Softball vs #21 ASU (4 PM EST) Open thread + livestream
Should be a good one as Queen Romo I: Lady of the Seven Inningdoms, Sovereign of All Free Softballers, Conqueror of the Big Ten Conference, Slayer of the Spartans of the North, Tree Nuts of the South, Lions of the East, and Devils of the West and company go for their eighteenth straight victory.
I noticed that 2 straight ASU plays were handled by Betsa: the pinch hitter singled to pitcher to load the bases and then the leadoff hitter batted into a forceout, pitcher to catcher.
So I'm not watching the video. For those who are, were either or both of those plays bunts, or were the batters swinging away?
both swinging away.
What happened to Betsa?
the announcers kept insisting glove hand, but on my stream I couldn't tell.
She tried two practice pitches, but yanked them both pretty badly into the righty batter's box and I think Hutch thought better of it.
She may have just been shaken up - the ball that got her was stung pretty hard.
that was dicey.
Wagner and Ramirez save the day!!!
Hope it's just a ding for Betsa. Wouldn't be surprised if it is - looked like she wanted to stay in, but got pulled after some discussion. Great job by Wagner to get out of the jam. Now let's see if we can turn over the line-up and maybe get some insurance before going into the bottom of the 7th.
pitch for the K, looked a little inside but too close to take.
Nice bit of hitting from Ramirez! Top of the order now.
has some good wheels. I look for her to bat lead-off next year.
That would be a good option if she continues progressing. I really like how she's come on this year, doing a great job turning over the line-up, just like here.
Silo cannot be stopped in Tempe! Two-run shot, and it's a 6-2 lead!
that woman can hit
In Lawrence's last 3 games against ASU, she is 9 for 12 with 5 home runs and 7 RBI.
Let's not forget that Michigan ended their season in 2013 in the World Series, also.
Get this: Sierra Lawrence's career record in Farrington Stadium... 15 for 29 (.517), 7 Home Runs, 15 RBI.
Hopefully Michigan books a spot in this tournament in Tempe again next season, just for her.
It's like Lawrence stole the Devils' spear last year and hasn't stopped putting holes in them.
SI-LO SAYS SEE YA!!
I love watching pitchers tremble in fear of Sierra Romero. 3 walks on the day. :)
those are in the top of the inning---going into the bottom of the 7th, a 4-run lead is SO MUCH bigger than 2 runs!
Wagner fans the lead-off hitter in the B7. 2 outs to go.
Pop out to 2B, and the Sun Devils are down to their last chance. Great over the shoulder grab by Ramirez!
on an easy pop-up...
Pop-out to Romero, and that will do it! 6-2 final on 4 HRs. Sierra Lawrence the star of the day with two blasts.
VICTORy !!!
it certainly looks like a good year ahead for the good guys.
This team is showing shades of 2005.
and looked in good spirits during handshakes, so hopefully that's a good sign.
I do miss having a flamethrower - seems like the last one we had was Ritter - but Michigan certainly teed off on ASU's flamethrower when she came in.
In other Big Ten news, all of our major opposition except for Minnesota is struggling mightily. Northwestern, Nebraska, and Wisconsin are all sub-.500 on the year, including some pretty embarassing losses. Minnesota is doing well overall with a 14-3 record, but their only really good win there is a 4-1 decision against Arizona State. Right now they're on an ugly two game skid, having fallen by big numbers to James Madison and Fordham.
Edit: Minny did also beat Washington, who is usually strong.
It's a mess. I know Hutch would rather play good teams and lose a few more games than just walk all over the competition. There also seems to be a tendency to get complacent, as we saw during the latter half of the conference season last year. I mean, it's fun to watch Michigan beat MSU twenty-something to nothing, but it doesn't do much for the team in the long run.
I was happy with how Minn was playing, though with these results I guess that feeling was premature. I'm most surprised with how bad Nebraska is right now. Hopefully some of these teams can get it together.
I agree wholeheartedly. It's fun to beat people up, but it doesn't accomplish anything, and it doesn't prepare the team for NCAAs, which is what we need to be doing. I must say that I am really disappointed in Nebraska, Northwestern, and Wisconsin here. Sending 5 Big Ten teams to the NCAA tournament last year was a good achievement for the conference, and should have been a stepping stone to progress. Instead, it's looking like the B10 is just lapsing back into mediocrity. It's still early, though, and there's plenty of time for these other teams to turn it around.
We did do something like that in 2010, playing a two game set against Kentucky, which we won 5-4, 8-4. Not sure why we haven't done it again - maybe because it looked like the Big Ten was getting better and we didn't need to? I agree, if things keep being this weak, we'll want to consider that as an option.
Really, the reason we don't do that any more is that Nebraska joined the Big Ten, moving the number of members from 11 to 12. Now there are no bye weeks in the conference season, and every weekend has to be occupied by a 3-game conference series.
If we wanted to host a good team like Kentucky or Florida State, it would have to be a mid-week series...and I think it would be much harder to find a major team willing to come up for a Tuesday and/or Wednesday game.
Yes, I know we host Kent State for a 3-game weekend series this year, but I can't imagine that they will even be able to play those games (scheduled for March 14 & 15). I'm sure there is no way a major team would want to play in Ann Arbor before the snow melts.
On the plus side, while we always play a tough non-conf. slate, we've really put ourselves through a gauntlet this year. We can't control the B10, but we can control this element, and I'm really happy with that, especially given how well we're doing!
I see they dropped their big early games, with the exception of T A&M - they seem to always be a tough out - any different this season?
Michigan is now 17-3 all-time as the #3 ranked team.
This was Michigan's 3rd straight early season tournament title this year. Michigan is now 499-165-3 in early season tournaments.
Just one more left before Michigan plays their first series at Alumni Field.
The annual Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton, CA that features elite teams every year. Before Michigan starts play in that, they will play Cal State Fullerton in a road game on Wednesday.
Then on Friday, in the Judi Garman Classic, they face this Arizona State team they swept this weekend and #1 Florida, the only team Michigan has lost to this season. Michigan will play San Jose State and Baylor the following day and face San Diego State on Sunday in a rematch of an NCAA Tempe Regional match up from last year.
Michigan will be participating in the Judi Garman Classic on Thursday-Saturday, not Friday-Sunday.
Thursday: ASU (11 am PST) & Florida immediately after
Friday: SJSU (9:30 am PST) & Baylor (5 pm PST)
Saturday: SDSU (10 am PST)
You're right, I just assumed it was a weekend tournament knowing the order of the games but not the dates.
Nice - this team is kicking some serious ass right now. GO BLUE!
Realize this is early BUT with Michigans very tough non-conference scheduling we are setting ourselves up very nicely for hosting Super Regionals ,with a very high seed and a easier Super Regional opponent....with Road sweeps of Florida St, Alabama and Arizona ST already in the books our RPI and SR hosting is in very good shape...If we can somehow get Florida and Baylor next week we will be in EXCELLENT position.
I know theres alot of softball left and we dont want to get to far ahead of ourselves but these wins are the difference between Hositng Super Regionals and not...There are very few teams that will be able to match our non-con schedule let alone our road record..
KEEP IT UP LADIES!!! we can always count on Softball to do us Proud...