The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
April 8, 2019 — 3B
Watching their team down
6-5 with two outs in the bottom
of the seventh, the crowd started
to clear, anticipating Michigan’s
first loss in the Big Ten. But the
Wolverines didn’t back down.
Facing a 3-2 count with two
runners on base, senior MacKenzie
Nemitz swung hard, finding a gap
between center and right field that
propelled the Wolverines to a 7-6
walk-off victory over Indiana.
“It’s a great win,” said Michigan
coach Carol Hutchins. “Hopefully
we take confidence from it, we
should take a lot of good things.
But they should take our energy
in the seventh inning that we had.
We were all one heartbeat. Every
kid in that dugout was on point.
And that’s how you win big.”
But this win was by no means
pretty.
On a gameday dedicated to her,
senior first baseman Alex Sobczak
made sure that her impact was
felt right in the first inning. After
an infield single by fellow senior
Natalie Peters, Sobczak hit a high
fly ball to center field. However,
instead of making the catch to end
the inning, the Hoosiers’ Taylor
Lambert dropped the ball, giving
an RBI double to Sobczak for the
first run of the game.
On the very next at-bat, Sobczak
got help from another senior, this
time Nemitz, who sent Sobczak
home on a triple, giving Michigan
an early 2-0 lead at the end of the
first.
But after a silent second inning
by both squads, Indiana came to
life. After getting a runner on base
on a perfectly executed bunt, the
Hoosiers tied the game at two off
a two-run homer to left field by
Grayson Radcliffe.
Michigan, however, recovered
with a home run of its own on the
flip side of the third inning. And it
was none other than the red-hot
Sobczak who went yard. With
freshman Lexie Blair sitting on
second base off a two-out double,
Sobczak drove a high-flying ball
over the center field wall and was
bombarded by her teammates at
home plate as she rounded the
bases for a second time today,
putting the Wolverines back in the
lead, 4-2.
In the top of the fourth,
Hutchins, hoping to get four
innings out of today’s starter,
freshman
right-hander
Alex
Storako, was forced to substitute
her out for Beaubien in an attempt
to limit Indiana’s hits. However,
Beaubien could not find her All-
American form, giving up an RBI
double to Katie Lacefield before
hitting Juvia Davis and walking
Taylor Lambert, which loaded the
bases for Indiana with just one
out.
Then Radcliffe, who hit a home
run earlier, drilled a single to
left field. However, rather than
scooping up the easy grounder,
Blair took her eyes off the ball too
early as the single rolled past her
and turned into a bases-clearing
triple, giving the Hoosiers a 6-4
lead after the fourth.
And right when Beaubien, who
threw for five strikeouts and no
more runs the rest of the game,
finally locked in, the Michigan
offense could not string together
a series of hits to spark any sort of
comeback – until with one out in
the seventh inning.
Senior second baseman Faith
Canfield took a solo shot straight
to center field, reigniting a team
and crowd that seemed to have
lost all life. All of a sudden, Peters
found herself as a tying runner
with a shallow double down the
left field line.
After giving an intentional
walk given to Sobczak, Nemitz
made sure Michigan came out still
standing at the top of the Big Ten.
“If
our
pitcher
struggles,
we need to come through,”
Nemitz said. “If we struggle, our
pitchers need to come through.
We complement so well and the
whole game, I had a weird inkling
that we were going to get it done
together. As a team.”
Like many of the No. 23
Michigan softball team’s series,
the Wolverines’ bats started slow
in this weekend’s matchup against
Indiana.
In
Friday
and
Saturday’s
contests, the Wolverines failed to
get on the board until the third
inning in both games, registering
just seven runs over two days.
But, also like many of the
Wolverines’ games, all Michigan
needed was a spark.
While the Wolverines came
out on top in all three games, it
was close each game, beating the
Hoosiers by three runs on Friday
and one in each of the final two.
In each game, the offense was
sparked by a different player: junior
third baseman Madison Uden’s
home run on Friday, sophomore
shortstop Natalia Rodriguez’s bunt
on Saturday and Natalie Peters
single on Sunday.
After Peters reached first in the
first inning of the series finale, a
fire had been lit. One batter later,
senior first baseman Alex Sobczak
— the third of the power trio which
had kept Michigan afloat earlier in
the series — kept the streak going.
Sobczak drilled a ball deep into
center field for a double on which
Peters reached home from first
base.
This section of the lineup — from
Peters to Sobczak — accounted for
over half of the Wolverines’ runs
this weekend.
Senior
designated
player
Mackenzie Nemitz extended this
hot streak with
her first triple
of the season,
sending Sobczak
home
and
increasing
the
Wolverines’ lead
to two.
“Early in the
game, we’re just
trying to be on
base,”
Nemitz
said.
“I
see
(Michigan coach Carol Hutchins)
waving me around and I’m like, ‘Is
she sure?’ I even hesitated running
around the bag for a second. It’s
just about going hard the whole
game. Don’t take any play off. Don’t
take any at-bat off. It’s a fight.”
Blair returned to the plate in
the bottom of the third, where she
fired off a double to center field.
Sobczak filed a ball to the same
spot as her earlier at-bat, the only
difference being this one cleared
the center field wall for a two-run
homer.
The Wolverines struggled to
keep this fire lit later as the game
progressed, going through three
innings with only one hit — a
problem they’d struggled with all
weekend.
In both Friday and Saturday’s
games, Michigan scored all of its
runs between the third and fourth
innings. While they continued
to get runners on base, the
Wolverines failed to get another
runner all the way around the
diamond for the remainder of each
game.
When asked what accounted
for the offensive slowdowns, some
players cited a lack of patience at
the plate. Hutchins thought it had
to do with something else entirely:
mentality.
“I didn’t think we swung well
all weekend until the last inning,”
Hutchins said. “Their pitchers
knew how to keep us off balance
but we didn’t adjust — we never
adjusted.”
Sobczak, known for swinging
early,
thought
Michigan
was
more patient facing
Indiana’s pitchers
in Sunday’s contest,
though
Hutchins
disagreed.
“They were so
locked-in in the
seventh and they
were not locked-
in in quite a few
innings,” Hutchins
said. “We had a lot of bad at-bats. I
did not agree with their assessment
of their pitch selections at all. We
gave away a lot of at-bats. We were
sitting on pitches — meaning we
were hunting for a specific pitch —
and we were still mishitting them.”
Whether it was an issue of
patience or a mental shift, the
Wolverines made a change in the
final inning, regaining momentum
in a way they hadn’t been able to
earlier in the series.
Down by two, senior second
baseman Faith Canfield shot a
ball out of the park, bringing the
Hoosiers’ lead down to one. After
Blair popped out to center field,
Peters hit a double. Indiana right-
hander Tara Trainer intentionally
walked Sobczak, putting two
runners on base with Nemitz at
the plate.
With a walk-off double, Nemitz
ended the game.
“It doesn’t matter when you
score,” Hutchins said. “As long as
the game doesn’t run out.”
Walk-off
Mackenzie Nemitz’s walk-off double caps weekend sweep with thrilling comeback win, moving win streak to 15
AKUL VIJAYVARGIYA
Daily Sports Writer
LANE KIZZIAH
Daily Sports Writer
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Senior designated player Mackenzie Nemitz hit a walk-off double to lift Michigan over the Hoosiers on Sunday.
Don’t take any
play off. Don’t
take any at-bat
off.
Wolverines dominate Minnesota, 8-0
With the bases loaded and an
angry home crowd, it seemed
like
the
Wolverines’
early
success against Minnesota was
about to stall.
The mood in Ray Fisher
Stadium had grown frustrated
as the umpire called ball after
ball on starting sophomore right-
hander Jeff Criswell’s pitching.
That quickly fizzled away,
however, as a double play ended
the fourth inning as a groundout
from Minnesota’s Cole McDevitt
was caught by senior Blake
Nelson, flung to second and then
to senior Jimmy Kerr at first to
catch Jordan Kozicky.
This sharp fielding was on
display throughout Michigan’s
8-0 win in the final game of
its weekend series against the
Golden
Gophers
on
Sunday
afternoon. The Wolverines were
eager to round out the series on
a high note after hard-fought
games Friday and Saturday that
ended 4-6 and 5-3, respectively.
They did that and more. The
Wolverines’ scoring started early
as sophomore Jesse Franklin
fired off a home run to right
field in the bottom of the first
— foreshadowing a home run-
heavy day. Not to be outdone,
Kerr launched another one to
right field for Michigan’s first
at-bat in the second.
“I think we really just had the
mindset of attacking them from
the beginning,” Franklin said.
“They’re a good team and after
this weekend we wanted to get a
series win.
“We were all ready to go. I
just got up to bat sooner than the
other guys.”
Clutch plays from Michigan,
as well as reliable pitching from
Criswell, prevented Minnesota
from ever gaining any kind of
foothold offensively. In the top
of the second, Blomgren and
Kerr combined to turn a ground
out into an inning-ending double
play.
Criswell,
meanwhile,
excelled all day in detecting the
Golden Gophers’ attempts to
steal bases.
“I thought Jeff (Criswell)
had his best day today,” said
Michigan coach Erik Bakich.
“He did a really good job
pitching us out of huge jams
… they had plenty of scoring
opportunities and to minimize
those opportunities was a huge
storyline this weekend.”
Even
when
he
didn’t,
Michigan’s
strong
fielding
stepped in. When Minnesota’s
Drew
Hmielewski
slipped
behind Criswell in the top of
the third and sprinted toward
second base, sophomore catcher
Joe Donovan reacted instantly,
firing the ball to senior Ako
Thomas at second base to stop
him in his tracks.
The Wolverines’ consistent
defense was certainly integral to
their win.
“We played great defense,”
Bakich said. “Those double plays
were huge momentum plays,
all three to end the inning in
really high-leverage, high-traffic
situations.”
The fifth inning showcased
Minnesota’s
difficulty
in
breaking
through.
Right-
hander
Brett
Schulze,
who
came from the bullpen in one of
the team’s numerous pitching
changes, cycled through nine of
Michigan’s hitters and allowed a
two-run homer from sophomore
Jack Blomgren.
In the bottom of the seventh,
the crowd erupted in cheers for
Criswell as he was relieved by
sophomore left-hander Angelo
Smith. A close call with the
bases loaded in the eighth was
once again extinguished by a
fast-paced
Michigan
double
play to end the inning and keep
Minnesota scoreless.
Two more runs from Donovan
and Lewis brought the final
score to 8-0 — a far cry from
the close games on Friday and
Saturday.
“I didn’t really feel like
we played too well Friday or
yesterday,” Bakich said. “So our
challenge going into today was
really to have a complete game
from a pitching, offensive, and
defensive standpoint … to play
championship-caliber baseball.
“Our guys responded to that
challenge very well.”
Clutch hitting lifts ‘M’ past Gophers
Offense seemed like Michigan
baseball’s weak spot.
Its starting pitchers were
dominant, its relievers capable
and its defense talented. Going
into the season, the biggest
question about Team 153 on
paper was how much its lineup
could produce when it mattered.
Against
Minnesota
this
weekend, those questions were
finally answered: This team can
hit.
Clutch
performances
up
and down the lineup made the
difference in the Wolverines’
victories Saturday and Sunday
over one of their toughest Big
Ten competitors. In Saturday’s
5-3 win over the Golden Gophers,
senior second baseman Ako
Thomas made the difference,
launching a two-out double to
score the winning two runs in
the bottom of the seventh inning.
On Sunday, it was sophomore
center fielder Jesse Franklin.
He homered off the first pitch
he saw in the opening inning to
put the first run on the board
for Michigan. He later plated
sophomore catcher Joe Donovan
on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of
the seventh inning to help the
Wolverines to a comfortable 8-0
victory.
“We had the mindset of
attacking them right from the
beginning,” Franklin said. “We
were all ready to go as soon as
we got up to bat. Everyone was
just really focused. We’re good
enough that when we’re focused,
we can beat good teams like that
8-0, so it was great to do that.”
Going
into
the
weekend,
Minnesota’s
presented
a
formidable
challenge.
No.
1
starter Max Meyer came into his
start Friday with an earned run
average of 1.72. Their offense
was hot off a 14-4 midweek
win. Of the Big Ten competition
Michigan has faced or will face
this season, the Gophers might
be the toughest.
In
Friday’s
game,
that
challenge appeared to be too
much for the Wolverines. Though
they got on the board first on a
two-run homer from Franklin
in the bottom of the first, they
could not find a consistent spark,
stranding nine runners on base
and falling 6-4 as their ninth-
inning rally came up short.
Saturday’s game was a battle,
but Michigan was eventually
able to wear down the Gopher
pitchers. After taking a 2-1
lead off a two-run single from
Franklin, the Wolverines tied
the game at three on an opposite-
field home run
from junior right
fielder
Jordan
Brewer
before
taking the lead
on
Thomas’
double.
Sunday was a
different
story.
Franklin’s home
run sparked the
offense,
and
it
didn’t
slow
down for the rest of game. In
the second inning, senior third
baseman Jimmy Kerr hit his
sixth home run of the year. Kerr
also scored in the bottom of the
fifth as sophomore shortstop
Jack Blomgren knocked a blast of
his own.
“Having our offense score in
all but two innings, being able to
keep a lot of pressure on them,
we really just had a lot of quality
at-bats,” said Michigan coach
Erik Bakich. “When we get a ball
to smash – something we can do
damage with – it’s about taking
advantage of the ball and getting
a few home runs.”
But
Michigan’s
offensive
success on this weekend wasn’t
just limited to the long ball. In
Saturday’s game, Michigan tied
the contest in the bottom of the
second inning off a two-run
single from Franklin. On Sunday,
Kerr, Franklin, and sophomore
designated hitter Jordan Nwogu
all notched RBI on smaller hits:
a single for Kerr, a sacrifice fly
for Franklin, and a double for
Nwogu.
Over
the
course
of
the
weekend,
the
Wolverines
came up with
hits when they
needed
them
most. A seventh-
inning go-ahead
double
to
tie
the
series.
A
go-ahead
home
run to win a
weekend
series
against a major
conference competitor. Team
153 is starting to look more and
more like the serious competitor
that Bakich described at the
beginning of the season.
“You just want to try to
put those competitive at-bats
together,
and
string
those
quality at-bats together,” Bakich
said. “When we’ve had our best
scoring days, it’s when we’ve
had quality at-bat after quality
at-bat together, and getting a
big hit that clears the bases. The
mindset is always just continuing
to improve and continuing to get
better. That’s just where we are.
We’ve just got to keep getting
better.”
AIDAN WOUTAS
Daily Sports Writer
ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer
ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
Sophomore center fielder Jesse Franklin hit a home run on Sunday.
It was,
‘Let’s play
championship-
caliber baseball.’
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Sophomore right hander Jeff Criswell did not allow an earned run in 6.2 innings pitched in Sunday’s win.