10 — Friday, April 10, 2015
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Michigan set for 
series at Rutgers

By CHRIS CROWDER

Daily Sports Writer

When the Michigan softball 

team heads to Piscataway on 
Friday to play Rutgers for the 
first time, it 
will be licking 
its 
chops, 

ready to play 
one of the Big 
Ten’s 
newest 

opponents.

“We’re still 

pretty excited 
with Rutgers 
being a new 
team in the 
Big Ten,” said 
sophomore 
left 
fielder 

Kelly 
Christner. 
“It’ll 
be 

awesome 
playing them 
for the first time. We’re excited 
and ready to go.”

The 
fourth-ranked 

Wolverines (7-2 Big Ten, 34-6 
overall) are hoping to keep some 
momentum after an 11-1 win 
against Eastern Michigan on 
Tuesday. That performance was 
one of their best of the year, as 
they allowed only one hit while 
racking up nine of their own. 
Michigan coach Carol Hutchins 
was pleased with the effort, but 
emphasized that what happened 
on Tuesday is in the past and 
will not dictate the outcome of 
the upcoming series.

“I’d like to see us take bases 

and pound the ball in the 
ground,” Hutchins said. “And 
you know, we didn’t hit the ball 
over the wall at all and got 11 runs 
(against Eastern Michigan). I’d 
like to see us score runs — we 
scored runs in every inning, but 

that was (Tuesday).”

The midweek contest served 

as a warm-up for the Wolverines 
before their matchup with the 
Scarlet Knights, an opportunity 
to fine-tune their mechanics and 
fundamentals.

“(The midweek games) keep 

us loose, really,” said senior 
pitcher 
Haylie 
Wagner. 
“I 

really just think we have these 
midweek games to stay loose 
and attack the team and just get 
better each time.”

Rutgers (7-2, 20-9) would 

rather not see Michigan get any 
better 
than 

it is already 
playing. 
The 

two teams are 
tied for second 
in the Big Ten 
standings, but 
the Wolverines 
are 
a 
more 

battle-tested 
and 
polished 

team. 
The 

Scarlet 
Knights haven’t played a ranked 
team all season, while Michigan 
has played nearly a third of its 
games against teams in the top 
25. Rutgers has played teams 
near the bottom of the Big 
Ten like Michigan State and 
Indiana. The Wolverines played 
Minnesota, 
the 
only 
other 

ranked team in the conference 
last weekend, and won two out 
of three in the series.

Rutgers is also not nearly 

the powerhouse at the plate or 
in the circle that Michigan is. 
While the Wolverines are the 
best or near it in almost every 
batting and pitching category, 
the Scarlet Knights are in the 
middle of the pack.

But Rutgers does have one 

of the best offensive players in 

the Big Ten in outfielder Jackie 
Bates. She boasts a .404 batting 
average and is second in the 
conference with a .883 slugging 
percentage 
— 
just 
behind 

Michigan’s 
junior 
second 

baseman Sierra Romero. Bates 
also had a career-high eight RBI 
in a 22-17 win against Michigan 
State.

Despite scoring a Big Ten 

season-high amount of runs in 
the game, the Scarlet Knights’ 
pitching crumbled. In the fourth 
inning 
alone, 
the 
Spartans 

scored 16 runs to take the lead, 

16-14. Rutgers 
answered 
in 
the 
next 

inning, scoring 
eight runs to 
eventually 
win 
the 

unfathomable 
game.

But judging 

by 
that 

performance, 
the Wolverines 

are once again playing a team 
with 
a 
less-than-satisfactory 

pitching staff. If they hit as 
well as they did Tuesday, there 
shouldn’t be much trouble in 
winning the series.

“I’d like to see them come 

out ready to play, be aggressive 
and dialed in, because that’s the 
only thing they can control,” 
Hutchins said.

Rutgers joined the Big Ten 

last year, but it hasn’t been fully 
introduced to the conference 
just yet. When it plays Michigan 
this weekend, it will be playing 
the 17-time Big Ten champion. 
As Michigan is vying for another 
this year, it will be prepared 
to give the Scarlet Knights a 
taste of what the best of the 
conference has to offer.

SOFTBALL

Michigan 
at Rutgers

Matchup: 
Michigan 34-6; 
Rutgers 20-9

When: Friday 3 
P.M., Saturday 
1 P.M., Sunday 
12 P.M.

Where: Rutgers 
Softball 
Complex

TV/Radio: 
Saturday, 
Sunday on BTN 
Plus

“I’d like to see us 
take bases and 

pound the ball in 

the ground.”

