10
Thursday, June 9, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS
Michigan exits from WCWS with 1-0 loss
After World
Series loss, a
fitting goodbye for
Michigan
OKLAHOMA
CITY,
Okla. — Led by its coach,
the Michigan softball team
walked
one-by-one,
red-
eyed,
into
the
bowels
of ASA Hall
of
Fame
Stadium.
It was all quiet but for the
occasional sniffle as coach
Carol
Hutchins,
senior
second
baseman
Sierra
Romero, junior right-hander
Megan Betsa and senior right-
fielder Kelsey Susalla seated
themselves at the front end
of the press conference room
before answering questions.
A magical run last season
that ended with a runner-
up finish set expectations as
high as they’ve ever been for
Michigan this time around,
which is not easy feat when
you consider the program
has made it to Oklahoma
City more times than you can
count on each hand.
And though the second-
ranked
Wolverines
failed
to go as far as they did last
season, losing 1-0 to Florida
State in an elimination game,
Hutchins still wanted her
players to keep their heads up
high.
“I’ve
got
a
lot
of
heartbroken kids, a fantastic
senior class that has to say
goodbye, and I told them just
to reflect on their careers,
what
they’ve
meant
to
Michigan and what Michigan
has meant to them,” Hutchins
said. “We’ll hold our heads
high at the end of the day,
because they represent this
institution and the sport of
softball. They represent their
families every day the way
our institution asks them to
do it. They’re great Michigan
women.
“As a coach, ultimately
that’s what I’m most proud of.
I’ll always be proud of Team
39. They’ve had a great season
and we had a great run, and
unfortunately, we just ran out
(of gas) at the end.”
After the loss, Michigan
didn’t talk about what-ifs.
It didn’t talk about what
should’ve
been.
Instead,
Hutchins and the Wolverines
focused on all that they were
able to accomplish.
“We
set
really
high
expectations for our student-
athletes, and if you’re going
to wear the Block M, you’re
going to wear it right,”
Hutchins said. “You’re going
to learn the minute you
walk in the door that this
isn’t about you, this is about
Michigan. Your job, your duty
and the reason we bring you
to Michigan and give you the
opportunity of your lifetime
is to help make Michigan
great, and our kids embraced
that and they epitomize it.
“This senior class has
done nothing but both of
those things. They have
done nothing but represent
Michigan. I’m very, very
proud of that.”
Before Sunday, Michigan
had rebounded with a win
after every loss this season.
But after Amanda Vargas’s
foul
pop-up
was
caught
for the final out and the
Seminoles
streamed
onto
the field to celebrate, there
were no more chances for
the Wolverines to redeem
themselves,
leaving
them
reduced to a 52-7 record with
no ring to show.
And on one of the hardest
days of their lives, with their
hearts in pieces, Michigan
reminded its fans — and its
coach — why it loved them
to begin with. They stopped
crying, and instead, they
signed autographs.
ORION
SANG
2016 was
supposed to be
the Wolverines’
year to win it all
OKLAHOMA
CITY,
Okla. — The 2016 season
was supposed to be the
year the No. 2 Michigan
softball
team
would
win
its
second
Women’s College World
Series championship. It
returned
nearly
every
player from 2015 runner-
up squad, losing just left-
hander
Haylie
Wagner
and catcher Lauren Sweet
from their core lineup.
Record-setting seniors
Sierra Romero and Sierra
Lawrence led the top of the
lineup with potent power
and
blistering
speed.
Lawrence had a career-
setting season with new
highs in batting average,
on-base-percentage
and
slugging percentage.
Meanwhile,
Romero
dominated
conference
play, too. She earned Big
Ten Player of the Year and
her first-ever USA Softball
Player of the Year award in
her third consecutive time
as a top-three finalist.
Romero was named as a
NFCA All-America first-
team member for the third
straight year.
Senior
right
fielder
Kelsey Susalla had another
solid year in the cleanup
spot, hitting .344 with 11
home runs. Susalla earned
her
second
consecutive
spot on the NFCA All-
Great Lakes region First-
Team.
This was the Wolverines’
season to win it all. They
had the player of the year
in Romero, the Big Ten
coach of the year and
NCAA’s most winningest
coach in Carol Hutchins,
the Big Ten Pitcher of
the year in junior right-
hander Megan Betsa and
four players earning All-
American accolades. This
was Michigan’s time to
shine, until it wasn’t.
The top scoring team
in the country, with 8.61
runs per game, crossed
the plate just seven times
in its three WCWS games
— a 2.33 average. Romero,
the team leader in batting
average, home runs, RBI
and nearly every other
offensive category went
1-for-7
in
the
WCWS
with the same amount of
strikeouts as RBI (one).
Lawrence
wasn’t
much
better, hitting two singles
in nine at-bats.
Team 39 was a team
saddled with expectations.
At the team’s Media Day in
February, the Wolverines
answered questions about
a possible
postseason
rematch
with
No.
1
Florida.
Michigan
made
it
further
than
the
Gators
—
who
were upset in the Super
Regionals — but not as far
as last season.
There were bright spots
in this year’s lineup, giving
optimism for next season.
Sophomore first baseman
Tera
Blanco
cemented
herself as the team’s next
dynamic hitter, slugging
12 home runs and 66
RBI
while
posting
a
.409/.758/.540 slash line.
She will look to build on
this year’s success as the
likely-cleanup hitter next
spring.
Junior
left
fielder
Kelly Christner couldn’t
match her other-worldly
sophomore year numbers,
but
she
still
provided
a
.320
average
and
tremendous energy both
at the plate and on the
field as a team captain.
And of course, Betsa will
return for her senior year.
Betsa so often stymied her
opponents from the circle,
holding them to a career-
low .162 batting average
and striking out 302 of
them. With the exception
of Romero, the rest of the
infield will return next
season, but Christner will
be the only outfield starter
back.
The 2016 softball season
was one with tremendous
potential that ultimately
fell
short.
Mistakes
defensively
behind
the
plate, a dearth of pitching
depth and a lack of timely
hitting cost the Wolverines
another trip to the WCWS
championship.
“My time here has been
awesome,”
Susalla
said
after Michigan’s 1-0 loss
to Florida State on Sunday.
“This last year with 20
other other girls was just
amazing. We didn’t get the
outcome that we wanted,
but
I
wouldn’t
have
traded
these last
three
days
for
anything.”
In
the
last
four
years,
Michigan has won 210
games. It won the Big Ten
in each of those seasons,
it reached the finals of the
WCWS, but one task still
eluded
the
Wolverines’
senior class: the chance to
hold the WCWS trophy.
“It’s
really
hard
to
get to the World Series,”
Hutchins said. “It’s really
hard to win at the World
Series. And honestly, I’m
just proud of our kids for
the season they’ve had.
It doesn’t always go your
way. That’s how life goes.
“This has been a — this
is a tough group. We made
them tough by what we do
every day, and regardless
of the final outcome here,
they toughed through all
those things. ... We were
close to winning it last
night without our best
performance. This is a
really tough group.”
A tough group that had
everything — everything
but a performance worthy
of
winning
a
WCWS
championship.
AVI
SHOLKOFF
JEREMY MITNICK/Daily
The Michigan softball team said goodbye the only way it knew how to: gracefully.
“It doesn’t
always go your
way. That’s how
life goes.”