-0 run rule victory. No third-straight no hitter for Derkowski but another shut out effort as Michigan moved to 9-5 in B1G play. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: The good and the bad]