Taylor Bump’s home in Gulf
Port, Fla. is almost 1200 miles from
Ann Arbor.
Situated right on the azure
waters of Tampa Bay, it’s about
a 40-minute drive from South
Florida’s softball stadium. The
last thing anyone would associate
with the house is softball. Yet by
a chance event, the sport became
both the nexus and the antithesis
of the freshman third baseman’s
house, all in one afternoon.
It was after the Michigan softball
team had wrapped up the USF
Wilson-Demarini
Tournament.
If there was one word to describe
the up-and-down weekend, tiring
would be a fitting choice. Five
games in three days, smack dab in
the middle of midterms, the players
had a lot on their plate. Back home
in Michigan, however, an incessant
winter storm had no plans to stop.
Coach Carol Hutchins broke the
news to the Wolverines: their flight
back to Detroit had been cancelled.
They would need to stay the night
in Tampa after having already
spent more than three days there
before. That would give them only
two full days back home until they
had to go back on the road and play
in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
“Now what are we going to do?”
Hutchins wondered.
The team had 24 hours to kill,
over 20 hungry coaches and players
to feed and no hotel booked. In the
midst of all that, Hutchins didn’t
turn to a coach, captain or another
veteran, but rather to Bump, fresh
off her first collegiate start at third
base, for advice.
“Well, I asked her, ‘Taylor, if you
were stuck in Tampa with all your
softball friends, what would there
be to do?’ ” Hutchins said. “I was
wondering what we might do. Go
to Busch Gardens? Go to the beach?
Walk around?”
Bump had no hesitation. Even
as a freshman, she knew that she
had lots of camaraderie within
Michigan softball and a tight
family at worst an hour’s drive
away. The third baseman goes as
far as describing her teammates as
“basically my family now.” So, just
like that she picked up the phone.
“Hey mom, how do you feel
about having the whole team over?”
Bump says her mom showed no
hesitation.
Fast forward a few hours, and
it’s easy to see that Hutchins, Bump
and the rest of the team made the
right choice. The players traded
in sweaty uniforms for swimwear
and peace of mind. Some of the
assistant coaches and the seniors
stopped by a local Publix and
bought the fixings for a makeshift
ice cream and snack bar — a
welcome indulgence for everyone
from Bump to Hutchins.
But therein lies exactly the
beauty of the softball team’s Tampa
excursion. Even though the players
and coaches didn’t follow the most
efficient schedule or regimen for
the day, the opportunity to relax
and bond off the field over the
course of a long season provides
them a chance to grow closer as
normal people: without being
forced to work together by the rigid
construct of college athletics.
“I think every time that we’re
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Thursday, February 15, 2018 — 5A
Game-saving plays against Spartans display Cecconi’s growth
“Don’t let the puck cross the
line.”
That was the only thought
going through Joseph Cecconi’s
mind late in Saturday night’s
game against Michigan State.
With under three minutes
left in regulation, sophomore
goaltender
Hayden
Lavigne
had just made two critical
saves to preserve the Michigan
hockey team’s 3-2 lead over the
Spartans. But the rebound was
loose and the netminder was
out of position to make a play.
Michigan
State
forward
Cody Milan backhanded the
puck toward a wide-open net,
and suddenly, the Spartans
were
milliseconds
from
tying the game and spoiling
the
Wolverines’
hopes
for
a regulation win and three
points.
But in swooped Cecconi, and
the junior defenseman would
follow through on his own
command.
Originally, Cecconi wanted
to swat the puck away from the
goal, but as he fell backward into
the net, he realized he couldn’t.
Instead, he caught the puck in
his right hand and caressed it
to his chest. Recognizing where
he was, Cecconi pushed the
puck out before it could cross
the goal line — preventing, after
further review, the game-tying
goal.
“When it’s a scramble like
that, everyone has to go back
to the front of the net,” Cecconi
said. “I was the closest guy to
the net and Hayden was far out,
so I just stepped right in there
and made a save, I guess.”
The previous night, Cecconi
was watching his teammates
from the Munn Ice Arena
stands
in
East
Lansing,
dejected after being called for
a game misconduct and ejection
for a high hit midway through
the first period. Twenty-four
hours later at Little Caesars
Arena,
the
blueliner
was
making a heroic
heads-up
play
to
ultimately
seal a Michigan
victory
in
the
annual “Duel at
the D.”
Three
minutes earlier,
Cecconi was the
first one down
the ice with the
puck,
looking
to make a play on the rush. A
pinpoint cross-ice pass to a
trailing Quinn Hughes resulted
in a toe-drag from the freshman
defenseman and the game-
winning goal.
Saturday
night’s
standout
game was just an addition to
an already-breakout season for
Cecconi. His 16 points — four
goals and 12 assists — and 69
shots double his production in
both categories
from
his
freshman
and
sophomore
campaigns.
Michigan
coach
Mel
Pearson
believes
that
while Cecconi’s
offensive ability
has always been
there, he hadn’t
been able to put it to good use
until this season.
After two years of being
underutilized, Pearson’s new
systems suddenly gave Cecconi
the
chance
to
capitalize,
especially on the power play.
Focused on moving the puck
low-to-high in the offensive
zone,
the
Wolverines’
defensemen are now registering
more shots from the blueline,
affording
Cecconi scoring
opportunities
aplenty. And he
hasn’t put them
to waste.
With
crisp
passes
and
strong
blasts
from the point,
the Youngstown,
N.Y. native has
notched
two
goals and seven assists with the
man advantage — comprising
more than half of his points
and more than any fellow
defenseman with the extra
man.
“He’s got good offensive
skills, and I just think with that
encouragement and confidence
and the opportunity, he’s taken
advantage of it,” Pearson said.
“I think his growth in his game
is huge.”
Pearson
credits
part
of
Cecconi’s
offensive success
to his elite puck
management,
seen
in
swift
breakouts
from
the
defensive zone,
anticipating
his
teammates’
positions and passing “like a
pro.”
On defense, his 6-foot-2,
205-pound frame contributes
to an increased reach with the
stick and being able to body up
opponents in scrums.
But Pearson was quickest to
point to Cecconi’s increased
maturity as a reason for recent
achievements.
He
believes
Cecconi’s
elevated poise started with
winning a gold medal with
Team USA at the 2017 U-20
World Junior Championships
— an experience that “really
changed him.” Next was being
named an assistant captain.
“Obviously, he is a leader,
he wears a letter, he plays in
every situation for us,” Pearson
said. “He’s still young, but
he’s matured a lot, and I think
just
taking
on
that
added
responsibility has helped him
understand what being a leader
is all about.”
Cecconi agrees. Offseason
drills
upped
his
technical
game,
but
he
considers
his veteran presence on a
roster mainly comprised of
youngsters to have made the
greatest difference.
“Being an upperclassman, I
know that I have more of a role
to play on the team,” Cecconi
said. “I think that added to my
confidence.”
And the “A” on Cecconi’s
jersey is rubbing off on his
teammates.
“Joe’s a great friend, a great
teammate and a great player,
obviously,”
said
Hughes,
Cecconi’s
defensive
partner.
“He just keeps things light,
he’s not always serious … and
he’s a very well-liked guy in the
locker room.”
With intimidating defense,
sharpshooting on the power
play and veteran leadership,
Cecconi has stepped up in a big
way.
“He understands how the
team counts on a guy like him,”
Pearson said. “Especially when
you’re given the opportunity,
you have to seize it and take
advantage of it, and he has.”
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Junior defenseman Joseph Cecconi has flourished into a reliable offensive player since coach Mel Pearson’s system has given him more opportunities.
BENJAMIN KATZ
Daily Sports Writer
“He just keeps
things light,
he’s not always
serious.”
“... I just
stepped right in
there and made
a save, I guess.”
The junior defenseman made a heady play to prevent what would have been the game-tying goal in Michigan’s 3-2 win
The perfect snowstorm
ACROSS
1 Día de San
Valentín flowers
6 California’s __
Gabriel
Mountains
9 Construction rod
14 Remove from the
bulletin board
15 Blood type letters
16 Like 36 piano
keys, traditionally
17 Lewis with 12
Emmys
18 “That ’70s Show”
exchange
student whose
nationality isn’t
revealed
19 Lessen
20 *Beer hall snacks
23 Surf and turf, say
24 NASA vehicle
25 Tempe sch.
28 Time for action
29 *Deli snacks
33 Actress Neuwirth
with Tonys and
Emmys
34 Slim craft
35 *Bakery snacks
41 “Tempt not a
desperate man”
speaker
42 Pretty good
43 *Diner snacks
46 California wine
valley
50 Favorite
51 One of three
rhyming mos.
52 Pavement
cloppers
54 Component of
balanced health
... and what each
answer to a
starred clue looks
like it should be
part of?
57 Lose one’s cool
in a big way
60 Murmur
61 Lift with force
62 Car or tree
feature
63 Tote
64 Film with lots of
shooting stars?
65 Ships
66 Stat for Clayton
Kershaw
67 Flexible Flyers,
e.g.
DOWN
1 Blitzed, in football
2 In stock
3 Peloponnesian
War victor
4 Put on the line?
5 Wading bird
6 No-risk
7 Help with an
inside job, say
8 Gas pump part
9 Genuine article
10 Flows out
11 Feathery wrap
12 House pest
13 Bread with
caraway seeds
21 Insurgent
22 Charged fish?
25 Indigenous
Japanese
26 Notice
27 Multi-tools have
many
30 Old hoops org.
31 Board
32 Solo with a
Wookiee co-pilot
33 Nowheresville,
with “the”
35 Cut closely
36 Sharpen
37 Skip over
38 Board bigwig
39 Heart test letters
40 Broth that’s the
base of miso
soup
44 Cath. or Prot.
45 Christmas eave
decor
46 “The agreement
is off”
47 Take wing
48 Rather put out
49 Starlike flowers
53 Figure-eight
steps, in an
Argentine tango
54 Posterior
55 Acidic
56 Draped garment
57 FG’s three
58 Exist
59 Many a “Call the
Midwife”
character
By Elliot M. Abrams
©2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
02/15/18
02/15/18
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
RELEASE DATE– Thursday, February 15, 2018
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
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FILE PHOTO/Daily
The Michigan softball team stayed in Florida on Sunday due to a snowstorm.
together, when we’re together on
the field and in the locker room, we
become really close, but when we’re
together outside of the field and
outside of the locker room, there’s
just something, there’s a different
kind of bond that forms,” Bump said.
“And with trust and with laughter
and with, just like, smiles, and just
being around each other when
we’re not around softball, it makes
us really comfortable together.”
The Wolverines won’t have many
more opportunities off the beaten
path to build up true team bonds
like they did on this sunny Sunday
in Florida. The opportunity to
establish a family, like the perfect
pitch for a batter, is something
Michigan can’t afford to miss out
on. Right now, though, after an
opportune snowstorm and Bump’s
open home, it seems the Wolverines
are on the right track.
RIAN RATNAVALE
Daily Sports Writer