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Thursday, May 24, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS
The end of the road
Call it a collapse.
Maybe that’s what it was. Losing
four out of your last five games — the
fifth by squandering a one-run lead in
the sixth inning of an elimination con-
test — certainly qualifies.
But maybe the end for the Michi-
gan softball team was less of a collapse
and more of an inevitability, a train
barreling out of control with noth-
ing to stop it until its unceremonious
crash. Maybe this was where the sea-
son was destined to head. Maybe the
issues that plagued the Wolverines
were always there and just hiding in
the periphery.
In NCAA Regionals, it was Notre
Dame’s Alexis Holloway who outdu-
eled freshman left-hander Meghan
Beaubien twice — holding Michigan
to two runs on seven hits across the
two games. That’s a tough spot for any
ace.
Maybe it isn’t such a shock. Hollo-
way, Michigan State pitcher Kristina
Zalewski and Ohio State pitcher Shel-
by McCombs all beat the Wolverines
down the stretch. All have something
in common: a devastating changeup.
Each time, Michigan could do nothing
with it. It was a weakness the Fighting
Irish were happy to exploit.
And when the hits don’t fall in,
it’s easy to get in your head, to press,
to have your courage dissipate until
there’s nothing left except a mark in
the loss column. For the Wolverines,
it’s been a common theme.
“They’ve spent a lot of time worry-
ing about all the worst things that can
happen, and I think that makes bad
things happen,” said Michigan coach
Carol Hutchins after Friday’s defeat.
“ … We were a little paralyzed by our
fear.”
Anyone would be if they weren’t
used to losing. And the Wolverines’
real problem wasn’t that they had
weaknesses — every team does — but
that winning concealed the cracks in
the foundation.
During conference play, Michi-
gan feasted on Big Ten pitching, a
crop that was mediocre at best and
outright terrible at worst. Even then,
there was some vulnerability. In one
game against Penn State, the Wolver-
ines failed to score until the seventh
because the changeup kept them off-
balance. And the Big Ten Tournament
wasn’t their first look at Zalewski —
the first time, she also gave the bats
trouble in an eventual 1-0 Michigan
win. But even if the Wolverines knew
of their flaw, most opposing pitchers
lacked a consistent changeup, giv-
ing them little opportunity to adjust
before that pitfall was exposed on the
biggest stage.
And throughout the season, the
refrains were there, the signs that
Michigan’s struggles had never really
gone away.
“I think the biggest thing that was
getting us was her changeup,” said
freshman designated player Lou Allan
after the series against the Nittany
Lions last month.
Junior center fielder Natalie Peters
expressed the same after Friday’s
game when Holloway’s changeup
generated nothing but weak contact.
“They try too hard,” Hutchins said
after the Texas Invitational in Feb-
ruary — a tournament that included
losses to Virginia Tech and Texas. “
… They’re making hitting more than
it is.”
Following an April defeat to Indi-
ana — in which the Wolverines
struggled to come through in clutch
situations and left 11 runners on base
— her sentiments were remarkably
similar.
“(In our losses) we were not confi-
dent,” Hutchins said after the Texas
Invitational. “We had too many dis-
tractions in our head.”
And again in the postseason,
Michigan fell victim to a lack of trust
in itself.
The signs were easy to ignore as the
Wolverines tore through the confer-
ence, but looking back, they were there
all along. They were there in Michi-
gan’s early-season struggles, there
against the Spartans and Penn State,
there in narrow late-season escapes
against the Buckeyes and Hoosiers.
And ultimately, they were weak-
nesses that other teams picked up on.
The Big Ten Tournament was the first
domino and from there, it only cas-
caded. It showed in the hitters, frozen
as another changeup whizzed by. It
showed in the defense, so rushed to
make plays that it made uncharacter-
istic errors. It showed in the way Notre
Dame looked like a more poised and
prepared team every step of the way.
Maybe it was a collapse. It was cer-
tainly a fall from grace.
But more than that, it was a simple
realization that maybe, just maybe,
this team wasn’t as good as it seemed.
Gerson can be reached at amger-
son@umich.edu or on Twitter @
cyan_sunshine.
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer
‘M’ loses in Regionals
The Wolverines’ season culminated
in a pitchers’ duel.
Coming off of a 6-0 victory against
Illinois-Chicago, it seemed as though
the Michigan softball team’s bats
had finally come alive after scoring a
total of two runs over their previous
three games. Senior utility player Tera
Blanco hit her first home run in over a
month and drove in her first runs since
April 22 against Maryland. JAnd fresh-
man left-hander Meghan Beaubien
nearly tossed a no-hitter, surrendering
her first hit in the final inning against
the Flames. Even the two errors com-
mitted by the Wolverine defense were
covered up by the pitching and offense.
However, nothing that came easy
against Illinois-Chicago came easy
against Notre Dame. This time, there
was no room for error.
On Sunday afternoon, Michigan
took on the Fighting Irish for the sec-
ond time at the Lexington Regional.
The two teams squared off in the open-
ing game of the Regional which saw
Notre Dame defeat the Wolverines 4-1.
Unlike before, however, both teams
were playing for their postseason lives
— having already used up their leeway
for losing.
Right-hander Alex Holloway—who
gave Michigan trouble on Friday—
took the circle again against Beaubien.
The two freshman pitchers battled,
keeping the game scoreless through
five innings—thanks in-part to the
stingy defensive play of both teams.
In the top of the second, sopho-
more outfielder Haley Hoogenraad
launched a ball deep to left field. Rang-
ing back towards the warning track,
Ally Wester reached up at the wall and
made the catch as she robbed Hoogen-
raad of a home run to keep the game
scoreless.
In the bottom half of the inning,
third baseman Melissa Rochford led
off and drilled a ground ball between
Blanco at first base and second base-
man Faith Canfield. Canfield ranged
to her left and laid out to make a diving
stop, throwing out Rochford from her
knees.
The two teams struggled offensive-
ly through five innings –– threatening
but never scoring.
The Wolverines finally broke the
scoreless tie in the sixth inning, start-
ing with a one-out walk. A single to
right field by sophomore third base-
man Madison Uden advanced Can-
field to third base. She crossed home
plate on a sacrifice fly from freshman
designated player Lou Allan.
Their first lead against Notre Dame
in the Regionals didn’t last long.
The Fighting Irish led off the bot-
tom half of the inning with a double.
Then Michigan’s defense, which had
been shaky in recent weeks, continued
its struggles. A pop fly from shortstop
Morgan Reed was hit to shallow left
field behind freshman shortstop Nata-
lia Rodriguez. Rodriguez ranged back-
wards and Hoogenraad and junior
outfielder Natalie Peters sprinted
forward, converging in no-man’s land
where a lack of communication result-
ed in the ball dropping between the
three players. There were now runners
on second and third with no outs.
“Defense has been our strength
all year,” said Michigan coach Carol
Hutchins, “and I don’t know where it
went. I guess I’ll spend some time try-
ing to figure it out. We’ve done a lot of
great things this year, but these last
couple of weeks has not been our best
ball.”
A sacrifice fly drove in the first run
to tie the game, 1-1. And a single by
Rochford gave the Fighting Irish a 2-1
lead.
Just as quickly as the Wolverines
took the lead, they saw it slip away.
They escaped the inning, though,
keeping the deficit to one run— but
they now needed to score a run to keep
their postseason alive.
Senior right fielder Aidan Falk led
off the seventh inning with a double to
left field in what was her final at bat for
Michigan. Senior utility player Nikki
Wald was called out of the box on a sac-
rifice bunt attempt, and Peters flew out
to the shortstop in foul territory. With
their backs against the wall, one out
away from going home, Blanco stepped
up to the plate.
For the Wolverines, you couldn’t ask
for anyone else at the plate with the sea-
son on the line –– the star dual-threat
senior who has come up with several
big hits in her career. But Blanco fouled
off several pitches, getting herself in a
1-2 count, before watching strike three
catch the outside edge of the plate and
the season come to a close.
For the second straight year and the
third time since 2004, the Wolverines
did not advance past Regionals.
This time they are losing a pair of
starting seniors in Blanco and Falk.
“I think it was a tough way to go
out,” said Uden. “I am extremely grate-
ful for the senior class that we had.
They contributed a lot to turn the pro-
gram around, from losing a couple key
players – they stepped it up. You know,
that’s all you can be thankful for, you
know, to be here and play for the Big
Blue and the people around you.”
JORGE CAZARES
Daily Sports Writer
ALEC COHEN / DAILY
COLUMN