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.