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Thursday, May 12, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS
Wolverines receive awards
By ORION SANG
Summer Managing Sports Editor
The No. 2 Michigan softball
team was well represented when
the Big Ten Conference released
its 2016 all-conference teams
and announced the recipients
of its four individual awards
Wednesday.
Four
Wolverines
were
nominated to the All-Big Ten First
Team, four were named to the All-
Big Ten Second Team and three
claimed an award of their own:
senior second baseman Sierra
Romero was named Big Ten Player
of the Year, junior right-hander
Megan Betsa won Big Ten Pitcher
of the Year and coach Carol
Hutchins was announced as the
Big Ten Coach of the Year.
Romero, who won the award her
freshman and sophomore years,
has enjoyed a productive season
both at the plate and in the field.
She is hitting .488 this season with
16 home runs and 71 runs batted-
in. With a .963 fielding percentage,
Romero has commited just five
errors while tallying 58 putouts and
72 assists. This season, she has been
honored as both the Big Ten Player
of the Week and National Player of
the Week, and is also a finalist for
the Collegiate Player of the Year.
For Betsa, this marks the
second consecutive year she has
been named Big Ten Pitcher of
the Year. The right-hander is 22-3
with a 2.05 earned-run average,
and she is also averaging the most
strikeouts per seven innings in the
nation with 11.8.
Hutchins’s
nomination
is
the 16th of her storied career as
Michigan’s head coach, and it
comes during a season in which
expectations were perhaps the
highest they have ever been in Ann
Arbor. The Wolverines returned
most of their team from last
season, which ended with a loss
in Game 3 of the Women’s College
World Series against No. 1 Florida.
But Hutchins has kept her team
grounded all year, and even after a
few early season losses, Michigan
is playing like a championship
contender. Michigan — which won
the conference title for the ninth
consecutive season — is currently
on a 17-game winning streak and is
poised to host an NCAA Regional
as it enters the postseason.
Romero and Betsa were joined
on the All-Big Ten First Team
by senior center fielder Sierra
Lawrence and senior right fielder
Kelsey Susalla.
Lawrence, who has been named
a finalist for Collegiate Player
of the Year along with Romero,
has been a steady presence atop
the order for the Wolverines
and boasts a batting average and
on-base percentage both well
above .400 alongside 10 home runs
and 40 RBI.
Susalla’s nomination is the first
of her career, and comes during a
season in which she is hitting .364
with 10 homers and 50 RBI. She
has been a reliable hitter for the
Wolverines in the middle of the
lineup, having hit at both the No. 3
and cleanup spots this season.
Meanwhile, sophomore first
baseman Tera Blanco, sophomore
catcher Aidan Falk, junior third
baseman Lindsay Montemarano
and
fifth-year
right-hander
Sara Driesenga were tabbed as
members of the second team.
Blanco,
who
has
pitched
occasionally, has had a breakout
season at the plate, hitting .415
with 10 home runs and 57 RBI. At
first base, Blanco hasn’t made an
error all year.
Falk has been steady behind the
plate for her team after winning
the starting job at catcher near
the midway point of the season.
She is hitting .321 with five home
runs and 32 RBI.
In addition to the second team
nomination, Montemarano was
also named to the Big Ten All-
Defensive Team for her efforts
manning the hot corner. In
addition to her defense, the junior
third baseman has also provided
the Wolverines with some pop in
her bat, slugging eight home runs
among 16 extra-base hits.
After missing most of last
season due to injury, Driesenga has
come back strong in her final year
to provide her team with a potent
1-2 starting rotation. She boasts a
gaudy 20-0 win-loss record, while
also carrying a 2.26 ERA.
Michigan begins postseason
play Friday at the Big Ten
Tournament, as the Wolverines
continue their journey back to
Oklahoma City.
And the number of accolades
earned Wednesday show just why
Michigan is heavily favored to do
so.
‘M’ upset by CMU
Michigan comeback
attempt falls short
in 8-7 defeat
By ETHAN WOLFE
Summer Managing Sports Editor
After a 39-run outburst in its
three-game sweep of Rutgers last
weekend, the No. 19 Michigan
baseball team looked poised to
continue its momentum against
Central Michigan — a bottom-
feeder in the Mid-American
Conference.
But
the
Chippewas had
other plans.
For the first
six innings of
Wednesday’s
game,
Central
Michigan (8-10
Mid-American
Conference,
16-33
overall)
dominated
the
Wolverines
(12-5 Big Ten, 34-13), and hung
on by a thread to secure an 8-7
victory.
Through six frames, Central
Michigan pitchers Dazon Cole
and Colton Bradley combined to
no-hit Michigan. Even with four
walked batters and five batters
hit-by-pitch,
the
Wolverines’
offense failed to make good
contact at the plate until the
seventh.
“You
can’t
take
anyone
lightly,” said Michigan coach
Erik
Bakich.
“You
have
to
run your fastest
race no matter
who
you’re
racing against.
This
was
a
humbling day.”
Michigan
couldn’t
find
its way on the
mound for most of the contest
either.
In the Wolverines’ previous
meeting March 29 — a 9-7 win
that saw a late rally by the
Chippewas — Central Michigan
batters used a slew of early-
inning singles, a double and two
wild pitches to tag Michigan
pitchers for eight runs.
Wednesday,
freshman
left-
hander Will Tribucher, who
tossed six innings of one-hit
scoreless
baseball
against
Eastern Michigan in his previous
start, lasted just 2.1 innings and
allowed five runs.
Down 8-1 heading into the
seventh inning, the Wolverines
chances at winning looked bleak.
But two walks and a single
loaded the bases for freshman
third baseman Jimmy Kerr, who
was substituted into the game for
fifth-year senior left fielder Matt
Ramsay in the fifth. Kerr took
advantage of the opportunity
with a bases-clearing double to
dig into the Chippewas’ lead,
8-4. A sacrifice
fly
from
junior catcher
Harrison
Wenson added
another run for
the Wolverines.
The following
inning, a single
by sophomore
shortstop Jake
Bivens and a
fielder’s choice
off the bat of Kerr scored two
more runs to make it a one-run
game.
“When you have runners on,
you have to move up them up or
do what you have to do to get
them in,” Bakich said. “Jimmy
was a great example of that.
Coming off the bench to get four
RBIs … that’s hard to do.”
In
the
ninth,
Michigan
got two runners on base, but
three strikeouts stopped the
Wolverines from scoring, and
Central
Michigan
secured
the
win.
“There’s no
moral victories
for making it
close,” Bakich
said. “We had
some
scoring
opportunities
that we missed in those early
innings, and we wouldn’t have
been in this position if we took
advantage of those.”
Being a non-conference game,
the loss did not hurt Michigan’s
chances in pursuing its first
Big Ten title since 2008. But
to accomplish this feat, it must
prove that it can take care
of
business
against
weaker
opponents.
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Junior right-hander Megan Betsa won Big Ten Pitcher of the year for the second consecutive season.
BASEBALL
“You have to run
your fastest race
no matter who
you’re racing.”
“There’s no moral
victories for
making it close.”