SB Mercy-Rule Win over Illinois St. 12-0

Submitted by MGoSoftball on

The SB Team has 2 Mercy-Rule wins out of 2 games played thus far in the early going.  In the second game of the USF-Demarini Tournament in Tampa, Florida; M beat Illinois St 12-0.The temperature in Tampa is 68F with full sunshine.  What a wonderful way to start the tourney and the season.

Sara Driesenga was the winning pitcher; going 3 innings, giving up only 1 hit, 1 K and 3 BBs. She faced 13 batters.  Tara Blanco pitched in relief.

The offense was led again by Kelly Christner, who went 3 for 4 with 1 RBI and 3 runs scored.  Kelsey Susalla went 2 for 3 with an RBI and 2 runs scored.  Abby Ramirez went 2 for 2 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs.  Romo went 1 for 2 with 2 runs scored. 

Overall the offense went 11 for 24, with 5 BB and 1 Ks.  We had 8 LOB.  We did not have any HRs this game.

Coach Hutch did a great job in the first two games by rotating the lineup to get the bench players some action.  We only lost lauren Sweet from the starting lineup so this year outgh to be better than last year, if that is even possible.

 

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Coach Hutch

abcd123

February 12th, 2016 at 2:12 PM ^

Simultaneously, they have no mercy, and nothing but mercies. They're a team on a mission this year, I almost feel bad for any team that has to play them.

...Almost.

Joined: 01/19/2016

MGoPoints: 937

Wolverine Devotee

February 12th, 2016 at 2:13 PM ^

27-3 in combined score in the first two games of the season. 

If SiLo walks to lead off an inning, look out. Because the opponent will have to walk Romero, and then that makes two on with none out and a player who hit 20+ HRs a year ago at the dish.

Love the way this batting order is. 

Joined: 06/29/2009

MGoPoints: 31528

LSAClassOf2000

February 12th, 2016 at 2:23 PM ^

As it begins to snow and the temporary (hopefully) bout of arctic air settles into SE Michigan, our softball team is starting out the season on fire. Very good news indeed!

As someone implied above, no mercy indeed. Less than none when we get to the conference would be nice as well. 

Joined: 01/07/2011

MGoPoints: 130603

MGoSoftball

February 12th, 2016 at 2:43 PM ^

I will have to do some research but I accept the challenge.  The NCAA does NOT keep stats for "mercy-rule" wins.  A win is a win whether it is 5 innings or 25 innings.

Also, number of innings per each win is not a normal stat that is kept.  This is because the NCAA and other Softball Organizations do not want to "rub it in".

Let me get home tonight and crank this stat out.  Thanks for the suggestion.

 

 

Joined: 10/18/2010

MGoPoints: 8892

MGoSoftball

February 12th, 2016 at 4:11 PM ^

Last year for the regular season we played 54 games with 48-6 record.  So the 48 wins: 23 were 7 innings, 22 were 5 innings, 3 were 6 innings.  Total innings were 289 for total games won.  So for each win, we averaged 289/48 equals 6.02 innings per win.

The 6 loses: 4 were 7 innings, 1 was 6 innings (Damn Gophers) and 1 was 8 innings.  The average was a clean 7 innings per each loss.

We had 14 post season games, including the B1G Toruney with a 12-2 record.  The 12 wins: 8 were 7 innings, 2 were 6 innings, 2 were 5 innings.  The average is 6.5 innings per win.

The 2 loses were both 7 inning games so the average is 7 innings per loss.

 

Joined: 10/18/2010

MGoPoints: 8892

South Bend Wolverine

February 12th, 2016 at 5:17 PM ^

"I will have to go back and recalculate but her swing and miss percentage is very very low."

I don't know where exactly she is on a pitch-to-pitch basis for that, but the fact that she only struck out 8 times all of last season, despite playing the maximum number of games, many against elite pitching, certainly speaks to an incredible ability to make contact & stay alive.  Happily, that translates into getting on base more often than not (literally!).

Joined: 09/11/2009

MGoPoints: 7918

tlo2485

February 12th, 2016 at 5:42 PM ^

Sophomore Aleshia Ocasio and Delanie Gourley will team up and lead the Florida pitching staff in 2016. This duo combined for a 28-5 record last season and did a fantastic job of going after hitters all season long. Ocasio only walked 25 batters, while striking out 155 batters and Gourley walked 32 batters in 79.0 innings of work. The workload will increase for both pitchers in 2016, but if they stay committed to attacking hitters and throwing strikes, the Gators should be just fine in the circle this season.

Joined: 08/06/2010

MGoPoints: 7429

tlo2485

February 12th, 2016 at 5:48 PM ^

We lost to Ocasio 3 times last year... one was a complete game, one we chased Gourley for 4 runs and Ocasio came in and won... and one Ocasio started and won with Gourley saving after we started to threaten late.... we went 1-1 vs Haeger in the final series. Based on this, we will see Ocasio. The other teams aren't very threatening in this tournament for Florida not to be able to have her ready for us.

Joined: 08/06/2010

MGoPoints: 7429

Alton

February 12th, 2016 at 5:54 PM ^

It's hard to say for sure, given the lingering injury (and the so-so outing today), but Megan Betsa (31-5, 1.72 last season) is probably the starter for Michigan.  If she is, watch for a quick hook if Betsa can't get the ball over the plate.  Last season, Betsa walked 3.4 and struck out 11.0 batters per 7 innings. 

Florida will probably start sophomore Aleshia Ocasio (18-3, 2.58 last season).  Ocasio is a power pitcher who walked 1.3 and struck out 8.0 batters per 7 innings last year.  She does seem vulnerable to the long ball, though.

 

Joined: 07/05/2008

MGoPoints: 13273

Wolverine Devotee

February 12th, 2016 at 5:33 PM ^

BTN has been painfully slow this year announcing TV. Utterly ridiculous.

All of the spring sports still don't have a TV schedule yet. Michigan will be the most televised team in softball, that's for sure.

And with Baseball being picked to win the B1G and the only ranked B1G team, I bet they get on BTN proper a lot this year.

Exciting times. Glad Baseball is finally starting to catch up a little bit. I was in elementary school the last time they were ranked. 

Joined: 06/29/2009

MGoPoints: 31528

Squeezebox

February 12th, 2016 at 6:30 PM ^

to make it mandatory that the umpires post their strike zones before game time?  ;o)

In the finals last year, there were several questionable calls, including FL hit batswomen with their forearms well over the plate and not trying to get out of the way, when the ball was well within the strike zone.  That started a couple of Betsa meltdowns.

Joined: 04/25/2014

MGoPoints: 1566

tlo2485

February 13th, 2016 at 11:46 AM ^

I did a little more research on Florida. It looks like we will be facing their freshman in Barnhill in her debut. She was the #1 pitcher out of high school last year and is supposed to be very good. This is the 3rd year in a row Florida unveils their star freshman recruit versus Michigan. '14 Gourley (L 9-4), '15 Ocasio (L 2-1), '16 Barnhill.

Joined: 08/06/2010

MGoPoints: 7429