4B — Monday, April 16, 2018
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
BUILDING CONTEMPORARIES:
ART AND ECONOMIES
IN DETROIT
A Panel Discussion
Dive into a conversation about what current
initiatives and leaders are contributing to
the artistic ecosystem in Detroit today.
Reception to follow.
Established through the generosity of Dr. Herbert Sloan, the annual
Doris Sloan Memorial Program honors Doris Sloan, a long-time
UMMA docent and the Sloan’s shared passion for art.
Lead support for Exercising the Eye: The Gertrude Kasle Collection
is provided by the University of Michigan Office of the Provost,
Michigan Medicine, and the University of Michigan CEW Frances
and Sydney Lewis Visiting Leaders Fund.
This program is co-sponsored by the Penny W. Stamps Speaker
Series and the U-M Institute for the Humanities.
FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 6:30 P.M. U-M MUSEUM OF ART
In conjunction with Exercising the Eye: The Gertrude Kasle Collection
Michigan sweeps doubleheader
Sometimes, a sweep is nice
and easy.
Other times, the wins on the
record conceal the less-than-
glamorous means it took to get
there.
The latter was the case for
the No. 17 Michigan softball
team (10-1 Big Ten, 35-7 overall)
on Friday when it swept a
doubleheader against Rutgers
(2-7, 17-21) with scores of 11-1
and 9-2. Despite the lopsided
numbers on the scoreboard,
both games at times seemed as
if they could slip away from the
Wolverines.
It was evident from the start
of the first game that freshman
left-hander Meghan Beaubien
didn’t have her best stuff. She
allowed a double and a single
in the first inning to put the
Scarlet Knights on the board.
Michigan was in an unfamiliar
position: playing from behind.
“It’s kind of like getting in a
fight,” said senior right-hander
Tera Blanco. “You get punched
first, well, what are you gonna
do? You’re obviously gonna
punch back. (So) that was kind
of our mentality.”
The
Wolverines
didn’t
take long to punch back, as
sophomore
third
baseman
Madison Uden hit a grand slam
in the bottom of the frame to
put Michigan up, 4-1.
From there, it was mostly
smooth
sailing.
Beaubien
settled in and the Wolverines
kept tacking on runs. A two-
RBI double from senior first
baseman Aidan Falk in the third
and RBI singles from freshman
shortstop
Natalia
Rodriguez
and junior center fielder Natalie
Peters extended the lead to 8-1
when Blanco stepped up to the
plate.
The
first
three
pitches
missed, but Michigan coach
Carol Hutchins gave Blanco —
who had already walked three
times — the green light to
swing. She did, and launched
the ball out of the stadium for a
three-run home run to end the
game with the score 11-1.
“I told her before she got
to bat, ‘Hey, if they put one in
there, just hit it to the moon,’
” Falk said. “She hit it past the
moon.”
The beginning of the second
game was reminiscent of the
first. Blanco didn’t have her
best stuff. She got out of the
inning with no damage done,
but consistently fell behind in
counts. The Wolverines got an
early 3-0 advantage on a two-
run home run by Falk and a RBI
single from Canfield, but the
lead felt uncomfortable.
In the fourth, a double and a
single cut Michigan’s lead to 3-1,
and, while Blanco scored on a
single from Uden in the bottom
of the frame, she found herself
in more trouble in the fifth.
A double, a walk and a
single once again shaved the
Wolverines’ margin to two.
Then Blanco allowed another
single to put runners on first
and second with two outs and
Rutgers’ best hitter, Rebecca
Hall, coming to the plate.
Hutchins opted to intentionally
walk Hall instead of having her
face the struggling Blanco.
“(We) were debating whether
we were gonna walk her and
then put in Meghan, whether
we would change pitchers,”
Hutchins said. “ … She’s their
best player. She’s hitting .400,
her stats are huge.
“ … We left her in because
Tera has to be able to pitch
herself
out
of
jams,
and
sometimes we’ve taken her out,
but tonight her offense was on
and we’ve gotta be able to trust
that her offense can make up
anything that happens.”
Hutchins was right. After
running a full count, Blanco
came back to strike out the final
batter swinging and minimize
the damage. And in the bottom
of the inning, her two-run
single erased any memory of her
struggles.
Michigan would add two
more runs in the frame on a
bases-loaded walk and a wild
pitch and another in the sixth
on a solo home run off the bat of
Falk, and by then the score was
9-2 and what was once a tense,
dramatic contest was suddenly
anything but.
“You can see the intensity
go up and down in the lineup,”
Hutchins said. “We get ahead
in the game, we were 3-0, I
thought we kinda coasted for a
couple innings. … Then we — the
game’s getting tight, and then I
thought our intensity tightened
itself up.”
Maybe, for a team used to
near-effortless wins, a little
adversity was just what the
doctor ordered.
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Senior first baseman Tera Blanco hit a game-winning homer on Friday.
Strong pitching ignites
‘M’ vs. Scarlet Knights
Coming
into
Friday’s
doubleheader, the Michigan
softball team had allowed only
one run in seven home games
this season.
But there were points in
both games on Friday against
Rutgers where it appeared
as
though
the
Wolverines
were at risk of surrendering
multiple runs in an inning —
a rare occurrence for a team
that had previously outscored
opponents
at
home,
46-1.
Clutch pitching performances,
though,
prevented
multiple
runs from crossing the plate.
In the opening frame of
the doubleheader’s front end,
freshman left-hander Meghan
Beaubien found herself in a
jam. A walk, wild pitch and
double gave Rutgers a 1-0 lead.
Then a single put runners on
the corners with only one out.
Despite giving up the early
run, Beaubien remained even-
keeled — setting down the next
two batters on a popout and
groundout to junior second-
baseman Faith Canfield.
“They were on Meghan, that
was the thing,” said Michigan
coach Carol Hutchins. “But
you can’t panic. … Honestly,
it’s better if they score early, so
that your team can get going.”
After stranding two runners
in the first inning, Beaubien did
not allow a hitter to reach base.
In the fifth inning of the
doubleheader’s
nightcap,
senior
right-hander
Tera
Blanco allowed two runners
to reach base with one out and
gave up an RBI single, cutting
the Wolverines’ lead to 4-2.
Michigan opted to intentionally
walk infielder Rebecca Hall
— who boasts a .391 batting
average –– to load the bases.
The Wolverines and their
lead looked vulnerable.
After getting ahead, 1-and-
2, Blanco ran the count full
against
freshman
infielder
Myah Moy.
“Hutch just said, ‘Do what
you’ve been doing’, ” said
Blanco, “and (catcher Katie
Alexander)
was
just
like,
‘Do you,’ and that’s just me
attacking the zone and trusting
my stuff and trusting my
defense.”
Blanco wound up and fired
the pitch past a swinging batter
for the third out of the inning.
In both games, the Michigan
offense — seemingly energized
by
the
performances
of
Beaubien
and
Blanco
—
responded by putting up four
runs in the bottom half of the
inning.
“Sometimes kids don’t seem
to have as intense of at-bats
when
they’re
not
behind,”
Hutchins said, “but I thought
we responded well.”
The runs came courtesy of
a grand slam by junior third
baseman Madison Uden in the
first game, and a combination
of a bases-loaded walk, a two-
RBI single by Blanco and a wild
pitch that scored a run in the
second game.
Both
instances
gave
the
Wolverines comfortable leads
and sparked the offense for
the remainder of the contest.
The confidence exuded by the
pitching staff spilled over to
the offense in both games of the
doubleheader.
Michigan wound up taking
both contests by scores of 11-2
and 9-2.
“We just knew that we could
come back with the bats,” said
senior utility player Aidan Falk,
“and that really didn’t scare us
at all and we did, so that was all
we needed.”
JORGE CAZARES
Daily Sports Writer
SOFTBALL
Rain showers can’t cool off red-hot Wolverines
Typically, baseball drama comes
in the form of a walk-off hit, a major
comeback or a strikeout late in a
game. But this weekend, Michigan
experienced
something
new:
scheduling drama.
The Friday game, the first
of a three-game series against
Maryland (3-5 Big Ten, 16-19
overall), saw no issues for the
Wolverines in any way, as they
beat down on the Terrapins in a
10-4 win. With Saturday, though,
new issues arose for the surging
Wolverines (8-0, 21-11).
Even though the temperature
was hovering around 70 degrees
Thursday, Saturday’s combination
of
near-freezing
temperatures
and rain created unwelcoming
playing conditions. The game was
postponed until Sunday, setting up
a doubleheader.
“We can’t control it so there’s
no sense getting frustrated about
it,” said Michigan coach Erik
Bakich. “The weather, especially in
Michigan, is just one of those things
that you know that you’re gonna
battle the elements here.”
Similar problems arose again
on Sunday, though, and instead
of playing the doubleheader, the
Wolverines experienced a weather
delay for over four hours before
finally getting in only one weather-
shortened game. Maryland had to
catch a flight home at 10:00 p.m. so
the game, which ultimately began at
5:18, was played with the stipulation
that no new inning could begin after
7:45 p.m.
Despite
the
massive
delay,
Michigan came out firing, as it put
up four runs and batted through
the lineup twice in just the first
three innings. Ultimately a 6-3
victory in eight innings brought the
Wolverines’ win streak to 17.
“Fortunately for us, we train
outside in much worse, so when we
have adverse conditions like today
we can thrive in them,” Bakich said.
“Our guys just didn’t seem phased.
They didn’t seem phased by the
delays, they didn’t seem phased by
the conditions. If anything, they
think it’s an advantage.”
Freshman
left-hander
Ben
Dragani tossed six innings of
two-run baseball, continuing his
dominant stretch as a starter.
Dragani, who is from Wisconsin,
echoed his coach’s sentiments,
adding that he is used to playing in
poor conditions.
“In Wisconsin, high school
baseball isn’t (played in) the best
weather,” Dragani said. “It’s raining,
it’s cold, below freezing a lot. We had
games a lot where it was snowing,
so having those experiences really
helped that factor like, you’ve done
it before, it’s nothing new.”
Freshman first baseman Jesse
Franklin also continued his recent
success, as he went 3-for-4 with two
doubles and a home run on Sunday
after going 2-for-3 with a home run
Friday.
Like Dragani, Franklin — who
is from the state of Washington —
played through unusual baseball
weather during his high school
career and was well prepared to
play in games with conditions
similar to Sunday.
“Today was just kinda of about
making sure I stayed mentally
ready to play,” Franklin said. “I’m
kind of used to that from Seattle and
high school ball, like all the time it’s
raining and you don’t know if you’re
gonna play all day.”
Bakich made sure to emphasize
the weather did not have any impact
on the team’s performance. Rather,
it was waiting to play and being
in the dark as to when the game
would start that impacted the team.
Michigan, though, was ready for the
challenge and handled the situation
well.
“We got ready, and then at game
time at four o’clock it wasn’t ready
and so we had to wait another hour
and 15 minutes,” Bakich said. “So all
of that is what the adversity was and
I thought our guys responded well.”
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Michigan coach Erik Bakich emphasized that inclement weather didn’t affect his team’s performance at all in Michigan’s win against Maryland on Sunday.
BENNETT BRAMSON
Daily Sports Writer