The new #1 MICH SB
They're serious ballers!
Pretty accurate description for softball if I do say so myself.
Michigan and Florida both have 3 losses
Also - they've already played 30 games?! What is happening to 2016?
and none of them have been televised by BTN
bastards...
They have a really good pitcher.
Imagine how cool it would be if the MSM covered the baseball and softball teams.
is a coach and Minnesota has been very good recently......
Jessica was captain on the 2005 M team that won the College World Series.
Did they reach #1 last year?
highest ranking was at the end #2
Go Blue!!
I thought she was supposed to be the Ace (while Betsa was a great #2). Is this not the case?
They are both giving up a lot of hits, walks, and runs compared to anything we've seen recently. Both have ERA around 2.5. Dreisenga is undefeated, but Betsa has had the tougher starts mostly. Our offense has rescued us, besides being shut out by Florida 8-0, and losing two 1-run slugfests to Washington and a not-very-good Northwestern. Teams without a bonified shutdown ace rarely succeed in the world series. Without comparing exact details, I would say our pitching is probably the poorest out of the top 10 right now. Betsa has a lot of strike outs, but also way too many walks and meltdowns. With that being said, we still find ourselves ranked #1 with all of our tough games behind us, and a lot of quality wins racked up. I'll trust Hutch to pull it together, but I will still be nervous to face a likely field of Florida, Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Oregon, etc.....
Agreed!
As expected after the dominating performances the team has shown following the Northwestern lost coupled with Florida losing 2 of 3 to Alabama.
This team is strong from the top of the order to the bottom. Pitching seems to be the only weakness if you can call a couple of fluke outings that. If Betsa, Driesenga and Blanco can continue to put up consistent strong showings then this team will be back in the WCWS as the favorite to win it all. Go Blue!
in RPI as weII
Wonderful! Would love to have them hoist the Championship Trophy as well.
Sweet.
Kinda interesting. Didn't Florida beat us pretty good when we met this season?
Yep. But it's a poll. *shrugs* They always include at least some logic that makes no sense to anybody not making the poll. Doesn't matter anyway. Just finish in the top 8 to host Regionals and Super Regionals. After that, it's just winning.
They go with the preseason poll and adjust it almost entirely up and down based on the previous weeks results. Prior results are basically forgotten when these pollsters update their polls. Florida run ruled us, and beat Auburn 2/3...so there's no denying they're the team to beat, but they're punished for dropping 2 to a top 10 Alabama. Finishing in top 8 is the main objective. We really should be able to finish with 5 or less losses, but who knows. That's definitely a top 3 seed, though.
2 out of 3...............
Hutch has a special group that has played a very aggressive schedule and the momentum is building..........
Hell yeah - Go Blue! Love to see the softball team at #1!
Hutch isn't surprised at our ranking.
Er, maybe she is...
Hutch will be the first to say polls are for fools. She always says that.
We are ahead of Florida in the rankings. We just need to beat them in the postseason.
I think that U-M softball has a chance to become a pretty good program.
we will have to out slug teams once we get thru to the super regionals and beyond if we get there. Which, we are perfectly capable and SHOULD do...we might not need a Haylie Wagner shut out type performance this year..Betsa has been somewhat of a dissapointment so far but then I never thought she was a Dominant pitcher consistently, sure shes dominant against Western etc but when she goes up against the top schools she struggles...Sarah Driesbach has had a great year so far but shs been giving up 3 or so runs a game as well...We will have to out hit the Floridas, Bama and Auburns of the world but I think we have the team to do it...MICH VS florida for th title again this year...Michigan wins