Michigan 

softball falls in 

Championship, aims 

to rise once again

By CHRIS CROWDER 

Daily Sports Writer

Tera Blanco took a mid-60s fast-

ball to the upper arm. Her elbow 
guard was too low to protect her 
from the seven-ounce, neon yellow 
sphere spinning toward her. The 
freshman first baseman kneeled to 
the dirt in pain. She stayed there 
for the length of a breath and got 
back up to trot to first base.

The 
Michi-

gan 
softball 

team 
found 

itself 
knocked 

down. It had 
been 
through 

it before, and 
it didn’t need a 
helping 
hand. 

Michigan coach 
Carol Hutchins 
brought 
the 

team 
through 

trials, but she didn’t offer a helping 
hand. They figured it out all by 
themselves.

“The biggest thing you have 

to do with these young kids is to 
throw them on the ground and 

say ‘Figure it out,’ ” Hutchins 
said before the WCWS began. 
“Eventually they figure out how 
to get up … I’m not afraid to 
throw them on the ground and 
say, ‘you want up? Get up.’ ”

The Wolverines came back 

from being down 3-0 in the first 
inning 
twice 
before 
against 

Georgia in the Super Regionals 
and against UCLA in the Wom-
en’s College World Series. Michi-
gan came back to win both times, 
but had never overcome a defi-
cit over three to win, which is 
what it faced in it’s sudden-death 
Game 3 WCWS Final against 
Florida on Wednesday. Four runs 
proved to be too many against 
the defending national champi-

ons.

Florida wasn’t 

alone 
in 
try-

ing 
to 
knock 

the Wolverines 
off their game, 
Michigan did it 
to 
itself 
inad-

vertently to dig 
its own hole. In 
the first inning, 
Haylie 
Wagner 

hit the first bat-

ter she faced. The next batter 
bunted, and Lauren Sweet threw 
down to second to get the lead 
runner out, but the attempt was 
a step too late.

In the second inning, sopho-

more third baseman Lindsay 
Montemarano overthrew first 
base. 
Sophomore 
right-hand-

er Megan Betsa entered and 
plunked the first two batters she 
saw.

Yet, 
the 
Wolverines 
only 

found themselves down four 
runs in the third 
inning when the 
freshman 
first 

baseman Blanco 
got hit. Four bat-
ters later, sopho-
more left fielder 
Kelly Christner 
stepped 
up 
to 

the 
dish 
with 

the bases load-
ed. She was the 
tying run, but 
she couldn’t connect on a 1-2 rise 
ball to put a dent in the Gator 
lead.

The Michigan offense struggled 

to string hits together, as Florida 
right-hander Lauren Haeger took 
a no-hitter into the fourth inning.

Blanco struck back in her next 

at-bat after getting hit, smack-
ing a single past the shortstop for 
the Wolverines’ first base knock. 
Junior second baseman Sierra 
Romero stepped up to the plate 
with two on and delivered, hitting 
a RBI-single to cut the deficit to 
three. Christner entered the box 
again as the tying run, but flew out 
to end the Michigan rally.

One run might’ve seemed like 

a disappointment with so much 
opportunity to score for the Wol-
verines, but it was a sign that they 
were picking themselves back 
up. Michigan displayed under-
standable, 
subtle 
frustration 

after hitting out even when they 

hit 
the 
ball 

square. 
The 

ball was hit 
well, but fell 
into the web 
of the glove 
instead of on 
the checkered 
green grass.

Meanwhile, 

Betsa 
kept 

racking 
up 

strikeouts like 

she’s known best to do. Even 
with two runners in scoring 
position in the Gator half of the 
fifth inning, she struck out the 
side to keep her team in it.

When the Wolverines could’ve 

easily laid down and given up, 
they kept themselves in the 
game. That’s the silver lining.

“They worked through adver-

sity,” Hutchins said. “They avoid-
ed a lot of adversity because they 
always believed. They believed 
that they were great.”

After Wagner got hit on the 

elbow pad in the sixth inning, 
she threw her bat down, either in 
pain or anger. Either way, Michi-

gan was losing the fight, getting 
hurt emotionally and physically 
by Florida. But the Wolverines 
kept standing, forgetting about 
their cuts and bruises.

Despite playing their hearts 

out, Michigan couldn’t overcome 
its early mistakes and the oppor-
tunities it couldn’t capitalize on. 
They didn’t win the National 
Championship, but have the 
right to count Wednesday’s loss 
as a moral victory.

“Sometimes all you have to do 

is make a decision on how you’re 
going to respond during adver-
sity,” Hutchins said before the 
team left for Oklahoma City.

Hutchins didn’t know where 

her team was going to end the 
WCWS, whether it be with a win 
or a loss. But she did know that 
her team would respond, win 
or lose, in a fashion that would 
made her proud.

Losing in the last game of the 

WCWS with the title so close is 
tough to live with. It’ll take some 
time to move on, but Michigan 
softball has done it before.

“We’ve stuck together through 

some hard times,” Romero said. 
“We’ve pushed through it. No 
matter what, we’re a family.”

There’s no evidence against 

them to say that they won’t pick 
themselves up again.

12

Thursday, June 4, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS

DELANEY RYAN/Daily

Haylie Wagner ends her four-year career at Michigan witha 4-1 loss to defending NCAA Champions Florida

DELANEY RYAN/Daily

Megan Betsa shined as an All-American in her sophomore season, leaving optimism for nest season.

Wolverines bit by Gators, season over

“We’ve pushed 
though it. No 
matter what, 

we’re a family.”

“Eventually 

they figure out 
how to get up ... 
I’m not afraid.”

