2017 Michigan Softball starting lineup notes

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

It's almost here!!!!!

The 2017 season starts tomorrow. Can you believe it?

#6 Michigan will play this weekend in the Wilson-Demarini Tournament down at USF. 

We'll open the 2017 season against Delaware (30-21 in 2016) tomorrow at 11:30am and then face Illinois State (20-33 in 2016) at 2pm.

Saturday, #6 Michigan will meet the hated #4 Florida Gators at 12:30pm, and then take a break before playing the tournament host #25 USF at 5:30pm.

The weekend wraps up early Sunday morning against St. John's (29-20 in 2016) at 9am.

Hutch had her first weekly WTKA segment this morning and mentioned some interesting notes about the starting lineup.

  • Alex Sobczak will be the starting Catcher. Biggest question mark on the team heading into the season. Hutch said "she's really grown up since last year". Sobczak lost her starting spot to Aidan Falk after a rough start and saw very little playing time the rest of the year, even in the truckload of blowout wins last season. Read into Hutch's quote if you're wondering why.
  • Faith Canfield will be the starting 2B, following the legend Sierra Romero.
  • The best hitter since practice officially began has been junior Taylor Swearingen. Pretty interesting given she hasn't seen much time yet. 
  • The top-4 in the batting order to start the season will be-
  1. Natalie Peters
  2. Abby Ramirez
  3. Kelly Christner
  4. Tera Blanco

    This reminds me of the lineup from 2011-2012 where we had two slappers--Bree Evans and Nicole Sappingfield--leading off.
  • Hutch expects to see innings from sophomore Leah Crockett
  • Freshman Haley Hoogenraad will see playing time in the outfield. She had a really good Fall. 

 

tlo2485

February 9th, 2017 at 8:23 PM ^

So...

1B Blanco, ?

2B Canfield

SS Ramirez

3B Montemarano

OF Christner, Peters, ?

C Sobzcek

DH ?

P Betsa, Blanco, Crockett

 

? Swearingen (OF, DH?), Falk (1B/DH/OF?), Vargas (?), Hoogenraad (OF?)

tlo2485

February 9th, 2017 at 8:29 PM ^

Maybe it would be better to have a permanent 1B with Swearingen if she's hitting the best, and have Blanco DH and hit for herself while pitching. This leaves the outfield spot and some DH for Falk and Hoogenrad.

1B Swearingen

2B Canfield

SS Ramirez

3B Montemarano

C Sobzcek

OF Christner, Peters, Falk

P Betsa, Blanco, Crockett

DH Blanco, Hoogenraad

tlo2485

February 9th, 2017 at 8:46 PM ^

I knew that, but we've seen plenty of people move to the outfield..  most recently Susalla. It may not be an option, but my thinking was that Falk has earned more playing time as a junior, especially after doing a pretty good job out of position last year at c, than an incoming freshman may deserve. 

Alton

February 9th, 2017 at 9:01 PM ^

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/mich/sports/w-softbl/auto_pdf/2016-…

According to this week's release, it's...

C - Sobczak

1B - Falk

2B - Canfield

3B - Montemarano

SS - Ramirez

LF - Richardson or Hoogenraad (Fr)

CF - Christner

RF - Peters

DH - Blanco? Swearingen?

P - Betsa, Blanco, Crockett

My guess for the pitching rotation this weekend:  Delaware - Crockett, Illinois State - Blanco, Florida - Betsa; South Florida - Blanco; St John's - Betsa.  Betsa will likely pitch an inning or two in relief against Delaware or Illinois State, but Hutch will likely save her for the Florida game.

Alton

February 10th, 2017 at 10:51 AM ^

Just announced.  So Blanco will be playing 1B, moving Falk to DH.  Going with the ace at P to get her some game experience before the Florida game tomorrow.

Peters-RF

Ramirez-SS

Christner-CF

Blanco-1B

Falk-DP

Sobczak-C

Montemarano-3B

Richardson-LF

Canfield-2B

Betsa-P

Michwolve05

February 9th, 2017 at 9:19 PM ^

Anyone else attending the games against NC State and Notre Dame? Hoping to bring my daughter's travel team to see a national powerhouse in softball. We saw the baseball team a few years ago. Now it's finally time for her to see her favorite team.

MGoBrewMom

February 9th, 2017 at 11:04 PM ^

I want to sincerely thank you for your softball posts and background info. I'm a huge fan, living far away and unable to really spend a lot of time digging through stuff to learn about these things to learn about it.
Thanks for sharing the info and for your enthusiasm for this sport. I get to see them once or twice a year in person, but the updates are great--preseason through post season.