**Spoiler** SB Game Completed.
UPDATE: We lost 7-4 today. So we need 1 win this weekend at home to clinch the Big Ten Championship.
The SB Team plays the 3rd game in Lincoln today at Noon on BTN (3pm tape delay). A win will clinch the outright Big Ten Championship and the #1 Seed going into the B1G Tourney.
Look for Hutch to make few changes in the lineup today. The only difference may be that we hit and run a little more. Otherwise it will be "Steady as she goes boys".
Keep an eye on many of the players today wearing the MLE colored bracelet. All the girls are wearing them in support of Emily (MLE) Hepker who is still in Minnesota receiving treatment for cancer. The bracelet was designed by Emily and Brooke Ward has them on the website.
Visit www.mlesupportteam.com for more information on Emily.
April 28th, 2013 at 11:30 AM ^
Unfortunately, the game is on the Big Ten Network, but it will be on tape delay. BTN is listed as showing the Purdue at Michigan State baseball game at noon, followed by Michigan-Nebraska softball at 3:00.
If it's raining in East Lansing, we might get to see the game live. I don't know if it works like that, but let's hope so. The Michigan softball game starts at 12:30 Eastern.
April 28th, 2013 at 11:44 AM ^
I am not sure either. I just checked the FAA Radar and they are predicting rain for the next 2 hours so hopefully BTN shows SB and tape delay the Purdue at MSU Baseball Game.
This is for the Big Ten Championship (possibly). It has (arguably) the 2 best teams in SB. The baseball game is just another baseball game. Both teams are right at or below .500 so which is a better game?
April 28th, 2013 at 12:11 PM ^
I hate tape delay. It's so anti-climatic.
April 28th, 2013 at 12:19 PM ^
1. Crummey RF
2. Romero SS
3. Blanchard 1B
4. Lane 2nd
5. Lawrence LF
6. Knapp 3rd
7. Sweet C
8. Driesenga P
9. Doyle CF
10. Garfinkel DP
Colie is out. Hopefully this is not a serious injury. She went into the wall hard yesterday trying to catch a foul fly.
April 28th, 2013 at 12:59 PM ^
Sara struggled early but then settled down without Neb scoring.
We hit into 2 double plays or the score could be higher.
This I gotta see!
/s
now lead 7-4.
Good job today ladies. You cant win them all. Nebraska played well today. Sometimes the better team will lose.
All we need is one win out of 3 against Northwestern this weekend at Alumni Field.
that the tournament is back in Lincoln.
With the 16 ER Wagner and Driesenga gave up this series M now has a team ERA of 2.33. This is the worst ERA (by far) of any Michigan team since 1980. That's as far back as the record book goes. It's great we have a good hitting team, but big time softball is about pitching. Can't see this team going any farther than a Super Regional.
agree that good pitching beats good hitting every single game. However, I would not jump to any conclusions just yet. We are ranked 9th in RPI so it stands to reason that we would be playing some very good teams and thus giving up some runs.
We are way above average with errors made. Now errors do NOT get counted against ERA, errors do affect a pitcher and extends rallies. Errors also force pitcher to be more conservative with a runner on base as opposed to no one on base.
I think the jury is still out on Sara and Haylie. They both are only Sophomores. Remember Haylie was out for the first quarter of the season and could not throw. So now she is getting into mid-season form. Let wait and see how the next 2 weekends play out before we jump on Sara and Haylie.
play Monday Morning QB. I love Hutch and respect her coaching. There have been many times where I would have done things differently than Hutch only to find out that she made the right call. That is why she IS the best Coach in the NCAA.
Lets not judge Sara and Haylie so harshly. Do you not remember all the games they have pitched to victories, and all the shut outs? This is one series that was lost by Michigan softball and it wasn't all the pitchers fault. Have to have timely hitting, how many were left on base the entire weekend and we didn't capitalize? Remember pitching is what got us to the post season last year and they will do it again. Haylie pitched fantastic last year and with her being out the first 19 games this year, she isn't where she was last year. They both have what it takes to pitch this team into the post season, as long as the hitting continues.
I could not have said it better myself. I would not trade Sara nor Haylie for Traina or Ricketts at this point. Our pitchers are the best 1..2 combo on the planet right now. Call me a Homer if you will but the data speaks for itself. Name any team where there are two #1 pitchers with the stats that our girls have. They both have similar IP, K to BB ratio etc.
I will buy anyone a ticket to this weekends game if they can name a team that has two #1 pitchers better than ours.
April 28th, 2013 at 10:09 PM ^
aren't the be all, end all of evaluating pitching talent, but Gascogine and Ricketts both have ERA's in the top ten nationally against a schedule that put them in the top RPI spot (and are a combined 39-3 on the season). Past Oklahoma, Oregon has two in the top sixteen (ranked four in RPI) and James Madison has two in the top twenty-five, albeit with a lower RPI and a couple more losses than M.
I don't think pitching has been a liability or anything this year (to the contrary, I was surprised at the ERA stat above), but saying Wagner and Driesenga are clearly the best one-two in the country is a pretty homerific statement. They could be a top five pair, which is good enough that it shouldn't need to be exaggerated.
Tough loss, but with a bunch of chances this week I'm not worried.
Are you kidding me? We are leading the B1G in hitting right now. We have found our bats as compared to last year.
Everyone needs to remember last year about this time when everyone was bitching about our hitting and how we need to support Sara and Haylie better. Now our bats are hot, the pitchers are a tad better than last year and people still bitch.
All I ask is to refrain from bitchin until you get to a game and watch first hand. TV does not do any justice.
Very well said!