Softball wins season opener, freshman pitcher saves the day
#19 Michigan opened the 2019 season this morning with an early bird special game against NC State in the lid lifter of the USF Wilson-Demarini Tournament.
The game was quiet until the 3rd inning when Michigan had bases loaded and Masion Uden dropped one into center field for an RBI single to put the Wolverines up 1-0.
NC State answered immediately, tying the game with a leadoff home run in the top of the 4th inning on the first pitch. After a diving catch for an out by sophomore 1B Taylor Bump, NC State managed to score two more runs with a ball down the left field line to go up 3-1.
After Michigan failed to respond in the B4, Hutch made a surprising decision and took Meghan Beaubien out of the circle and inserted true freshman Alex Storako while down 3-1. It worked because she struck out the first batter she faced and went 3up, 3 down.
NC State had a meltdown in the circle in the same inning with a leadoff walk and consecutive hit batters loaded the bases with Wolverines. Haley Hoogenraad made it a 3-2 game with an RBI single and then NC State hit ANOTHER Michigan batter with bases loaded to tie at 3-3.
Michigan took the lead for good on an NC State infield error with bases loaded to make it 4-3.
Storako was solid, striking out 6 batters and allowing 0 hits in just 3 innings pitched.
Michigan wins their season opener over NC State, 4-3.
In about 20 minutes, the first real test of the season comes when #19 Michigan will face #7 Arizona.
February 8th, 2019 at 2:19 PM ^
*Madison Uden.
Ugh. Wish I could edit the OP.
Here's the starting lineup for this game. Wonder if we'll see any changes in this next game.
- Natalie Peters (CF)
- Faith Canfield (2B)
- Madison Uden (3B)
- Haley Hoogenraad (RF)
- Katie Alexander (C)
- Taylor Bump (1B)
- Thais Gonzalez (DP)
- Lexie Blair (LF)
- Natalia Rodriguez (SS)
LHP- Meghan Beaubien
February 8th, 2019 at 3:22 PM ^
not a lot of power in this lineup. Unless these girls starting hitting for power, it'll be the same story as last year come May. Looking forward to seeing if they can do it tho.
February 8th, 2019 at 2:19 PM ^
The good: Storako's performance. 9 batters faced, 9 outs, 6 by strikeout. All with a 1-run lead.
The bad: Michigan at the plate. Only 4 base hits, all singles. Left the bases loaded in 3 of their 6 innings. Needed 5 HBP, 2 walks and an error to get anything going--would probably have only scored 1 run without those 5 batters getting plunked.
The scary: Beaubien's second time through the order. The defense bailed her out; that 4th inning could have been a disaster--she was hit hard that inning.
February 8th, 2019 at 2:25 PM ^
She's coming off of some kind of injury. She's had a cast on her non-throwing arm that caused her to miss fall practice & the exhibitions.
I don't think there is anything to worry about with her in the long run. The bigger news to me is Storako doing so well.
February 8th, 2019 at 2:59 PM ^
Relax, all right? We don't need to try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they're fascist. They should throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.
February 8th, 2019 at 2:59 PM ^
I'll just fall back on the old MLB adage that it takes a few for early season hitting to catch up to pitching.
February 8th, 2019 at 2:24 PM ^
Pitching depth is good. Thanks WD.
Need timely hitting though.
February 8th, 2019 at 2:27 PM ^
Nice start to the season! Get em Ladies!
February 8th, 2019 at 2:46 PM ^
Off topic to the game question...
Don't we typically open a top 15-ish team every year? Or do we even open the season unranked at times?
Thanks in advance.
February 8th, 2019 at 4:21 PM ^
LOL Tough crowd!
February 9th, 2019 at 8:34 PM ^
Must've been something I said. lollers
February 8th, 2019 at 2:53 PM ^
Go Blue Softball and Go Coach Hutch---way to start off the season!
At least somewhere, Spring has arrived...
February 8th, 2019 at 2:55 PM ^
It's unfortunate they aren't televising the games, would be great to watch. Go Blue, Ladies!
February 8th, 2019 at 3:50 PM ^
MGoBLue.com lists the AZ start time as 2:30 PM, while failing to mention that it's CET. The AZ team site has it down right. Looks like football profits could be better used just to keep the site up to date.
Start time of the 2nd game now set for 3:56.
UM radio link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw3CY1ZyqRk
Live stats from the AZ site:
https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=252124
February 8th, 2019 at 4:15 PM ^
Lid lifter...nice
February 8th, 2019 at 4:36 PM ^
In Columbus, I believe most tailgate parties have someone assigned as "designated lid lifter", the person responsible for determining which coolers hold the beer and food and which ones are used for "squatting"
February 8th, 2019 at 4:47 PM ^
Is Meghan injured? Storako started game 2 againt Zona.
February 8th, 2019 at 5:11 PM ^
Beaubien took over.
February 8th, 2019 at 5:55 PM ^
Dropped a close game to Arizona 2-1.
February 8th, 2019 at 6:47 PM ^
More on the second game: Storako's control deserted her and she threw 5 walks and a wild pitch in 2 innings, after going 3 innings in the first game without a walk. She did manage to strike 3 batters out, though. Beaubien gave up next to nothing (no runs, 3 hits, no walks) over the last 4 innings, but M lost because we were unable to generate much offense against UA's pitcher, Taylor McQuillin. M had just 4 hits and 2 walks.
February 8th, 2019 at 7:53 PM ^
Beaubien didn’t give up anything as far as runs go, but she got hit HARD on a few occasions.
February 8th, 2019 at 6:02 PM ^
If Michigan can’t get the bats going it is going to be another frustrating season.
February 8th, 2019 at 8:24 PM ^
I am not worried about the hitting. It usually takes a few games for all softball teams to get into a rhythm. Hutch will figure this out. In 2013 and 2014 we started off slow and finished strong.
February 9th, 2019 at 10:55 AM ^
jeez if you're not worried about the hitting, what are you worried about? SP ERA not dropping beloe 1.00 form 1.59?
February 8th, 2019 at 7:51 PM ^
I was at both games today, wasn’t drinking, and don’t think I had heat stroke, but I swear Schaefer pitched an inning in the first game. It’s not mentioned in the game story, on Twitter, or in the box score. Maybe someone spiked my pop.
February 8th, 2019 at 8:41 PM ^
It is tough having to practice inside then head south and begin your season against a couple teams who have been outside a lot...it is very different in every way.
February 9th, 2019 at 4:41 PM ^
Hmm. No Lou Allan in the first weekend. She's one with power, but missed or was recovering from injury most of last year. Hopefully she'll be back.
Storako is off to a nice start. They could use depth at pitcher.
Yeah, I worry about the offense. Everything else is there. But in softball, that's still a good 40% of the game. These tournaments are critical for NCAA tournament seeding since the Big Ten schedule is imbalanced and very weak in the east.
But Hutch knows what she's doing and there are some promising new recruits.