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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