Michigan lost against Iowa today (Sat 23APR11)

Submitted by MGoSoftball on

The Michigan softball team lost today against Iowa at Alumni Field.  The score was 4-2 .  This puts the team's overall record at  41-4.  Game-time temperature was 71 degrees with the wind out of the north at 2 kts.

This is only the 2nd Big Ten loss, and we are now tied with Indiana atop the Big 10 standings.  Stephanie Speierman was on the rubber today.  This was probably her worst game of the season.  She struggled in just about every inning.  She gave up 3ER off 9 hits, stuck out 6 and walked 2.  She also gave up one tater.

The offense didnt help her out much by leaving the bases loaded in 2 innings.  The only bright spot in the line up was Nicole Sappingfield.  She went 2 for 3 with the only 2 RBIs that we could muster.

Hutch did something very interesting in the 5th inning.  Stephanie worked herself into a jam with bases loaded and no outs.  Hutch calmly walked out to the mound and told her that she trusted her and for her to pitch her way.  The next batter looped one out into LF for an RBI.  Hutch still kept Stephanie in.  Stephanie settled down and struck out 2 to shut down the Hawkeyes.  This takes balls even from vetern coach.

This will probably drop us a few spots in the national polls but we are still good to host a regional in May.

 

Wolverine In Iowa

April 23rd, 2011 at 8:35 PM ^

So much for me talking smack in Iowa.

I just had to let everyone know that Iowa was up in Ann Arbor playing the number one ranked Wolverines.  I heard the painful end on the radio :(

MGoSoftball

April 23rd, 2011 at 9:17 PM ^

some good can come from this loss.  Hutch always says that "polls are for fools".  Maybe this will light a fire under some asses.

We hit like shit today.  My girl Ashley Lane went 0'fer.  Hopefully this will improve from the 8 hits today.  We still could have won this game if we had a few clutch hits.

3FrenchToast

April 23rd, 2011 at 9:54 PM ^

While it's great to go undefeated, I do like the fact that Coach Hutch seems to genuinely believe that losses can teach just as much as wins, and I feel that she emphasizes the learning process. There is something to be said for seeing your vulnerability, and I have faith that we can come back strong.

Scorekeeper

April 23rd, 2011 at 11:17 PM ^

That was not Speierman's worst game; that game was her 1/3 of an inning against IL last Sunday.  She followed that up with a great game against Penn State; 8Ks and 1 walk in 5 innings.  THis was a good enough outing.  UM left too many players on base.

The  homer she gave up was early enough in the game for UM to recover but they never did.  They took a lot of called 3rd strikes.

The 4th run came on a SF to relatively shallow left field.  The throw beat the runner but was dropped by the catcher.  But, again this happened early enough in the game for UM to recover.

I think UM's #1 ranking was a bit lofty; they'll definitely drop, although lots of other highly ranked teams were upset this weekend as well.