Romo is Player and Freshman of the Year; Hutch is Coach of the Year

Submitted by MGoSoftball on

The Big Ten released its annual awards today. Freshman sensation Sierra Romero was selected as both Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year. Coach Hutch was honored with the Coach of the Year.

The RPI was released yesterday and we actually gained a few spots. We are sitting at #7. So if this holds true, we will host the Regional and Super Regional. The only path to dropping would be an early exit in the B1G Tourney in my opinion.

 

 http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/050813aab.html

Real Tackles Wear 77

May 8th, 2013 at 12:40 PM ^

I'm assuming softball players typically stay 4 years...if so we might be seeing the emergence of one of the all-time stars here at UM with Sierra. I'm not sure who (probably MGoSoftball) but someone predicted we would win another Nat'l title in softball soon. Looks like we've got a great foundation.

justingoblue

May 8th, 2013 at 1:00 PM ^

$5,000-6,000 for a three month season, although that does come with free housing.

http://www.profastpitch.com/about/faqs/

The big problem is that these players probably have to make their living in softball the rest of the year, unless they teach or have some other type of three season employment. For Cat Osterman, maybe that works out more than an average engineering or business job, but that's Cat Freakin' Osterman, and pitching lessons are a lot more sought after/expensive than hitting or fielding coaching is.

justingoblue

May 8th, 2013 at 1:43 PM ^

I honestly never even considered overseas, although I still have to assume that being an All-American at Michigan or UCLA or Texas plus a good degree would land "real world" offers that paid very well.

Also, these are the extreme outliers, and even Jordan Taylor probably doesn't make that cut, but I'd guess someone like Osterman or Finch back in the day could coach at a pretty high level immediately (Osterman does coach, but at the DII level as an assistant to her best friend) which pay pretty well if you can get into the BCS leagues.

justingoblue

May 8th, 2013 at 9:13 PM ^

mod edits don't show up as new. I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but I was just reminded that my former roommate was offered a contract in the Netherlands to play pro softball (pitcher, first base, definitely a top hitter as well). She ended up taking a GA scholarship over that, but I don't know if that meant it was a better deal financially, she was pretty worn out after playing for eighteen years or whatever. Also, she definitely isn't in Jordan Taylor's league, although she is/was very good.

South Bend Wolverine

May 8th, 2013 at 12:51 PM ^

One of my favorite things about the non-revenue sports is you get way more 4-year players.  There is a softball pro league, but it's a fairly minor affair (just 4 teams).  The prestige is definitely in the college game, which has way more visibility (regularly on ESPN, BTN, etc.).  So yes, we should definitely buckle up, because we are in for one hell of a ride.  Romero is clearly the headliner among our young guns, but we also had four other underclassmen earn all-conference distinctions, three of which were first-team (we also had two upperclass first-team selections).  Lots of talent and lots of youth - we will definitely be among the nation's elite, competing at the highest level for years to come!

VCavman24

May 8th, 2013 at 9:23 PM ^

I am very excited for this postseason and the years to come.  Romero is incredible, but even more incredible is all of the talent Michigan has.  If you watched the Northwestern games, they frequently walked Romero, yet there were many people with +.300 batting averages after her.  This team, if they play well, could beat anybody.  First, however, focus on the Big Ten Tournament and bringing home a potential Super Regional bid.  Go Blue!

Smash Lampjaw

May 9th, 2013 at 9:21 AM ^

Dreisenga is 1st team and Wagner is second team. One has a better era and the other has a better W/L record. When crunch time comes, which one will Hutch treat as the ace?