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.