M Softball Gets Off on the Right Foot, Beats ND 2-1
The Michigan Softball team got the party started by beating ND today 2-1. We are in Cali for the Judi Garmen Classic. There are several top ranked teams in this tourney so we better bring our bats.
Haylie Wagner got the win by giving up 1 ER off 6 hits. She recorded 3 strikeouts while walking zero. She went 0 for 2 with a walk at the plate.
Ashley brought her bat today. She went long to tie the game up and finished 1 for 3 with the RBI and run scored. In the bottom of the 7th, Amy doubled, took third on a FC. Then Taylor who pinch hit for Lindsay, brought Amy home for the game winning run on a single up the middle. It was a walk off single for Taylor.
We ended up with 7 hits. It is nice to see the bats moving. We play #7 Oklahoma later today.
baseball, hockey, and now softball taking down the Irish all within one week. Gotta love that, way to go ladies, and Go Blue.
there cannot be too many victories over ND. I don't care if it's freshman club-level checkers, I hope M beats them soundly multiple times per year.
Remind me, what are the criteria for hosting a regional? What does M need to do from here on out to be hosting NCAA action in Ann Arbor?
Also, are you or any other softball fans planning on going to the M/BGSU game on March 28? I'm not an expert but I can try to remember to look for certain things if anyone is interested (megangoblue should have an in-depth preview again as well).
the top 16 teams in the RPI get to host provided they have the facilities. Remember Cal could not host last year due to football renovations tore up their campus. They were host team at an away site.
We would have to be top 16. It is possible UM could host a regional and not be host team. There are not many teams east of Miss. River in the top 16.
Will they do anything to ensure a regional in this area (upper midwest-ish), or could it fall to Tennessee or Nebraska or one of the teams in the DC area?
It could be in A2, at ND, Chicago area. Then another one on the east coast too; maybe DC, or NY.
Something working in Michigan's favor is that the selection committee has an obligation to the NCAA to minimize the number teams that have to fly to their regional, within reason. A "flight" is when a team is more than 400 miles driving distance from their regional.
The MAC champion, a Big East team like Notre Dame or Louisville or DePaul, plus Kentucky are all within 400 miles of each other and not within 400 miles of any other likely hosts, so somebody in this area will probably host. The bad news is that this means that Michigan, Louisville, Notre Dame and Kentucky are probably fighting for a home regional, and it is unlikely that more than one will host unless more than one is in the top 16.
The result is that usually one or two top-16 teams from the west coast--where nobody is within 400 miles of anybody else--end up traveling East to play in a regional as a visiting 1-seed. If Michigan is not in the top 16, they do have a good shot at being a hosting 2-seed. Big Ten teams have done it in the past.
seems like the ladies play ND every other game.
March 16th, 2012 at 12:14 AM ^
A win over ND is always extra-special to me, as I hold a degree from them and have many, many ND friends. Add another one to the pile, I love watching them stack up!
Anything over ND is good...looking forward to seeing some softball