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Thursday, June 16, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS
Steinberg resigns as
men’s tennis coach
By ETHAN WOLFE
Summer Managing Sports Editor
Just two years after getting
hired as the Michigan men’s
tennis coach, Adam Steinberg
resigned
Wednesday
to become the
new head coach
at
Arizona
State.
“We
appreciate
everything
Adam and his
family
did
for
Michigan
and the men’s
tennis program
over the last
two
seasons,”
said Michigan
Athletic
Director Warde Manuel in a
statement. “We wish him well
in the future.”
The
announcement
came
after a 21-8 season, in which
the Wolverines advanced to
the second round of the NCAA
Regionals.
After a 7-17 finish in his first
year at the helm of the program
during
the
2014-15
season,
Steinberg’s
team-oriented
coaching style took only one
season to come to fruition with
a dramatic 14-win turnaround.
Before
arriving
in
Ann
Arbor, Steinberg had coached at
Pepperdine for 10 years, where
he won a national championship
in 2006 behind a 36-2 overall
record — the
most victories
by an NCAA
championship
team.
Later,
Steinberg
took
over
for
former
Michigan
men’s
tennis
coach
Bruce
Berque,
who left the
program
in
2014 after his
team
failed
to
make
it
past
the
second round of the NCAA
Tournament.
When Steinberg spoke to The
Daily in early April, he discussed
his broad, yet effective goal
to change “everything this
program is about.” In just two
seasons, Steinberg’s ideology
had already left its mark.
Despite
Steinberg’s
departure,
Michigan
will
return a bevy of its starters as it
begins its search for a new head
coach.
In just two
seasons,
Steinberg’s
ideology had
already left its
mark.
By AVI SHOLKOFF
Daily Sports Writer
For the third time in the last
four years, the Michigan softball
team reached the Women’s College
World Series. Though the Wolver-
ines did not win a championship,
Michigan has much to be proud
of in an expectations-filled sea-
son. Senior second baseman Sierra
Romero cemented herself as the
greatest hitter in Wolverine histo-
ry — perhaps one of the top players
of all time — junior right-hander
Megan Betsa earned Big Ten pitch-
er of the year and Michigan coach
Carol Hutchins set the record for
most NCAA wins by a head coach.
The Daily looks at the high-
lights, gives out awards and recaps
the other top moments of the 2016
softball season.
Most Valuable Player: Sierra
Romero
Through her first three seasons,
Romero was the Wolverines’ best
player. In 2016, she demonstrated
that she could be one of the best
players ever in the history of the
softball. Romero hit at least .450
for the third straight year, includ-
ing .500 in conference play. She
hit 19 home runs in 59 games and
had 79 runs batted-in. Romero
notched her fourth straight NFCA
All-America honors and her third
consecutive year as a member of
the first team. During Michigan’s
time at the WCWS, USA softball
named her the 2016 National Col-
legiate Player of the Year. This past
Thursday, Romero became the first
recipient of the NFCA D1 Player of
the Year award.
In her four years, she played
both second base and shortstop
and started all but one game. She
ranks first in the Michigan record
book in career batting average,
runs, home runs, RBI and slugging
percentage. Romero will continue
her softball career as a member of
the USSSA Pride, which will play
a series at Alumni Field from June
27-29.
Breakout player: Tera Blanco
Recruited as a pitcher, Blanco
has spent most of her two seasons
in Ann Arbor in the right side of the
infield at first base. The sophomore
improved on a solid freshman year,
hitting .404 with 12 home runs and
66 RBI — an improvement of .113,
five and 19 respectively. She also
slugged .748, second-best on the
team.
Blanco earned her first NFCA
All-America first team honors and
was named to the All-Big Ten sec-
ond team. Blanco moved up to the
No. 5 spot in the batting order and
may hit cleanup next season. The
first baseman had a total of 318
fielding opportunities notching
296 putouts — best on the team —
and finished the season with a per-
fect fielding percentage of 1.000.
With Michigan’s two best offen-
sive threats graduating, Blanco
will be looked to for dynamic and
powerful hitting next season.
She also could see extended time
in the circle with the departure
of fifth-year senior right-hander
Sara Driesenga. In a combined 37
innings in her two years, she sports
a 2.08 earned-run average and 22
strikeouts.
Game of the year: Super
Regional Game: Michigan 5,
Missouri 4
Hutchins described her Wol-
verines’ come-from-behind, late-
game win over Missouri as “one
of the very greatest victories ever
in the history of Michigan soft-
ball.” Coming from a coach in her
32nd year in Ann Arbor, it clearly
has significance. All season long,
Michigan was expected to advance
to the WCWS, and it did so in an
unbelievable fashion.
Down 4-1 heading into the sev-
enth inning, the Wolverines scored
four runs to defeat the Tigers and
travel to Oklahoma City for their
third time in four years. Michigan
had just four hits in its first six
innings. In the seventh, it had five.
The Wolverines loaded the bases
for Romero — the NCAA career
leader in grand slams — who hit
a fly ball to center field, scoring
pinch runner Mary Sbonek from
third base. It was now 4-2. The
Wolverines had a problem though:
they were down to their last out.
Kelly Christner wasn’t affected.
She swung at Tigers’ right-hander
Paige Lowary’s next pitch and
lined it down the right-field line to
add another run. Senior outfielder
Kelsey Susalla doubled home Sier-
ra Lawrence, and the game was
tied at four.
Michigan again was down to
its last out with Missouri’s 9-1-2
hitters due up in the bottom of
the inning. Lowary’s 1-2 pitch to
Blanco sailed to the backstop and
Christner came sprinting from
third and touching home for the
go-ahead run. Betsa would stop the
Tigers’ bats in the bottom of the 7th
for one final time en route to a sec-
ond consecutive WCWS berth.
Moment of the year: Honor-
ing Hutchins at Alumni Field
In Bloomington on April 2,
Hutchins became the winningest
coach in NCAA softball history
with her 1,458th victory. Her Wol-
verines run-ruled Indiana, 8-0,
that Saturday afternoon.
About two weeks later on April
15, a sold-out crowd at Alumin
Field watched Michigan athletic
director Warde Manuel honor
Hutchins with a ceremony after
the Wolverines’ victory over rival
Ohio State. As Hutchins stood in
the dugout, Manuel offered praise
for a coach who has won more
games than anyone else in Michi-
gan’s history.
“She’s mad at us. She doesn’t
want any of this attention,” Manuel
said that night. “Thirty-three years
of coaching. I hope it is the halfway
point in her career.”
A video tribute played on the
scoreboard in left field. In the mon-
tage, numerous Michigan coaches
expressed their amazement with
Hutchins’ achievements. Hockey
coach Red Berenson, field hockey
coach Marcia Pankratz, men’s
basketball coach John Beilein and
baseball coach Erik Bakich were
among those who shared stories
and praise for the winningest
coach in softball history.
Hutchins thanked her coaching
staff and the numerous fans who
showed their support, beginning
her address by sharing her adora-
tion with Alumni Field.
“This isn’t about me. It’s about
the
University
of
Michigan,”
Hutchins said that night. “Any win
we ever get in softball is for the
University of Michigan. I am hon-
ored and humbled to be up here
today.”
Romero perhaps best summa-
rized the sentiments of the players
after the game.
“She
deserves
everything,”
Romero said. “I know she doesn’t
like the attention. But, she’s the all-
time winningest coach.
“She’s a great leader for our pro-
gram, and she’s made me not only
a better player but a better person
and has prepared me for every-
thing after college. She’s an amaz-
ing woman.”
In a season filled with come-
back wins, long home runs and
numerous shutouts, it was the hon-
oring of a long-time coach, now the
winningest in NCAA softball, that
stood out the most.
‘M’ Softball: Season in Review
SOFTBALL
SAMII STOLOFF/Daily
Adam Steinberg compiled a 28-25 record in his two seasons at Michigan.