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Thursday, May 12, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS
The bullpen catcher, the ‘mom’ and the sliding specialist
By AVI SHOLKOFF
Daily Sports Writer
Seven games this season, fans of
the Michigan softball team received
cardboard cutouts of a senior
Wolverine. It is a day to honor
the player and her contributions
to her team. They are shown on
the scoreboard, applauded during
introductions and cheered on by
the crowd.
For the four senior starters, it is
a day of extra incentive. All eyes in
the stands look for a towering home
run or dazzling strike out.
But while Michigan’s senior
bullpen catcher didn’t get to see the
field on the day named after her,
Lauren Connell wasn’t upset.
She knew her role. In fact, every
Wolverine has a role.
For most players, the roles are
typical. Get on base. Lay down a
sacrifice bunt. Throw strikes. Get
ahead in the count.
But a group of three seniors
fulfill
three
roles
not
always
present
during
gameplay.
One
brings humor and constructive
criticism to her pitchers. Another
dedicates herself to her teammates,
focusing on solving their problems
and helping with their needs. The
third pushes herself and her fellow
pinch-runners to succeed in crucial
moments.
Connell arrived at Michigan four
years ago after a record-setting
high school career. Four years later,
she’s finishing up her fourth year
as the team’s bullpen catcher, a
position that Michigan coach Carol
Hutchins calls the most challenging
role on the team.
Olivia Richvalsky has tallied just
two hits in her time as a Wolverine.
Still, her role transcends that of the
traditional outfielder, as players
call the constant pinch-runner the
“team mother,” who never shies
away from offering a helping hand.
Mary Sbonek dreamt of playing
for the Michigan softball team
for years. Once she arrived in Ann
Arbor, she tried out and eventually
earned a spot as a pinch-runner.
Now, she prepares the younger
pinch-runners for the future.
“You’re not going to have all
Sierra Romeros,” Hutchins said
about the All-American senior
second baseman. “You’ve gotta
have different types of roles.”
Last weekend, the three seniors
played at Alumni Field for the last
time in their Big Ten careers. In the
final inning, Hutchins substituted
Connell, Richvalsky and Sbonek —
as a pinch runner — in the game.
During the final moments of the
regular season, the three received
their chance to shine. Last Saturday,
Richvalsky caught the final out of
the game to cement Michigan’s
regular season conference title. It
was her first putout of the season.
And now, beginning with this
weekend’s Big Ten tournament,
the three players will participate in
their fourth consecutive postseason
with
aspirations
of
one
final
Women’s College World Series
appearance.
This is the story of three seniors
who perform different types of
roles. This is the story of a bullpen
catcher, a “team mom,” and a sliding
specialist.
***
The bullpen catcher:
Lauren
Connell
had
a
distinguished high school career
for West Lafayette (IN), starting
all four years, serving as a team
captain in her senior season and
playing both catcher and third base.
During her first visit to the
University, Connell fell in love
with Ann Arbor’s atmosphere and
the familiar midwest lifestyle.
She learned that Michigan sought
a bullpen catcher, and though it
would bring fewer moments at
the backstop for Connell, it was a
chance she couldn’t pass up.
“The opportunity to play for
such an incredible team, with such
a great reputation — this is a team
that’s still playing in June — that’s
what I (wanted) to do,” Connell said.
“As soon as I stepped on campus, I
knew that this was where I wanted
to spend the next four years of my
life.”
Now in her senior season,
Connell has fully embraced her role
as the bullpen catcher. She loves
spending time with pitchers and
mentoring them.
It wasn’t always like that, though,
especially for a player who led her
high school in career home runs
and runs scored.
“Going from one of the main
players on the team to a bullpen role
was a little bit different,” Connell
said. “Contributing in a different
way than what I was used to, it was
a transition, and it’s been a role that
I’ve really accepted and I think I’ve
done well in.”
The Wolverines’ pitchers agree
with her. Fifth-year senior right-
hander Sara Driesenga has spent
nearly her entire Michigan career
throwing to Connell, who she says
isn’t afraid to tell the pitching staff
if they aren’t hitting the zone, or if a
particular motion isn’t flowing well.
“(Connell) sees the changes in
how we’ve (the pitchers) gotten
better,”
Driesenga
said.
“She
expects us to hit our spots and do
all these things which maybe we
struggled with more a couple years
ago.”
The Wolverines’ roster lists
Connell as a catcher. She crouches
during practices, catches pitches
and warms up starters during
games.
But
because
of
her
daily interactions and constant
mentoring,
Connell
sees
it
differently.
“I almost consider myself a
part of the pitching staff,” Connell
said. “I think their successes, I
like to take part in them as well …
Especially when our pitchers have
been doing so well over the past four
years. I really feel like I’ve played a
part in that.”
For others on the team, Connell’s
most important asset may be her
humor. Since she seldom sees
opportunities in games, Connell
has found ways to contribute from
the dugout.
Connell, Richvalsky and Sbonek
each emphasized the importance
of the Michigan softball sisterhood.
Hutchins frequently speaks about
the role of each Wolverine. It is up
to each player to simply ‘do her part’
for Michigan.
Connell’s
part
oftentimes
involves telling jokes that can make
even the most serious on the team
crack a smile.
“Michigan softball… we do well
and we have fun,” Connell said.
“Not silly, goofy fun, but just having
fun and all being together. It’s kinda
weird thinking of being funny as a
role on the softball team, but I think
it helps us just stay in the moment
and help us not worry about other
things.”
Romero, who met Connell at
freshmen orientation, remembers
her humor from that first encounter.
“She was hilarious, right from
the get-go,” Romero said. “You can
even ask Hutch.
“Some of the things that come out
of her mouth, you’re like … ‘How’d
you even think of that?’ ”
The humor aspect of Connell’s
role may be the most enjoyable
and perhaps the easiest. What she
finds most challenging, however, is
separating the relationships built
with her pitching staff off the field
with her job as the bullpen catcher.
“Sometimes, the pitchers need
someone to say ‘Hey, you need to do
better at this, that’s not good enough
right now,’ ” Connell said. “So it’s
kind of difficult for me sometimes
to come out of my role as a friend,
and really hold them accountable.”
When asked about her favorite
experience throughout her four-
year career, Connell paused for a
moment. While Connell did not see
the field in Game 2 of last season’s
Women’s College World Series,
she relished her team’s comeback
win — even if she didn’t directly
contribute to it.
“It was so fun to just see our team
will ourselves to victory,” Connell
said. “(To) force Game 3, playing
in that moment was such a ‘pinch
me’ moment for all of us. We were
literally living our dreams.”
***
The ‘Mom’:
During games, Olivia Richvalsky
can be seen on the basepaths,
organizing cheers or mentoring
Michigan’s freshmen.
Richvalsky loves working with
the new players upon their arrival
in Ann Arbor. Whether it is during
practice or a game, she loves hearing
their questions and assisting them
with challenges they confront. She
invites them to team meals and
other team-wide events.
“I’ll cheer for them like a mom
would,”
Richvalsky
said.
“I’ll
make signs. I truly share in (their)
success.”
Richvalsky spoke of meeting with
her two co-captains — Romero and
junior outfielder Kelly Christner —
to delegate responsibilities. Because
Romero and Christner are often on
the field during games and giving
team-wide orders during practice,
it is up to Richvalsky to connect on
a more individual-based level with
the players.
“Kelly and I might not be so
easy on some people so we’ll yell
something at them, and they might
get a little upset,” Romero said.
“And we’ll say, ‘Liv, we need you to
go calm them down, we just yelled
at them.’ ”
Richvalsky added: “Sometimes
Kelly can really get onto someone,
and I can come back and say ‘Hey,
do you know why Kelly said that?
Do you know why that instruction
makes sense here?’ (I try to) make
sure that everyone understands
why things are how they are.”
Richvalsky displayed tremendous
resilience in coming back from a
leg injury and multiple surgeries.
Through
an
intense
year-long
rehabilitation process in which she
faced both physical, she tirelessly
pushed to return and to contribute.
She constantly participates in extra
work on the basepaths to prepare
herself for game day opportunities.
“Any opportunity that I have out
there is so much more rewarding
because of what I went through,”
Richvalsky said. “It still drives
me to work out on off days, go the
extra mile to continue to get better
because nothing is ever enough.”
Her
determination
stemmed
from her love for her fellow
Wolverines,
missing
them
tremendously during her absence.
And while she acknowledges
her role as the team’s “mom,” she
reiterated the sisterhood concept
explained by Connell.
“I look at those girls like my
little sisters,” Richvalsky said. “I
wouldn’t want them to feel like
anything other than family.”
While
her
tenacity
and
persistence are certainly admirable,
See SOFTBALL, Page 11
RITA MORRIS/Daily
Lauren Connell plays an important role for her team as its bullpen catcher.