The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, April 5, 2011 — 7A

In search of validation

T

he Michigan softball 
team left the John 
Cropp Classic in 

Lexington, Ky. teetering on 
the brink of disaster. 

Following a swift 5-1 defeat 

to No. 19 Kentucky on March 
12, its record dropped to 14-7-
1 — the worst 22-game start 
since 2006.

“We’re not playing the game 

of softball,” said Michigan 
coach Carol Hutchins after 
that game. “Just play the 
game of softball, not who do 
you play, not who’s ranked, 
not who’s supposed to win. 
You’re just supposed to play 
the game, and we are very 
inconsistent in that category.”

Its 2-6-1 record against 

ranked opponents — averaging 
just two runs per game in 
those nine matchups — raised 
serious concerns about an 
unproven lineup, and whether 
it would ever find its form 
against the type of quality it 
would face.

The Wolverines were 

reeling, in search of answers 
to major questions on both 
sides of the ball. 

Since then, Michigan has 

won 12 in a row, and done so 
in a fashion that hints at some 
semblance of sustainability. 

Since allowing five runs 

to Kentucky, senior right-
hander Megan Betsa has not 
allowed a run and thrown two 
no-hitters. With a changed 
approach aimed at attacking 
hitters, Betsa has blossomed 
into the dominant ace who had 
been missing at the beginning 
of the year. In the 48-inning 
span, she walked just 11 
batters after walking 31 in her 
first 77.1 innings this season. 

In turn, Betsa became 

the senior leader — in 
performance and demeanor 
— that Hutchins believes has 
been coming for awhile now.

“I really think her mental 

game is consistent. It’s been 
really consistent during this 
period,” Hutchins said. “She’s 
just trusting what she’s doing 
is good enough. She really sets 
a great example and she sets 
a good tone for us, and this 
is sometimes when we’re not 
offensive.

“She’s really been the best 

I’ve seen her in her career.”

The Wolverines’ lineup has 

seemingly turned a corner, 
as well. Since the Kentucky 
game, Michigan has averaged 
6.75 runs per game, with 
contributions coming from a 
plethora of sources. 

Junior infielder Amanda 

Vargas has thrived in her 
newfound role in the three 
spot in the order. Second 
baseman Faith Canfield 
has continued her breakout 
sophomore campaign, 
boasting a .356 average, and 
tied for the team lead with 
five home runs. And the 
two slap hitters — senior 
shortstop Abby Ramirez and 
sophomore outfielder Natalie 
Peters — have combined for 
70 hits on the season, adding 
necessary depth to a lineup 
that had become all-too reliant 
on senior centerfielder Kelly 
Christner.

With the rotation becoming 

a dominant force and the 
lineup starting to solidify, the 
12-game win streak seems a 
tell-tale sign of a team that has 
found its groove.

But this weekend we find 

out if that change is real.

The six opponents the 

Wolverines have faced since 
that tournament in Kentucky 
have an average RPI of 127, 
and five of the six sport 
records below .500. 

They did what they were 

supposed to do at Alumni Field 
— beat up on inferior teams 
during its long homestretch.

This weekend in 

Columbus, Michigan runs 
into an offensive buzzsaw, 
an unfamiliar contender that 
is quietly putting the Big 
Ten on notice. Coming off 

its first NCAA tournament 
appearance since 2010, No. 
25 Ohio State is emerging 
as a serious contender in 
the uncharacteristically 
competitive Big Ten. 

The Buckeyes come into the 

series surging — their only loss 
in their last 16 games coming 
at the hands of No. 5 Auburn. 
Its offense has posted 84 runs 
in its last seven games, with 
its top-three home run hitters 
— Lilli Piper, Alex Bayne and 
Emily Clark — totaling more 
home runs (25) than the entire 
Michigan team (24). 

And they will be motivated. 

In a matchup that signifies a 
rivalry in many other sports, 
Ohio State has dropped 
18-straight matchups to the 
Wolverines, dating back to 
2010.

It’s time to find out whether 

Betsa can mow through a top-
caliber lineup the way she did 
the Big Ten bottom-dwellers.

It’s time to find out whether 

junior right-hander Tera 
Blanco’s “pitch-to-contact” 
style will hold against a team 
with 37 home runs on the 
season.

And, most importantly, 

it’s time to see whether 
Michigan’s offense — which 
has shown a pulse against the 
likes of Eastern Michigan, 
Penn State and Northwestern 
— can replicate its production 
when faced with adversity on 
the road, against an array of 
quality pitching.

Without No. 7 Minnesota 

on the schedule until, 
presumably, the Big Ten 
Tournament, the Wolverines 
will use road visits to Ohio 
State and Wisconsin as their 
major measuring sticks.

On Friday, the Wolverines 

will head to Columbus to find 
out who they are.

On Sunday, they will come 

home a different team, for 
better or worse.

Marcovitch can be reached 

at maxmarco@umich.edu or 

on Twitter @MMarcovitch10.

Defensive line in search of depth

To say the bar is high would be 

an understatement. 

For the Michigan football team’s 

new defensive line, that bar might 
as well be scratching the surface of 
the moon.

In 2016, there weren’t many 

questions 
to 
be 
answered. 

Defensive 
line 
coach 
Greg 

Mattison had three fifth-year 
seniors and one true senior at his 
disposal in Chris Wormley, Ryan 
Glasgow, Matthew Godin and Taco 
Charlton, with a plethora of talent 
surrounding them.

Now, after their departures, 

things aren’t that simple.

But even though the personnel 

has changed, Mattison’s philosophy, 
as always, has remained the same. 
The seventh-year coach, and the 
Wolverines’ staff as a whole, has 
always been steadfast in the belief 
that rotations on the defensive front 
are necessary.

“We always talk about (how) you 

earn the right to rotate,” Mattison 
said. “Two things can happen — if 
you don’t earn the right to rotate, 
now you’ve got four guys playing 
the whole time and they’re never 
gonna play as good as if you have 
guys to rotate for them.

“That’s a big thing for us, that 

some of the guys behind them have 
got to close that gap fast.”

It’s easy to see why — injuries 

are part of the territory that come 
with playing in the trenches. In 
2015, Bryan Mone missed his 
entire sophomore season after 
sustaining a leg injury in fall camp. 
Last season, Charlton missed two 
games against Central Florida and 
Colorado, while Maurice Hurst 
missed Michigan’s opener against 
Hawaii.

As the focus shifts to the 

Wolverines’ next season opener, 
establishing that rotation has 
become an even more pressing 
issue.

Mattison is already optimistic 

about the first unit, one that 
will likely feature Hurst, Mone, 
sophomore Rashan Gary and 
senior 
Chase 
Winovich. 
Last 

season, those four were staples 
in the second unit, accumulating 
valuable snaps and racking up a 

combined 27 tackles for loss and 
10.5 sacks.

“(They’re) 
very 
important, 

because unlike them last year — 
when they were right there behind 
that first group — now they’re 
there as a group of guys that have 
played,” Mattison said. “There’s 
a little bigger gap, so they have to 
always show the right way to do it. 
It can’t be, ‘Now that’s OK.’

“It’s gotta be right, it’s gotta be 

championship-type effort, it’s gotta 
be championship technique. … The 
spotlight is on them a little bit more 
because there’s a real young group 
behind them.”

In that same young group, 

Michigan finds the bulk of its 
unknowns heading into the 2017 
season.

Mattison praised sophomore 

defensive end Carlo Kemp and 
freshman defensive end Donovan 
Jeter for their work in spring 
practices thus far, while also giving 
credit to Lawrence Marshall, Ron 
Johnson, Carl Myers and Michael 
Dwumfour at tackle.

Still, none among them have 

tallied significant minutes, and 
while — according to Mattison 
— the talent has been on display, 
he has yet to see it on a consistent 
basis.

“I think the biggest thing in the 

depth is that these guys behind 
them have to move faster toward 
that level than the last group did,” 
Mattison said. “The last group had 
been right on that verge, and they 
were that.

“This group hasn’t been in 

the playing time — they’ve been 
out redshirted or they’ve been 
freshmen — so they haven’t really 
been on that field, so they’ve got to 
take a bigger step to get up to that 
level, to be able to rotate.”

Regardless, the fact remains 

that the days of Wormley, Glasgow, 
Godin and Charlton are growing 
farther in the rearview mirror by 
the day. Fortunately, for a team 
searching to establish depth in the 
coming months, their impact may 
last a little longer.

“I don’t know if they’ll ever 

appreciate as much as they should 
of what they had when they had 
Glasgow, Godin, Wormley and 
Charlton, in that room, leading that 
room,” Mattison said. “That was a 
special group. For them to be part 
of that kind of gives them that thing 
that, ‘We wanna be that way too.’

“OK, well now you’ve got to 

work to be that way. That’s kind 
of the bar now, that you want to be 
like they were and play like they 
did, and that’s what we’re shooting 
for.” 

MAX MARCOVITCH

Daily Sports Writer

 
On Softball

KEVIN SANTO

Managing Sports Editor

FILE PHOTO/Daily

Michigan defensive line coach Greg Mattison has to replace much of his unit.

Wolverines claw back to beat Notre Dame

It didn’t take long for the No. 

18 Michigan baseball team to 
fall back into comeback mode in 
Tuesday night’s game against 
Notre Dame. In the first inning, 
Fighting 
Irish 
centerfielder 

Matt Vierling skyrocketed a 
ball over the left-field wall at 
Ray Fisher 
Stadium 
to 
give 

Notre 
Dame a three-run lead.

Still, the Wolverines (4-2 Big 

Ten, 23-6 overall) managed to 
stave off Notre Dame (4-8 ACC, 
10-17 overall) in the showdown 
thanks to four runs in the third, 
fourth, fifth and sixth innings 
that led to a 4-3 victory.

“They know they’re going 

to come back, I know they’re 
going to come back,” said 
Michigan coach Erik Bakich. 
“It’s just part of our deal, we 
just come back.”

After the scorching start by 

the Fighting Irish, Notre Dame 
kept the pressure on junior 
right-hander 
Alec 
Rennard, 

who was on the mound for the 
Wolverines.

While the Fighting Irish’s 

bats were hot in the first 
inning, they cooled off just as 
quickly. Notre Dame failed to 
score for the remaining of the 
game. 

While the Wolverines were 

hitless going into the third 
inning, 
they 
kept 
getting 

contact and looked poised to 
break out of their scoreless 
drought.

Sophomore 
designated 

hitter Nick Poirier started the 
hitting barrage for Michigan 
in the third inning with a 
single to right field. Following 
him up was Engelmann, who 
immediately singled to left.

“I think offensive baseball 

is contagious,” said sophomore 
right 
fielder 
Jonathan 

Engelmann. “Guys start to 
get hits, other guys feel more 

obliged to do so.”

With 
two 
walks 
from 

sophomore second baseman 
Ako 
Thomas 
and 
senior 

centerfielder 
Johnny 
Slater 

and a sacrifice bunt from senior 
catcher Harrison Wenson, the 
Wolverines cut 
their deficit to 
two.

In the bottom 

of 
the 
fourth 

inning, 
the 

Fighting 
Irish 

pulled 
their 

starting 
left-

hander 
Scott 

Tully, who had 
clearly 
been 

inhibiting 
Michigan’s 
offense. 

“He did a good job mixing 

in off-speed,” Engelmann said. 
“He was a guy you have to set 
your rhythm later for.”

Notre 
Dame’s 
Charlie 

Vorsheck relieved Tully, and 
Engelmann 
immediately 

jumped on him, lofting a ball 
into shallow right field for 
an RBI triple, cutting Notre 
Dame’s lead to only one.

The 

Wolverines 
faced 
another 

scare 
in 
the 

bottom of the 
fifth 
inning, 

as Notre Dame 
managed 
to 

load the bases 
with one out. 
Freshman 
southpaw 
Tommy 
Henry 

entered in the 
middle of the 

inning, though, and forced a 
groundout and a strikeout to 
end the inning.

Michigan finally got the 

equalizer it had been looking 
for in the bottom of the fifth 
inning, when Slater hit a 
sacrifice flyout to left field that 
brought in Thomas — who had 
reached third base after an 
overthrown ball sailed over the 
second baseman.

The core of the Wolverines’ 

offense came from Poirier and 
Engelmann, who, in the bottom 
of the sixth inning, carried 
the team to its first lead of 
the game. Engelmann lined 
a double past the diving first 
baseman to send a sprinting 
Poirier home from first, giving 
Michigan a 4-3 lead. Despite 
Notre Dame multiple chances 
to regain the lead n the eighth 
and ninth innings, the Fighting 
Irish couldn’t execute. 

“It’s 
pivotal,” 
Engelmann 

said. “Coming out with a ‘W’ 
after this and getting a win 
over a great ACC team.”

BASEBALL
Brdar extends current 
hit streak to 15 games

Through the first 29 games 

of the season, a strong case can 
be made that shortstop Michael 
Brdar has been the most valuable 
player for the No. 18 Michigan 
baseball team (4-2 Big Ten, 23-6 
overall).

The senior ranks third on the 

team in home runs with three, 
second in batting average at .325, 
runs with 24, doubles with six 
and slugging percentage at .478. 
He is also first in hits with 38 – 
which ranks fourth in the Big Ten. 
Additionally, Brdar has played 
stellar defense with a .982 fielding 
percentage, 
making a handful 
of web gem plays 
in the field.

Heading into 

Tuesday night’s 
game 
against 

Notre 
Dame 

(4-8 ACC, 10-17 
overall), 
Brdar 

was 
riding 
a 

14-game 
hit 

streak.

In the bottom of the fifth, 

Brdar stepped up to the plate 
for the third time. After fouling 
off several pitches and working 
a 3-2 count, Brdar blasted a line 
drive up the middle for a single, 
extending his hit streak to 15 
games.

During the streak, he has 

recorded 25 hits, helping the 
Wolverines to a 12-3 record.

When asked what has propelled 

his hit streak, Brdar unselfishly 
credited his teammates for getting 
on base and giving him motivation 
to follow suit.

Brdar finished the night 1-for-4 

in Michigan’s 4-3 victory. Despite 
his merits as a batter, Brdar’s 
biggest contributions were with 
his glove.

In the fourth inning, Brdar 

backhanded a one-hopper to 

prevent a hit from Fighting 
Irish leadoff batter Nick Podkul. 
Michigan coach Erik Bakich 
credits the play for stopping a 
Notre Dame rally.

Four innings later, with the 

Wolverines up 4-3, Brdar cut off a 
throw by redshirt sophomore left 
fielder Miles Lewis and threw out 
the game-tying run at the plate.

“It was a tough play because 

it was a short hop and he had 
to make an accurate throw in 
traffic,” Bakich said. “But if there’s 
anyone who you want to have the 
ball (in a pressure situation) it’s 
(Brdar). It was a huge play, it really 
saved the game”

Brdar currently bats third for 

Michigan 
– 
a 

spot 
typically 

designated for a 
team’s best all-
around 
hitter 

– however, he 
didn’t start the 
season near the 
top of the order. 
Throughout the 
first few weeks 
of the season, he 
was 
generally 

penciled in at the sixth or seventh 
spot. However, consistent play at 
the plate moved him all the way to 
the third spot on March 19 against 
Northern Illinois – and he has 
been there ever since. 

In his first year as a Wolverine 

last season, Brdar batted .250 
with 44 hits, one home run and 16 
runs batted-in. Brdar has already 
surpassed that RBI total with 21, 
and is just six hits shy of tying his 
previous total hit mark.

Despite his boost in the lineup 

and his improved play at the plate, 
Brdar’s approach remains the 
same.

“I try to stick to what I do up 

there,” Brdar said. “We try and 
keep the lineup moving with 
quality at-bats the whole game. 
Just trying to do my job each time 
I get to bat.”

FILE PHOTO/Daily

Sophomore right fielder Jonathan Engelmann lined a double past the first baseman to score the game-winning run.

ROBERT HEFTER

Daily Sports Writer

“It’s just part 
of our deal, 
we just come 

back.”

NOTRE DAME
MICHIGAN 

3
4

HUNTER SHARF
Daily Sports Writer

“Just trying to 
do my job each 

time I get to 

bat.”

