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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.

