11

Thursday, June 14, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com SPORTS

ALEC COHEN / DAILY
Junior second baseman Faith Canfield contributed to a team that showed complacency late into the season and the postseason

By no means was the 2017-18 season 
disappointing for the Michigan softball 
team — after all, it amassed a 44-13 
overall record and won the Big Ten 
outright. But for the expectations, for 
the effort, for the bitter ending, was it 
worth it?
The team collected 18 and 15-game 
win streaks only to go on to lose six of 
its last 11 games. After going on a tear 
through the Big Ten regular season, 
fixing their non-conference record 
after a rocky star and playing at what 
looked to be their full potential, the late 
season collapse reeked of one thing — 
complacency.
***
The 
negative 
change 
for 
the 
Wolverines most notably occurred 
starting on Apr. 28, when they faced 
off against Indiana. After a dominant 
run that only saw one loss in 15 Big 
Ten games, Michigan looked prime to 
run away with the title, maybe even by 
winning out the rest of the games.
That all changed when the Hoosiers 
came up to bat at the bottom of the ninth 
inning.
In fact, on three separate occasions 
throughout the game, the Wolverines let 
up for a moment that would give Indiana 
a chance. And for every opportunity 
Michigan gave, Indiana took.
After building a 4-0 lead entering the 
bottom of the fourth, the Wolverines 
saw the short-lived gap close to one in 
the blink of eye. By the time the team 
took note of the ensuing threat, it was 
too late. Indiana had tied the game at 

the last possible second — in the seventh 
inning with two outs.
Though adjustments were made — 
pulling senior right-hander Tera Blanco 
for freshman left-hander Meghan 
Beaubien, the team’s ace — the damage 
had been done. The game was headed 
to extra innings where Michigan would 
eventually fall in the ninth to a walk-
off homer. Had Michigan not looked 
so dominant on defense all season and 
all game before the collapse, perhaps it 
could have been waved off as just one 
team getting the better of another in a 
heated match.
But it’s safe to say, after the rest of 
the season played out, this game was 
no outlier. There was no one-time error 
or undeniable excuse that would allow 
the team to play it off as a fluke, a short-
straw drawn. It was a breakdown.
“I felt that we might’ve just played 
on our heels a little bit,” said Michigan 
coach Carol Hutchins. “We had several 
opportunities to keep scoring, and we 
left eleven runners on base. And it just 
allowed them to stay confident that 
they were within striking distance. 
Whether it’s at-bats or whether it was on 
the mound and we weren’t really –– we 
had to go for the kill when we had the 
opportunity to do it.”
The lack of a final blow for the kill 
was no act of mercy. They had the 
athleticism. They had the talent. It was 
the mentality that led to the decline 
in level of the Wolverines’ play, the 
feeling of safety that followed a Goliath 
facing David. This was the team that 
had commanded a 5-1 win against the 
Hoosiers just a day before. This was the 
team that had won five games before the 

win against Indiana by a minimum of 
six runs. This was a then-39-7 team that 
held a 4-0 lead against a sub-.500 team.
It wasn’t just getting outplayed. It 
was complacency that left the team at 
the mercy of its opposition.
Until that point, Michigan had held 
its opponents to four or fewer runs a 
game — even in its losses. But just like 
that, the Wolverines let up five runs in 
the back half of a game they had under 
control. It was a loss many deemed 
would be a wake-up call. And it was, 
but only for a single game. The mental 
rut continued as Michigan would lose 
8-2 against Western Michigan in their 
worse loss of the year.
***
Just when doubt crept in, the 
Wolverines found it in them to dispel it 
just as quickly. After a statement 8-0 five-
inning win in East Lansing, Michigan 
looked like it had overcome its demons 
— even more so when late-game heroics 
from freshman designated-hitter Lou 
Allan helped turn the tide in a tense 3-2 
win against Ohio State.
And at the very apex of the season, 
the Wolverines beat the Buckeyes — a 
commanding five-inning 8-0 win on 
Senior Day — to clinch the Big Ten 
outright, returning to form after a one-
year absence from the title.
“Last year, it was tough,” said junior 
second baseman Faith Canfield. “So 
I think setting out this year, we really 
wanted it, and it was rough. Don’t get 
me wrong, it was really hard, but it feels 
good. It feels really good.”
And as high as a feel-good high can 
go, there are also disappointing lows. 
Ironically, the Wolverines felt those 

lows when they allowed season-highs 
in runs and errors in their final game 
against Ohio State. While meaningless 
in every aspect but pride, it’s astonishing 
not why the loss occurred, but how.
A five-inning run-rule home loss was 
the first time in over a decade that that 
occurred. The sold-out crowd, which 
was deafening the day before, was 
dead silent as early as the first inning. 
Nothing went right, even if the team 
didn’t need it to at the moment.
After all, win or loss, they already 
clinched the first seed in the Big Ten 
Tournament, secured a winning series 
record against their rival and proved 
themselves capable of dealing with the 
Big Ten’s biggest threats.
But the fact remains that the team 
faced a bad loss for the last regular 
season game and just before the 
postseason. From here, it comes down 
to which route the team takes: does the 
humiliating loss light the fire for a fierce 
response or do they fall into the trap of 
continuing on the negative momentum? 
And most importantly, are they satisfied 
with winning the Big Ten, or do they 
have the motivation and aspirations to 
take them all the way?
As Hutchins noted, confidence is 
the most important thing in the closing 
hours of the season.
However, mentality is just as 
important in order to find postseason 
success. Michigan proved it just didn’t 
have either.
“We think (winning the Big Ten 
is) a great accomplishment, but it’s not 
the most important accomplishment,” 
Hutchins said after the Buckeyes’ loss. 
“I spoke a little before the game on if 
we’re gonna settle. Are we just going to 
be the Big Ten Champion, and I’d like to 
see us hungry again to get to the World 
Series... We didn’t look like we had any 
hunger tonight.”
Hunger is what fuels middle of the 
pack teams to the top. It’s what pushes 
the best of the best to be even better. And 
it was the one thing Michigan seemed to 
lack.
***
Despite having a lot on their plate, 
the Wolverines looked like they’ve had 
their fill.
A bounce back year. A young team 
exceeding expectations. A Big Ten title. 
It felt like Michigan had accomplished 
what it had set out to do. What more 
could it ask for?
Because a successful postseason 
looked completely out of the picture.
The Wolverines completely botched 
their opening game in the Big Ten 
Tournament with a 7-0 loss to the 
Spartans. It looked like the lack of 
hunger from the final regular season 
game carried over to the tournament, as 
the team wasn’t playing up to their Big 
Ten record — the best in the conference. 
And it didn’t stop there.

Complacency only carries so far after 
the accomplishment. But well within 
the deep postseason, Michigan still 
looked unmotivated, unable to conjure 
any spark on offense and barely able to 
get by on defense.
After another crushing loss in 
the first round against Notre Dame, 
Michigan looked completely finished. 
There were no highs to get complacent 
on. It was just falling action and a 
conclusion. For all the exposition — the 
preseason expectations for a talented, 
young team, the rising action, the 
growth and development throughout 
season’s success and the climax. The 
thrills of a title and the aftermath.
It’s all celebratory until it isn’t. The 
Wolverines were thrown one final 
lifeline — their last chance in the double 
elimination NCAA Regional — where 
they fell victim to the complacency 
that plagued them in the latter half of 
the season. After five scoreless innings 
against the Fighting Irish, the Michigan 
defense, for the most part, looked back 
in action. Three hits through those five 
innings were all Notre Dame could 
muster up, all resulting in stranded 
runners.
Then, in a moment of hope in an 
extendedly bleak period, Michigan 
broke open the scoring with a sacrifice 
flyout that pushed Canfield home. And 
just like the scoring drought, the tension 
in the dugout broke as well. Seeing the 
runner score offered some resemblance 
of relief for the team that was backed 
into a corner.
The Fighting Irish took advantage 
of the lapse in tension. In the bottom 
half of the sixth, Michigan collapsed 
to let Notre Dame score two to flip the 
lead. It was as if all defensive focus that 
was so heavily emphasized early in 
the game had dissipated after the first 
run was scored. The pressure was on 
the Wolverines, and just as they had 
all game before the sixth inning, they 
couldn’t find an answer.
***
There was never any doubt that this 
young team would have weaknesses 
in experience. But the problem was 
never about physicality or talent. It was 
all mental, and it was something the 
underclassmen experienced too late.
The veterans in the team failed to 
notice — despite all the culture change, 
all the fun and simplifications they 
added to make the game easier — that 
the problem was getting too high after 
wins and failing to recover from the 
lows after losses. It’s simple. The team 
lacked the hunger to take them all the 
way. Sure, they exceeded preseason 
expectations and won the Big Ten title. 
But to end as badly as they did, was it 
worth it?
Tien Le can be reached at 
tntle@umich.edu or on Twitter 
@tientrle

TIEN LE
Summer Managing Sports Editor

Was it worth it?

