SB Rolls the Tide (again), Wins 2 Today
The SB Team rolled the Tide again today 4-1 in Tuscaloosa at the Easton Bama Bash tourney. We mercied Lipscomb 13-1 in the early game.
Against Bama, Haylie was the starter and winner. She pitched all 7 innings, allowed 5 hits (1 ER), 1 BB and recorded 1 K.
Tera and Kelly went deep in the 3rd Inning to put us up 4-0. Tera HR came with 2 on. Romo went 1 for 2 with a run scored and an RBI. Kelly was 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored and the HR RBI.
Against the Bison, Sara was the starter and pitched a shortened complete-game. She gave up 1 ER off 4 hits. She gave up 0 BB and recoreded 2 Ks.
Lauren kept the hot bat going with a 2 for 3 performance with 4 RBIs and a run scored. Kelsey went 2 for 3 with 3 RBIs and a run scored. Aiden recorded her first HR and went 2 for 3 with 3 RBIs and a run scored. Romo also went 2 for 3 with 3 runs scored and an RBI.
We are now 4-1 against top 5 teams. The only loss was the opener 2-1 against top-ranked Florida. The Team is really start to pour it on now. The ladies looked like they were having a great time today. Even when the Tide had the bases loaded in the 6th, the ladies looked relaxed.
This is the hottest start we had in a very long time. All 3 pitchers are lights-out and the bats are popping. I cannot wait for May.
February 21st, 2015 at 4:37 PM ^
Booking your tickets to OKC yet?
February 21st, 2015 at 4:40 PM ^
so sayeth we all
February 21st, 2015 at 4:41 PM ^
THREE DIFFERENT SOFTBALL CELEBRATION THREADS!!!
#5 Michigan deserves to be ranked #2. They have gone into the house of #6 Florida State and #3 Alabama, and have swept both them in back-to-back weekends.
Sara D a machine and Wagner did amazing today, keeping up with Betsa who beat #3 Alabama 8-2 yesterday.
I said this team has what it takes. This team has it all. The fielding, the hitting, the outstanding grabs.
Only loss of the season was to #1 Florida, 2-1 in Tampa on a walkoff.
They play James Madison tomorrow morning to close out the Easton Bama Bash. James Madison is also solid apparently, with them receiving votes in the poll. Another opportunity to showcase this team.
Also, glad to see you're back MGoSoftball. I attempted to do updates iwhile you were gone but they weren't the same.
February 21st, 2015 at 4:53 PM ^
Blue in south bend south bend wolverine (I think that's the name) has also posted a lot of good stuff. Credit to him / her.
February 21st, 2015 at 4:42 PM ^
This Michigan Softball Team is a Must-See once they come north. I sure wish the schedule allowed for them to be in town for a pair of games either Saturday or Sunday the weekend of April 4th (spring game weekend).
February 21st, 2015 at 4:49 PM ^
Great day all around, so happy for the team. More and more of the pre-season questions are getting answered. With great performances from Betsa & Wagner in these two pressure games, the defense is shaping up well. On the other side, we're seeing more & more where the production is going to come from. Susalla contributing, Blanco with her first career HR, Christner stepping up... Things are looking pretty good.
February 21st, 2015 at 5:07 PM ^
Alabama had the schedule set up to have an advantage against M. They had UM as their first scheduled game each day - Friday and Saturday, while it was UM's 2nd game of the day. They also cancelled their Friday night game against JMU due to cold weather. So, when we played them today, it was their 2nd game of the weekend and they had only used 1 pitcher. We were playing them in our 4th game of the weekend and had already used 3 pitchers on Friday. (Though pitchers routinely go again sooner in SB). Impressive work by all of our pitchers. If we stay healthy this team should go far.
February 21st, 2015 at 6:07 PM ^
To be fair, they held out Sydney Littlejohn, who is far and away their best pitcher. Probably the best pitcher in the country so far this year. Pretty dumb, but I guess they figure there's a good chance they'll face Michigan in the postseason and don't want to give Michigan hitters a look at her yet.
February 21st, 2015 at 7:28 PM ^
February 21st, 2015 at 7:30 PM ^
February 21st, 2015 at 7:29 PM ^
February 21st, 2015 at 5:07 PM ^
Michigan has only beaten the #3 ranked team 5 times (5-10 record).
They beat top-seeded Iowa twice on the road to win the 1997 Big Ten Tournament Championship, they beat 8 seed Florida State last year in the Tallahassee Super Regional 17-3 and they beat Alabama last night and this afternoon.
February 21st, 2015 at 5:10 PM ^
I watched the game on my Chromecast and the SEC Network had the worst announcers I have ever heard. Said Michigan got "breaks" and If they played later in the year it would be a different result. Outwardly bias.
February 21st, 2015 at 5:24 PM ^
February 21st, 2015 at 6:14 PM ^
That's horseshit... let's see 'Bama play their first 20 games on the road because the season starts when it's still winter.
February 21st, 2015 at 5:10 PM ^
Wow. Looks like it might be a season to remember. Even in some recent good years I recall early trips to the south not going well. Emphatically rolling several teams has me wondering about clean-sweeping the Big Ten
February 21st, 2015 at 6:11 PM ^
"Emphatically rolling several teams has me wondering about clean-sweeping the Big Ten"
While we've certainly got a talented team, it might be a bit early for that sort of idea. After all, Michigan has only done that once in team history (a 4-0 conf. record in 1982). We've only lost 1 in conference a couple times, but that's it. Minnesota is a very good team, and we have to face them on the road this year, so I won't put anything in the bank just yet.
That said, given how much easier our conf. schedule is than our main competition, along with these great early results, I'll be pretty disappointed if we don't take the crown.
February 21st, 2015 at 5:12 PM ^
February 21st, 2015 at 5:19 PM ^
At least our women come to play.
February 21st, 2015 at 6:12 PM ^
..and in gymnastics and swimming too!
February 21st, 2015 at 9:02 PM ^
In the midst of the Big Ten Tourney, the women swimmers are setting records. Currently #2 going into the finals.
#15 Women's tennis upset #6 Baylor 4-1, and Emina Bektas tied a Michigan record with most singles wins.
And #6 Women's gymnastics was 8-0 going into last night's meet with #1 Oklahoma (defending national champs) and almost upset them, closing the score to lose by less than 2/10 of a point (197.375-197.250). They've already beaten several ranked teams, and lead the B1G in 3 out 4 events. The 4th is vault (where they're only 2nd in the B1G), and if they'd only stuck a couple more landings on their spectacular vaults, they could have had the upset. Now they know they belong in the NCAA picture as well as being the favorites for the Big Ten.
Sophomore Nicole Artz (whose picture below seems to say it all), got a 10 from one judge in beam, winning the event with a career high 9.950. In contrast to the description of the SEC commentators for softball, the analyst for this meet was Olympic champ Shawn Johnson. Giving Oklahoma its due respect, she became very impressed with Michigan and wasn't shy about saying the other judge should have given Nicole the 10. Considering Shawn won the Olympic gold in beam, she should know. Below she's on floor, with almost as almost-perfect a score: 9.925.
EDIT: The picture is much better un-thinified.
February 21st, 2015 at 5:28 PM ^
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February 21st, 2015 at 5:38 PM ^
....well, sort of, on the CBS GameTracker.
8-1 TTU in the bottom of the 4th inning. Nutof struck out the side in the top of the 4th, however, so there is that. It's also 58 degrees in Savannah right now and I wish I was there watching the game, not fretting about the icicles creeping down the side of my house.
February 21st, 2015 at 5:37 PM ^
I will definitely be catching their games once they are back up here!
February 21st, 2015 at 6:28 PM ^
by posting that gif of yourself dancing, we now know what you really look like (as opposed to that pretty blonde you use as your userpic). Those others dancing in the background---can we assume them to be your parents, in-laws, and spouse?
Nice castle, though---or were you at Disney?
February 21st, 2015 at 6:12 PM ^
The softball team is killing it this year. The youth is really meshing well with the veteran talent. Great start! Hoping this is the year for that tourney run...
February 21st, 2015 at 6:35 PM ^
February 21st, 2015 at 8:57 PM ^
in Michigan sports the women rock!!!
February 21st, 2015 at 11:44 PM ^
If you aren't close to the program you probably donn't know who Jeff is. Even if you are close to the program, you probably don't either.
No big deal, Jeff is awesome and he did well today. If you all don't know who that is, well you're morons I can't believe you don't know everyone by their first name.
Go Blue.
February 22nd, 2015 at 4:00 AM ^
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