The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News & Sports
Wednesday, March 15, 2017 — 3A
The Michigan softball team
is ranked No. 19 in the nation
and stacked with solid players
up and down its roster, but has
continued to underperform
through the first five weeks of
the season. As the Wolverines
(14-7-1) prepare for their home
opener
this
week
against
Bowling Green, contributions
from both experienced players
and
relative
newcomers
will be needed to reverse
what Michigan coach Carol
Hutchins
has
deemed
a
season where her team is
just “not playing the game of
softball.” The Daily breaks
down the Wolverines position
by position: Pitchers: A fall
season without softball in
order to heal nagging injuries
helped boost senior right-
hander Megan Betsa to a
new high so far this year.
Betsa returns to the No. 1
starting role and has already
demonstrated her prowess in
the circle early on. While a
6-5 record may look unnatural
for a pitcher who went 28-5
last year, it’s not indicative of
her production. Betsa boasts
a stellar earned run average
of 1.99 and ranks third in the
nation with 134 strikeouts in
14 appearances — on pace for
her best-ever season total.
She has also reduced her walk
total and pitch count, both
of which have been major
concerns in the past. Her 31
walks in 77 innings and 4.32
strikeout-to-walk
ratio
put
her on track for career-best
marks
in
both
categories.
With the graduation of right-
hander Sara Driesenga, the
Wolverines have looked to Tera
Blanco as a dependable starter
behind Betsa in the rotation.
And that’s exactly what the
current Big Ten Pitcher of the
Week has done, posting an 8-2
record and a 2.08 ERA. The
junior right-hander is coming
off her best outing of the
season, striking out a career-
high 13 batters and allowing
just two hits, one unearned
run and no walks in a 5-1 win
against Kent State last Sunday.
Rounding out the rotation is
sophomore
Leah
Crockett,
who has allowed a grim seven
hits and six runs in just three
innings of work. Catchers: The
past two weekends have given
clarity to the starting catcher
role. After being behind the
plate for a majority of the early
season — with juniors Aidan
Falk
and
Amanda
Vargas
receiving intermittent starts
— sophomore Alex Sobczak’s
performance
declined.
She
batted a dismal .194 with just
six hits, committed two errors
and allowed seven passed balls.
That left the door open for the
starting job, and sophomore
Katie Alexander rose to the
occasion.
Starting
nine
of
the last 10 games, Alexander
notched 12 hits in 36 at-bats
and scored five times, with
no errors and only one passed
ball. First Base: When not in
the circle, Blanco starts at
first base for her third straight
year. Though touted as one of
the purest Wolverine hitters
in previous seasons, she has
struggled thus far, hitting .218
with just two extra-base hits
and a .291 slugging percentage
— the second lowest among
players who have started more
than seven games. At this time
last year, Blanco enjoyed a
.426 batting average and .607
slugging
percentage.
With
Blanco pitching almost half
the games so far, Falk has
primarily taken over the duties
at first, hitting .317 and leading
the team with 10 extra-base
hits, including seven doubles.
In the field, Falk ranks third
on the team with 55 putouts
and has yet to make an error
through 21 games. Second
Base: With the graduation
of one of Michigan’s all-
time greats, Sierra Romero,
sophomore
Faith
Canfield
earned
the
job
as
her
replacement.
Canfield
has
proven her value as a starter,
sporting a .333 batting average
and tying for the most home
runs with four, already besting
her total from last year. A go-to
utility player as a freshman,
Canfield
transformed
into
a
more
consistent
player
and has been a bright spot
despite
the
Wolverines’
offensive
struggles.
Third
Base: Though she is hitting a
disappointing .261 — senior
Lindsay Montemarano’s track
record of turning it around
at the plate and dominant
defensive
command
gives
her a strong footing at third.
Coming off a junior season
with career-bests in seven
offensive categories — earning
All-Big Ten second team and
Big Ten All-Defensive Team
honors — Montemarano could
be primed for another solid
season once she starts hitting
her stride. Shortstop: Senior
Abby Ramirez continues to
lead the infield in her fourth
year starting at shortstop,
putting up Michigan’s third
best batting average at .373,
and appears on pace to surpass
her season-high in hits with
25 to date. Ramirez’s presence
toward the top of the order
affords the Wolverines quality
at-bats and speed, as she
already has eight steals in
10 attempts — matching her
career-best as a freshman.
Outfield: After a major drop
in offensive production last
year,
senior
center
fielder
Kelly Christner looks like
she
has
returned
to
her
sophomore form, when she
was unanimously selected to
the All-Big Ten first team.
The
second-year
captain
ranks first on the team in 10
offensive categories, including
a career-high .476 batting clip
and a .730 slugging percentage.
Christner leads an outfield
that includes two new faces —
sophomores Natalie Peters and
Courtney Richardson. Peters
has effectively transitioned
into her leadoff role after
being a utility player as a
freshman. The speedy slap
hitter is hitting .400, second
highest on the team, with 24
hits and 15 runs. Richardson,
despite a .257 batting average,
has seen spurts of success at
the plate, including a three-
run home run and five-hit
weekend
in
the
season’s
opening tournament.
Michigan’s positional breakdown
BENJAMIN KATZ
Daily Sports Writer
new world of ideas for me when
I was a student there, and I am
thrilled to join its great faculty.
Helping students to develop a deep
understanding of our laws, courts
and legal system has never been
more important.”
Law School Dean Mark West,
the Nippon Life Professor of
Law, said in the same statement,
given McQuade’s work ethic and
extensive legacy, she will bring
experience and perspective to the
classroom.
“Her
legacy
includes
an
impressive number of important
convictions, and our students will
benefit tremendously from the
experience and perspective she
brings to the classroom,” said West
in a statement. “I am thrilled to
welcome Barb home to Michigan
Law as a member of our faculty.”
Shelley
Rodgers,
Chief
Communications Officer of the
Law School, said in an interview
McQuade has a strong reputation as
a mentor to students.
“As a Michigan Law graduate,
Barbara McQuade has had a
connection with the Law School
since her days as a student,”
Rodgers said. “She has a long and
distinguished career in practice and
teaching and can really make the
law come alive for our students with
practical legal training that is rooted
in real world experience. She also has
a strong reputation as a mentor and is
dedicated to counseling students to
become effective lawyers. We have
been hoping to find ways to work to
work with her for a while and the
timing is right.”
Some
of
McQuade’s
other
accomplishments
include
convicting more than 30 public
officials in Detroit on public
corruption
charges,
including
former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
She also was integral in convicting
the Al-Qaeda operative who tried
blowing up a plane over Detroit on
Christmas Day in 2009.
McQuade also has previous
experience teaching, having taught
criminal law at the University of
Detroit Mercy from 2003 to 2009 as
an adjunct professor.
easily ask questions and get them
answered.”
The facilitation of questioning
eventually became the focus of
the student group. While students
discussed the issues in their own
teams, the Office of Academic
Innovation and edX staff formed
teams themselves. The groups
eventually
came
together
to
collaborate and discuss some of the
solutions they came up with.
Noni Korf, the director of the
University’s Digital Education and
Innovation Lab, brought up the
idea of using “bots” and systems
of artificial intelligence to keep up
with the magnitude and speed of
questions that might come into an
edX course.
“We were in a talk this morning
and someone was talking about
having used the IBM Watson
(an artificial intelligence system)
to be on the discussion boards,
answering questions, and that
was apparently very successful
with a speedy response,” Korf said.
“When you post something and
nobody answers it, it’s really lonely,
and there you are, with 50,000
people. It’s horrible to be lonely
with 50,000 people.”
After a collaboration session,
the
students
regrouped
to
discuss further and pose their
final ideas to the edX team.
They discussed how to establish
credibility and trust among
students who wanted to answer
their
classmates’
questions
themselves, as well as how to
find questions that might have
been asked in the past. LSA
sophomore Alex Wilf proposed
a tiered system for finding
previously asked questions or
those asked by other students.
“I think it might be cool if
you gave people the ability to
search not only the discussion
but the module, then the unit
module, and then you could
bring that out to a class level,
and then you could bring that
back to previous classes as well
to see that data,” Wilf said. “This
would create a tiered system that
would go beyond just the in-class
discussion (forum).”
Participants
stated
they
left the event feeling excited
about the future of edX and its
relationship with the University.
Kennedy said he found the
session helpful and engaging,
and was ready to work on
expanding the ideas brought up
at the Design Jam.
“I’m really impressed with
what the Michigan team is
doing,” he said. “I think this is a
group of people who really get it
… Michigan’s really taking this
very seriously but at the same
time, Michigan has a personality
and they’re bringing that to the
online space and as a graduate of
the school, I think that’s really
fantastic.”
Ypsilanti. Even though DACA
recipients
receive
deportation
relief, in most cases their parents
are still vulnerable.
“Every morning you wake
up, like not knowing, especially
now, knowing whether or not
my parents will get in trouble at
work or something, especially
now given that there have been
a couple ICE (Immigration and
Customs Enforcement) raids in
east Michigan,” she said. “That’s
always been kind of scary. It’s one
of those things where you still are
always worried whether you come
home or you get a call saying this
happened. You never know.”
ICE is the law enforcement
agency that enforces federal laws
regarding immigration, trade and
border control. ICE has become
known for conducting raids on
homes and place of residence of
undocumented citizens and mass
deportations
Most recently, there was an
ICE raid in Ypsilanti on Feb. 24
that arrested four undocumented
immigrants. This raid took place
a three days after an ICE raid in
Detroit.
These raids have proven to
bear
considerable
effects
on
communities
and
individuals
alike, a phenomenon studied by
William Lopez, a postdoctoral
fellow in the School of Social Work.
Lopez’s work has examined how
communities respond to ICE raids,
specifically researching the effects
of an ICE raid that took place in
2013 in Ann Arbor.
“So you have the individual
trauma of being in this raided
building in a situation where you’re
wondering if you’re going to live
to see the next day,” he said. “Two
people said, ‘I didn’t know if I was
going to get shot.’ And then in
the community level, there’s this
enormous, just fear of police as
folks are reminded of this tenuous
hold they have on their lives in the
U.S. One day you’re here, the next
day you could be removed.”
The trauma of ICE raids is
amplified when a child’s parents
or caregivers are deported, Lopez
said. This can have many adverse
effects on children, depending on
the situation the child is left in.
“You get this question often;
it kind of feels like the question
is going towards, like do kids get
depressed or have anxiety or have
(post-traumatic stress disorder),”
Lopez said. “So the answer I
usually say is, probably.”
In
many
situations,
single
caregivers often have to prioritize
children going to school or feeding
them instead of taking them to see
a counselor to treat the trauma.
“Do these mothers want to take
their children to a counselor to
get a diagnosis of mental health
or are they trying to get them to
school every day, are they trying to
feed them, are they going to their
lawyers?” Lopez said.
Fear of police, especially in
collaborative
raids
in
which
ICE works with local police
departments
in
deportation
raids, leaves lasting marks on a
community.
“You come in for graduation and
your parents get a parking ticket —
it’s not a big deal,” Lopez said. “But
for many of these folks that are
worried about ‘If my mom’s going
to come for graduation and there’s
a security guard, is the security
guard going to ask for a license if
she double parks? Is that going to
be the end?’ ”
Undocumented
immigrants
are left without driver’s licenses
issued by the United States, which
forces them to drive illegally, if they
choose to drive at all.
“I know my parents, they don’t
drive with licenses and stuff like
that,” the female LSA junior said.
“There’s a reason why they’re
really good drivers.”
In
attempt
to
protect
undocumented immigrants within
their jurisdictions, many cities have
declared sanctuary status. Still, no
real definition of a sanctuary city
exists. Law Prof. Margo Schlanger,
an expert on civil rights issues, said
no expert can determine exactly
what a sanctuary city is.
“I don’t know what a sanctuary
city is and neither does anybody
else,” Schlanger said. “It is a phrase
that some places have used, it’s not
a phrase that we’ve used.”
To begin to define what a
sanctuary city is, experts have
looked to an executive actionsigned
by President Donald Trump, which
threatens to cut federal funding to
so-called sanctuary cities.
“The president recently released
an executive order, which says
that sanctuary jurisdictions will
have some repercussions in terms
of federal funding and seems to
define a sanctuary jurisdiction as
a jurisdiction meaning a state, or a
unit of a state, which includes us,”
Schlanger said. “And so it seems
to define a sanctuary jurisdiction
to be that: a jurisdiction that is
violation of 8 USC 1373.”
The University has not used
this term to define recent action or
campus jurisdiction, but University
President
Mark
Schlissel
has
affirmed the University will not
share information regarding the
immigration status of students.
The Ann Arbor city council is
currentlydiscussing an ordinance
that would prohibit police from
soliticing
immigration
status.
Councilmember
Jack
Eaton
(D-Ward 4) said the Council has
refrained from using the term
“sanctuary city,” in any of its
ordinance because of its lack of
legimate legal defintion.
Councilmember Jane Lumm
(I-Ward 2) has pushed back against
the
new
proposed
ordinance
fearful of the effects it could have
on Ann Arbor’s federal funding.
“So the University has been
really clear that unless they are
legally compelled to do so, they’re
not going to share information
about
people’s
immigration
status, and even if they are legally
compelled to do it, since they
mostly don’t collect it, they don’t
have it to share,” Schlanger said.
For now, it remains to be seen
whether the threats of funding
cuts from Trump, the Department
of Justice and the Department
of
Homeland
Security
will
materialize into anything more
than threats. Schlanger noted
outcomes depend on a number of
factors.
“They haven’t defined sanctuary
jurisdiction, they haven’t specified
what the funding streams are, they
haven’t described the mechanism,
they haven’t given anybody notice
about what any of that would mean,
and if they don’t do all of those
things, it will be illegal for them
to withhold funding on the basis
of it,” Schlanger said. “Once they
do all of that stuff, then it might or
might not be illegal, depending on
the content of all of the answers to
all of those questions.”
The new administration has
many immigrants, documented or
not, wondering what will happen
today, tomorrow or a week from
now. Though Trump has said
deporting anyone here illegally
is a priority, any difference from
Obama regarding the number of
people deported remains to be
told.
Under
Obama,
roughly
2.7
million
undocumented
immigrants were deported, more
than any other president to date.
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