The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Friday, February 21, 2020 — 7

In 
the 
fourth 
inning 
of 
Sunday’s 
game 
against 
Louisville, 
Michigan 
had 
trimmed a two-run deficit to 
one and was threatening for 
more with the potential tying 
run standing at first. Senior 
infielder Madison Uden was 
next in line to prolong the 
rally. 
But instead of letting Uden 
bat, Carol Hutchins opted for 
a change. Michigan’s coach 
looked down her dugout and 
summoned 
junior 
infielder 
Taylor Bump to pinch hit. 
A year ago, the situation 
would 
have 
flustered 
an 
inexperienced 
Bump. 
On 
Sunday, 
it 
did 
anything 
but. She strode to the plate 
unfazed and confident, a sense 
of calmness drowning any 
would-be nerves. 
Moments earlier, Bump rode 
the bench. Suddenly, she was 
mid-home run trot around the 
bases, having reclaimed the 
Wolverines’ lead with a two-
run rocket to dead center field. 
And she had a new mentality 
to thank. 
Pinch hitting is, to any 
softball 
player’s 
admission, 
not easy. It’s a role defined 
by an element of waiting, of 
suspenseful uneasiness, that 
no player welcomes. Starters 
have the luxury of knowing 
when their spot in the batting 
order is up and can prepare 
accordingly. 
Bench 
players, 
meanwhile, can be thrust into 
the fire any second. There’s a 
steep learning curve to such a 
stark role difference. 
Bump — now 2-for-2 in 
pinch-hitting 
opportunities 
this season — seems to have 
found comfort in her role. 
“The reason 
they want you 
to 
pinch 
hit 
in 
the 
game 
is 
because 
they 
actually 
believe you can 
get it done in 
the 
moment,” 
Bump 
said. 
“That’s 
something 
I 
struggled with 
last year. When 
I went in to pinch hit, I was 
putting too much pressure on 
myself in the moment. This 
season, I’m just able to focus 
on the one pitch and not, 
‘What happens if I don’t get 
a hit on this at-bat, are my 
opportunities over?’
“Just 
having 
confidence 
no matter what. Owning that 
role, owning success.”
Bench 
production 
has 
been 
integral 
to 
Michigan’s 
9-0 
start 
to 
the 
season. 
With a roster 
littered 
with 
skilled hitters, 
Hutchins 
has 
taken 
to 
fluidity in an 
attempt to get 
the 
most 
out 
of the team’s 
offensive talent. 
Hutchins 
has 
embraced 
flexibility, showing an affinity 
for mixing and matching, not 
hesitant to yank starters in 
favor of substitutes. 
So far, it’s a tactic that has 
paid 
dividends. 
Freshman 
utility player Lauren Esman 
is the latest testament — she 
followed Bump with a pinch-
hit home run of her own on 
Sunday, this one a go-ahead 
grand slam. 
“One thing we’ve been doing 
well is we’re very engaged,” 

Hutchins said. “Player for 
player, not just the kids who 
are in the game. Everybody 
has a role. Everybody on the 
team has a role throughout the 
game. If you’re not a starter, 
then you’re either going to be 
a pinch-runner, pinch-hitter 
or you may come in as the next 
pitcher. You just need to be 
ready.”
Being ready is, then again, 
the most difficult component 
of coming off the bench. To 
compensate for the fact that 
pinch-hitters are unable to 
thoroughly warm up, Hutchins 
has encouraged her players to 
be aggressive at the dish. It’s 
an approach that Esman put 
to use with her grand slam 
coming on the first pitch she 
saw. 
“I saw that 
pitch on video,” 
Hutchins 
said. 
“It 
was 
downtown. A lot 
of kids take that 
because 
they 
just want to see 
one.”
Hutchins, as 
made clear by 
her 
drawn-out 
pronunciation 
of 
‘see 
one,’ 
doesn’t care for merely taking 
a pitch. 
Rather, she stresses that 
her 
players 
stay 
engaged 
throughout 
the 
game 
by 
treating each pitch as their 
own. Everybody in the dugout 
can play every pitch in a sort 
of 
individual 
simulation. 
Track it. Make the decision 
for yourself. Become prepared. 
Breed confidence. 
When 
the 
real 
opportunity 
knocks, taking 
the first pitch 
is 
no 
longer 
necessary to get 
into the flow of 
the game. 
“When 
I’m 
watching 
a 
game, 
I 
just 
think of myself 
in the box every time somebody 
gets up,” Esman said. “What 
would I do with the pitch that 
is given to them, what things 
would I do with it — would I 
take it, would I swing? I just 
put myself in their shoes.”
Staying 
engaged 
has 
become a teamwide initiative, 
embraced by every player. 
Success has, in turn, become 
the expectation. 
“When you get your chance, 
you step up,” Hutchins said. 
“Cause everybody is one pitch 
away from being a starter.”

Every year, the seniors on a 
team graduate and the freshmen 
move in. And along with the 
normal 
first-year 
worries, 
freshman athletes are sometimes 
expected to fill those senior gaps.
For some, it’s a crushing 
pressure, and they never get 
the chance to see the field. For 
Michigan softball, it hasn’t been 
a problem — specifically for 
infielder Julia Jimenez and utility 
player Lauren Esman.
With six Wolverine seniors 
graduating last season, perhaps the 
largest hole left to fill was former 
second baseman Faith Canfield’s 
spot. With multiple candidates 
for the position, it’s been a toss-
up between sophomore infielder 
Morgan Overaitis and Jimenez. 
But this weekend, it seems the 
spot was closer to being solidified.
Jimenez 
has 
quickly 
established herself as the most 
viable candidate to start at second 
base. Starting at the top of the 
diamond for all four games this 
past weekend at the ACC/Big Ten 

Challenge, Jimenez has continued 
to prove her ability to perform. 
She’s meshed well with the 
rest of the infield, especially 
with junior shortstop Natalia 
Rodriguez, her counterpart in the 
middle.
“She came ready to play,” 
Rodriguez said. “I see that heart 
in her, she’s got a good IQ of 
the game. We’ve gelled pretty 
nicely in the middle, we have a 
little handshake. Also just on the 
mental aspect she asks a lot of 
questions and tries to know the 
game better. She’s a good second 
baseman.”
Defensively, Jimenez had six 
putouts and three assists on the 
weekend. She also contributed to 
a double play and had no errors. 
“She fits right in,” Michigan 
coach Carol Hutchins said. “She’s 
comfortable, she’s competitive, 
she just has a great presence on 
the field. She’s actually a natural 
leader. We’re looking to find a way 
to put our bats in the game, but 
she really gives a good presence 
out there as a freshman. She 
doesn’t act like a freshman, I 
don’t even think she knows she’s 

a freshman.”
Her ability to play above her 
grade level and establish herself as 
a consistent face in the lineup this 
early in the season, according to 
Hutchins, will be instrumental in 
her potential success throughout 
the rest of the season. As one 
of the only freshmen seeing 
consistent defensive playing time, 
she’s opening up the idea of a 
breakout freshman season.
On the other side of the plate, 
Esman has shone.
On Sunday, the Wolverines 
found themselves tied for only 
the second time this season 
against Louisville. Calling upon 
Esman, Hutchins entered her 
into the lineup as a pinch-hitter 
for Rodriguez. In only her second 
collegiate at-bat, Esman shocked 
everyone with a grand slam. 
Adding four runs to Michigan’s 
total, and giving her a .500 batting 
average, the freshman showcased 
her capabilities at the plate.
“Kids like Lauren Esman are 
only going to get better if they 
play every pitch,” Hutchins said. 
“And everybody in that dugout 
can play every pitch of the game, 

and if they wait until the first time 
they see a pitch is when get their 
chance they’re not going to be 
ready. She swung at the first pitch 
and belted it.”
Esman’s potential to step-up 
with timely hits will be a quality 
that makes her hard to not put in 
lineups. If she can continue her 
success at the plate, that potential 
becomes a stabilizing and potent 
reality.
“Lauren’s a good hitter, I 
recruited her because I thought 
she was our kind of hitter,” 
Hutchins said. “She’s gotta learn 
hitting at this game, and pitching 
at this game, but we’d certainly 
like to get a lot of these young kids 
these bats. We’ve got a lot of good 
young talent, so it is our goal to 
get them in, it’s just a matter of, 
in tight games sometimes you go 
with what you know.”
Tight games are bound to 
happen throughout a season, but 
being able to look toward younger 
position 
players 
could 
prove 
instrumental — not only in the 
Wolverines’ early-season match-
ups, but even further down the 
line.

Michigan’s defense begins to fall into place

With two outs in the bottom 
of the ninth inning on Saturday, 
Michigan was on the cusp of an 
8-5 victory over Cal Poly. The 
bases were loaded when the 
Mustangs’ Nick Marinconz fired 
a chopper down the left side off a 
pitch from freshman right-hander 
Cameron Weston. For a second, it 
seemed a tied game may have been 
in the cards.
But 
junior 
shortstop 
Jack 
Blomgren met the ball where it 
bounced and rocketed it toward 
fifth-year 
senior 
Matthew 
Schmidt at first base to end the 
game.
The team’s defensive sharpness, 
exhibited 
by 
Blomgren 
and 
Schmidt in that game-ending 
play, was a useful complement 
to Weston’s first career save on 
Saturday. It also demonstrated the 
likelihood that defense will be a 
crucial part of Michigan’s winning 
equation.
The 
Wolverines’ 
coaching 
staff has taken an approach that 
emphasizes the infield defense’s 
importance to giving pitchers 
a degree of comfortability and 
providing the offense with some 
cover. 
“That was just the game plan 
that (pitching coach Chris) Fetter 
came to all the pitchers with,” 
junior right-hander Blake Beers 
said following his start against 
Cal Poly. “We have a lot of trust in 
our defense behind us and getting 
ahead was crucial to beating these 
hitters.”
Blomgren, 
now 
an 
upperclassman and elected as 
the team’s captain, anchors this 
season’s reinvigorated defense. 
Against Cal Poly, Vanderbilt and 
Arizona State, he managed to 
extinguish hit after hit with a 
swipe of his glove.
“I really like our infield defense, 
highlighted by Jack Blomgren,” 
Michigan coach Erik Bakich said. 
“I think he’s a star … a tough dude, 
just a playmaker, and any coach 
would want to have him.”

On 
Sunday 
evening, 
his 
dominance was on full display 
against the Sun Devils — who 
are renowned nationwide for 
their power hitters, like Spencer 
Torkelson, who was ranked by 
Baseball America as 2020’s top 
college prospect.
After a leadoff single in the 
eighth inning, trailing by three 
runs, Arizona State had its most 
powerful 
batters, 
including 
Torkelson, on deck. Sophomore 
reliever Jack White had a daunting 
task ahead of him. In a play 
echoing the Wolverines’ final out 
against Cal Poly, the Sun Devils’ 
Drew Swift knocked a fast-moving 
grounder 
toward 
a 
sprinting 
Blomgren. He then lobbed it 
straight 
to 
sophomore 
Riley 
Bertram at second base, who in 
turn connected to Schmidt at first 
to secure a double play and largely 
eliminate Arizona State’s threat.
“He’s as good as they come,” 
junior right-hander Jeff Criswell 
said. “He’s the heart of the infield 
and he’s done a great job with 
(freshman third baseman) Teddy 
Burton and Riley Bertram to his 
right and left, both newer guys 
this year, and helped bring them 
along.

“As a pitcher, it’s definitely a 

great feeling to have those guys 
behind you.”
Schmidt, 
who 
before 
this 
weekend had seen only eight 
career starts at Michigan with 
just one last season, seemed right 
at home as the Wolverines’ new 
starter at first base. Riding high 
off his game-winning home run 
against 
Vanderbilt 
on 
Friday 
evening, he gelled effectively with 
his fellow infielders. 
“Matt 
Schmidt 
had 
been 
patiently 
waiting 
to 
get 
his 
opportunity at first base,” Criswell 
said. “We saw new guys stepping 
up, and I think that was kind of the 
storyline throughout the entire 
weekend.” 
Schmidt, for his part, has 
bought in to Michigan’s defensive 
emphasis. 
“With (Nick) Schnabel, our 
infield coach, we take pride in 
that,” he said. “I think when one 
person makes a good play it feeds 
off to the rest of us … We don’t 
want our pitchers making any 
more extra pitches so we try and 
have their back.”
Among 
the 
“newer 
guys” 
pointed out by Criswell was 
Danny Zimmerman, who took on 

a new role at left field, where over 
the weekend Michigan’s outfield 
looked quite different than it did 
last season. Freshman Clark Elliot 
started in right field in all four of 
the weekend’s games, while senior 
Christian Bullock alternated with 
junior Jordan Nwogu in center 
field. 
Nwogu, whose starts last year 
were mostly at DH, has spoken of 
his self-appointed goal to be a great 
defender. The depth and flexibility 
of the outfield, especially in light 
of 
junior 
centerfielder 
Jesse 
Franklin’s early absence after 
a skiing incident, will also be 
an important component of the 
team’s success.
“I like the depth of some of 
our position players, some of the 
interchangeable parts, especially 
in the outfield,” Bakich said.
As Michigan works to replace 
noticeable gaps in its lineup made 
by departing seniors since last 
season, the defense will prove 
necessary to reinforce its efforts. 
But the importance of defence is 
by no means a new mindset for the 
team. Criswell summed it up well.
“That’s 
what 
we 
really 
stress here — defense wins 
championships.”

Esman, Jimenez step up in second weekend

Mentality the key to 
pinch-hitting success

ABBIE TELGENHOF
Daily Sports Writer

ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
Freshman utility player Lauren Esman has helped fill in the gaps left by Michigan’s graduated seniors with strong early performances in her first season.

AIDAN WOUTAS
Daily Sports Writer

JARED GREENSPAN
Daily Sports Writer

ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
Junior infielder Taylor Bump hit a pinch-hit home run Sunday.

BY THE NUMBERS
Michigan’s bench production

.417

The batting average for Wolverines’ 
pinch-hitters this season, through 
12 at-bats.
Two
Home runs have been hit by 
Michigan pinch-hitters, each giving 
the Wolverines the lead.
Eight

Runs have been driven in by 
Michigan’s bench, helping spur its 
9-0 start.
Five
Players have appeared for Michigan 
as pinch-hitters in its nine games 
this season.

Everybody is 
one pitch away 
from being a 
starter.

They actually 
believe you can 
get it done in 
the moment.

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Senior shortstop Jack Blomgren fielded the final out in Michigan’s 8-5 win over Cal Poly on Saturday afternoon.

