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Thursday, May 25, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS

ARNOLD ZHOU/Daily

Senior Megan Betsa was a constant for the Wolverines this season, boasting a career season and supporting an offense that regressed after Sierra Romero’s departure.
Season in Review: Softball looks to future

By MAX MARCOVITCH 

Daily Sports Writer

With a 4-2 loss to Washington 

in 
the 
Regional 
round, 
the 

Michigan softball team bowed out 
of the NCAA Tournament, and 
thus waved goodbye to the 2017 
season. It was, at times, a season 
and team unable to escape the 
shadow of the 2016 juggernaut; a 
year in which “tight” might well 
have been Michigan coach Carol 
Hutchins’ most used word. The loss 
to Washington marked the earliest 
exit for the program since 2011. But 
in a year that will likely be seen as 
a “down” year for the program that 
has been to 12 Women’s College 
World Series, the Wolverines were 
still ranked the entire season, were 
comfortably the second best team 
in the conference and finished 
43-13-1.

The Daily looks back on a 

season seemingly brimming with 
potential, but ultimately plagued 
by inconsistency.

Most valuable player: Megan 

Betsa

This award undoubtedly belongs 

to the pitcher who led the country 
in strikeouts, and was a model 
of stability all year, even when 
the offense wasn’t. Coming off 
lingering injuries that forced her 
to sit out of fall training, senior 
right-hander Megan Betsa came 
through with the best season of her 

decorated career. Betsa had career 
bests across the board, including 
innings pitched (235.1), batting 
average against (.148) and strikeout-
to-walk ratio (4.12). With newfound 
confidence, Betsa especially found 
her groove in the Big Ten portion 
of the schedule, including a streak 
of 48 consecutive scoreless innings 
in the heart of conference play en 
route to unanimously being voted 
first-team all-Big Ten. In mid-
March, she threw two no-hitters 
in the span of one week, prompting 
Hutchins to say that Betsa was 
“really been the best I’ve seen her 
in her career over this period.”

Betsa pitched in 23 games this 

season that her team failed to 
score more than four runs. She 
still won or saved 13 of them. The 
senior was a stabilizing force 
all year — the glue that kept her 
team from unraveling when it 
appeared imminent, making her 
the unquestionable MVP. 

Breakout 
Player: 
Faith 

Canfield

It was hardly surprising to 

see sophomore second baseman 
Faith Canfield come through with 
a home run in the first inning 
of the elimination game against 
Washington; she’s been hitting 
the ball hard all season. Canfield 
was appointed the starting second 
baseman early in the season, with 
massive shoes to fill on the heels 
of Sierra Romero’s graduation. 

Romero might well be the best 
Michigan softball player in history, 
and while Canfield may never 
reach that level, she proved herself 
a worthy heir to Romero’s throne, 
consistenly producing all season 
long.

Canfield’s breakout year truly 

became evident when she began to 
flash newfound power. Coming off 
a year in which she had seven extra-
base knocks all year, Canfield tied 
junior first baseman Aidan Falk 
for the team lead in that category 
in 2017 with 27. With a steady 
glove and rock-solid bat, Canfield 
was one of just two Wolverines to 
start all 57 games for Michigan this 
season — a testament to Hutchins’ 
confidence in her. Canfield will 
continue to be a reliable middle-of-
the-order bat in the years to come, 
and is an early candidate for 2018 
Big Ten Player of the Year.

Most 
important 
game: 

Michigan State 5, Michigan 4 in 
Big Ten Tournament

It wasn’t nearly the “most 

important 
game” 
that 
the 

Wolverines were hoping for, but it 
certainly was the moment where 
Michigan’s season began to spiral 
out of control — a moment the 
players simply couldn’t bounce 
back from. After crawling back 
on their own home field to 
grab a 4-2 lead in the Big Ten 
Tournament quarterfinals, Betsa 
allowed the Spartans to score 

three unanswered runs. Michigan 
State centerfielder Lea Foerster 
reached base four times on the day, 
including a crucial RBI single in 
the top of the seventh inning.

It’s hard to overstate how much 

this loss stung for the Wolverines; 
in a tournament circled on their 
calendar all year in front of their 
home fans, they lost to an in-state 
rival before even reaching the 
semifinal. The loss eliminated 
any hope of returning home for a 
Regional at Alumni Field. Instead, 
Michigan fell outside the top-16 
and was forced to travel to Seattle, 
with the faint — and ultimately 
misguided — hope of upending the 
host Washington. 

Up next:
Michigan will lose one of the 

most accomplished senior classes 
in school history, perhaps no loss 
with more implications than that of 
Betsa. The Wolverines will count 
on senior right-hander Tera Blanco 
in both the circle and the lineup as 
the new face of the program, with 
senior Aidan Falk also figuring to 
be a vital middle-of-the-order bat. 
But the core of this team will likely 
be the rising junior class — led by 
Canfield, Peters and Alexander. 
The trio alone accounted for 157 
hits in 2017. Rising sophomore 
shortstop Madison Uden flashed 
potential in her 24 appearances 
this season, carving out a role 
that made her a regular starter by 

season’s end. 

For the first time in years, the 

team will come into the season with 
questions throughout the pitching 
rotation. Blanco appears capable of 
taking the step toward becoming 
an ace, but rising sophomore right-
hander Leah Crockett pitched 
just 6.1 innings in 2017. The 
coaching staff is optimistic about 
incoming 
freshman 
left-hander 

Megan Beaubien, who comes in as 
the No. 6 overall prospect in the 
2017 recruiting class, according 
to FloSoftball. But it’s fair to 
question whether Hutchins and 
her coaching staff will immediately 
rely upon the incoming freshman 
for 120+ innings out of the gate. 
Michigan looks poised to juggle a 
three-person rotation, at least in 
the early portion of the season.

Overall, it will be a talented, 

if comparatively unproven, team 
coming into the year. It won’t have 
the same burden of the shadow of 
expectation that this team seemed 
to fall victim to all too often. 
Quite a bit hinges on Blanco and 
Beaubien being able to fill the void 
left by Betsa, and whether Canfield, 
Peters and Uden can take steps to 
become the superstars they have 
shown signs of becoming. The 
Wolverines will likely remain as a 
preseason top-15 team, granted the 
benefit of the doubt that Hutchins’ 
teams have earned throughout her 
illustrious career.

