The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, April 10, 2019 — 7A
P
resence.
It’s what Michigan
coach Carol Hutchins
credits for
the No. 21
Michigan
softball
team’s stark
pivot after
a rough
start to the
season. It’s
what has
allowed the
Wolverines
to slowly
claw their way back from fall-
ing out of the rankings for the
first time in almost 20 years. It’s
what has propelled Michigan to a
15-game win streak.
But, there’s still one major
test left to pass: Whether the
Wolverines’ offense has the
staying power for a serious post-
season run.
Michigan dug itself into a
tough spot as the season began.
By the third week, it was on an
unprecedented five-game losing
streak. While consistent pitch-
ing by sophomore left-hander
Meghan Beaubien and strong
defense kept the Wolverines in
most games, Michigan struggled
at the plate. In the 23 games
before coming home, the Wol-
verines averaged less than four
runs per game with a collective
batting average of .210.
When asked what accounted
for the lack of offensive produc-
tion, Hutchins and the players
have cited everything from
a poor mentality to a lack of
patience at the plate.
Whatever the cause, their
offensive struggles didn’t fol-
low them home. But the pres-
ence did. When the Wolverines
returned to Alumni Field for
their home opener on March 14,
the bats started swinging.
Michigan has faced weaker
competition in the past month,
not facing a ranked opponent
since March 7. Still, the Wol-
verines’ offense is inarguably
stronger.
Their hot-streak started with
an 8-0 run-rule against Kent
State in the home opener and
hasn’t stopped since. Michigan
has racked up almost nine runs
per game on average — more
than double that of the begin-
ning of the season — and is bat-
ting .370 in the 15 games since
being home.
Offensive standouts have
emerged in the Wolverines’
lineup. Senior outfielder Nata-
lie Peters’s batting average has
soared from a .250 average to
its current .340, and junior
third baseman Madison Uden’s
on-base percentage has been
steadily climbing since her bat-
ting average also took a dip early
in the season. They’ve been
present at the plate, and they’re
just a few of many examples.
“(Power hitting) means we’re
swinging with better confi-
dence,” Hutchins said on March
17. “If there’s anything that’s
improved, it’s our presence and
our confidence. We’ve been a
talented team all along, but now
we’re playing with the confi-
dence we need.”
Almost every player’s batting
average has improved — even
those who were hitting relative-
ly well early on in the season.
Freshman outfielder Lexie Blair
and senior first baseman Alex
Sobczak have become integral
to Michigan’s offense, adding
power to the lineup as the sea-
son has progressed with four
and seven home runs respec-
tively.
While home runs were few
and far between early in the
season, the Wolverines have hit
at least one ball out of the park
in each of the past 10 games,
largely due to Blair and Sobc-
zak.
But there are shortcomings.
Throughout the season,
Michigan’s offense has often
fallen into a pattern: score sev-
eral runs in one or two innings
and leave the others scoreless.
This was true in the Wolverines’
matchup against No. 5 Washing-
ton on March 3 and remained
true in all three of Michigan’s
games the Hoosiers this week-
end, to name a few.
The Wolverines have made it
clear they’ve found the offensive
power to carry them through
the rest of Big Ten play — a con-
ference in a historic downturn
— but with the postseason less
than a month away, that might
not be enough.
The offense has left runs on
the table in each contest so far.
This weekend alone, Michigan
left 19 runners stranded on base
against Indiana. They struggled
to bring home runners in scor-
ing position, faltering on at-bats
that could have solidified a
stronger lead.
This problem isn’t new.
“We’ve been very inconsis-
tent, and especially in our RBI
production,” Hutchins said on
March 9. “We need to get better.
We need to have a productive
set in those at-bats.”
Success in the postseason
could hinge on response to
adversity.
In the face of strong pitching
in the seventh inning of the Sun-
day’s game against Indiana, the
Wolverines stayed locked in at
the plate with three consecutive
producing at-bats that allowed
Michigan to edge out the Hoo-
siers in a walk-off double.
“We’re playing for May — and
I don’t mean the beginning of
May,” Hutchins said. “We’re
playing to get to the end of May.
It’s going to be hard but the only
chance we have is with a team
like the seventh inning.”
Kizziah can be reached via
email at Lkizziah@umich.edu
or on Twitter @kizziahlane
Is this offense ready for the postseason?
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Senior first baseman Alex Sobczak has added a punch to the middle of the lineup in her resurgent senior season.
LANE
KIZZIAH
Michigan falls in extra innings
Willie Weiss stood on the
mound with two outs. The
freshman right-hander was close
to finishing the top of the tenth
inning and giving the Michigan
baseball team another chance to
beat Indiana State.
Instead, he let Jake Means
grab a hold of his pitch and launch
the ball over the left field fence to
create an 8-7 lead.
They couldn’t come back, and
Michigan dropped its second
home game of the season, losing
8-7 to the Sycamores due to the
lack of a response in the last three
innings.
For the first three innings,
though, the same couldn’t be
said. For every run Indiana State
scored, the Wolverines had one of
their own.
Despite
freshman
right-
hander Isaiah Paige letting in
a patchwork run score via a
single to go down one early, the
Michigan offense had the young
pitcher’s back. Two solo home
runs to left field — one that
scooped over the fence by leadoff
sophomore
designated
hitter
Jordan Nwogu and another by
senior outfielder Miles Lewis
that left the bat at 105 miles per
hour — paved the way to put the
Wolverines back on top.
“We’re capable,” said Michigan
coach Erik Bakich. “We have a
really good slugging percentage,
we have a lot of capable hitters.
We’re not a bunt type team, it’s
hard to put on a bunt when we’ve
got guys who can tie the game in
one swing.”
But the Sycamore offense
quickly caught up to Paige’s
pitches. Starting the inning by
hitting Chris Ayers — Indiana
State’s No. 9 hitter — Paige
subsequently allowed a long
double to Clay Dungan, the ball
bouncing off a diving sophomore
center-fielder Jesse Franklin’s
glove, to put runners on second
and third.
One out later Paige’s day was
over. On came freshman left-
hander Walker Cleveland who
gave up an intentional walk, hit
the second batter of the inning
and allow a second double to
center-field — this time leading to
three runs to grab a 5-2 lead.
Michigan’s
offense,
again,
had an answer. After Blomgren’s
four-pitch walk to load the
bases, sophomore catcher Joe
Donovan hit a single through
left field to score two runs and
bring the game within one run.
After a walk from senior second
baseman Ako Thomas to load the
bases once again, up came Nwogu
— who had already launched a
home run on the day and was on a
hot streak. He walked to score the
tying run — it was 5-5.
“Someone scores four, we
put up three,” Bakich said.
“Psychologically, just to tie it back
up again and when you’re playing
from a deficit… To get that two-
out rally after giving up a four
spot, that was huge. Huge in that
moment.”
In
the
sixth
inning,
the
Wolverines’ turn struck first.
Thomas hit his second double of
the day, this one a leadoff double
to left center field, putting him
in position to trot home after
Franklin launched a homer into
center field.
Then, run by run, Indiana
State grew back into the game. A
leadoff double from CJ Huntley
and a ground ball put a runner
on third, afterward junior left-
hander Ben Keizer threw a wild
pitch to score Huntley. In the
eighth inning, the Sycamores
manufactured another.
“We
just
came
up
short
tonight,” Bakich said. “And I trust
those guys that are pitching there
at the end of the game, just some
bad bounces, some balls that
squeak through, some balls that
got by and allowed them to move
up and advance on the bases —
the little things that cost us.”
The
Wolverines
had
no
response. And Indiana State
was just getting started before
leveling the go-ahead run in the
10th inning.
“It comes down to a swing, a
pitch, a play,” Bakich said. “They
just made one more better pitch
and had one better swing and
did everything just one bit better
than us tonight.”
Cheer earns two national titles
Lis
Tyzo-Depaulis
stood
near
warm-ups
at
nationals,
surrounded by Michigan’s Coed
IA cheer team. The head assistant
coach was streaming the Game
Day IA award ceremony on her
phone, waiting to see if the other
half of the Wolverines’ team would
be taking home a title from the
NCA & NDA Collegiate Cheer and
Dance Championship.
The Game Day team was in
second place after the previous
day’s preliminary round, 4.45
points
behind
a
Southern
Methodist
team
that
topped
the charts with a 97.53. But a
pristine routine on Friday left
the squad questioning if they’d
closed the gap for their first title
in program history, while the
Coed team huddled around Tyzo-
Depaulis’ phone waiting for the
announcement.
Meghan
Mesojedec,
a
co-captain for the Coed IA team
along with Deontay Walker, said
it felt like it took about 30 seconds
for the announcer to reveal the
runner-up — which might seem
like an eternity
when
you’re
waiting
on
a
potential national
championship.
“You
had
to wait for the
‘s’,”
Mesojedec
said. “Once they
said
‘Southern,’
everyone
was
freaking out, they
were so excited
that they won.”
That national title for the Game
Day team, captained by Alex
Bourdeau, Paige Pichel and Joey
Solomon, left the Coed squad
pumped up as they headed into
their second round. They couldn’t
have been more ready for their
final routine in Daytona, for more
reasons than one.
There are two rounds in the
NCA & NDA Collegiate Cheer
and Dance Championships — the
preliminary and the final. In the
preliminary, a fall or a bobble
means a point deduction that can
creep back in the final round. The
past few years, that’s been the
scenario for Michigan’s Coed IA
team.
Not this year.
“This year, at prelims, the entire
routine hit,” Mesojedec said. “We
were able to finish it with a clean
hit, and we were just so excited
to go out there and do it again on
Friday.”
The Wolverines posted the best
score
in
their
category
on
Thursday with a
97.57, edging out
East
Carolina.
Another hit on
Friday wouldn’t
just mean a win
in their category,
either. It’d give
Michigan
its
second national
title in less than
a few hours.
A
flawless
routine
of
tumbling passes, pyramids and
choreography
left
the
team
celebrating louder than it had all
night. It was exactly what it needed
to cap off a lead over the Pirates.
The Coed squad didn’t want to
presume they’d won — but there
was no doubt they’d just had one of
the best performances of the night.
“You don’t want to assume
necessarily, because you don’t
want to jinx yourself, but we — I
think we did,” Mesojedec said. “We
just knew we put the best routine
out there that we could have, and
so we were just so excited at that
point to get through awards and
hear where we were. We were so
happy with what we put out there
that we thought it couldn’t be any
less than a winning routine.”
The Coed’s final score of 98.0917
earned the collective Michigan
unit its second championship
trophy of the night, marking
a historical moment for the
team. After splitting into the
two categories early in the year,
the squads began working on
choreography and collaborating
with the band and dance team
to work out a Game Day routine.
After the Peach Bowl, it had been
full throttle, with each team
practicing four days a week with
lifts tacked on.
Both
had
been
working
intensely for month, and the titles
were the payoff.
“It was so special for us to do
this for us, and for Michigan,”
Mesojedec said. “You love going
to this school that you do, so to do
it and to just have our school be so
excited for us and our friends and
other students be so excited for us
— and our programs even, like the
School of Information, the School
of Kinesiology.
“It’s so cool to go to a school that
appreciates us so much and we
were so happy to win for them.”
LANEY BYLER
Daily Sports Writer
KENT SCHWARTZ
Daily Sports Writer
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Sophomore center fielder Jesse Franklin hit one of Michigan’s three homers.
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
The Michigan cheer team earned two national titles this past weekend.
It was so
special for us to
do this... and for
Michigan.