FIRST PITCH

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, March 11, 2020 — 7A

The No. 18 Michigan softball team 

leapt out to a hot 10-0 start before 
cooling down and arriving at a 15-8 
record. Entering their first series in 
Ann Arbor, the Wolverines will look to 
reacquire their early season success, 
starting with Ball State on Saturday.

A relatively inexperienced roster has 

led to shuffling at every position and a 
lineup that has not fully settled in. For 
Michigan to make a run similar to the 
33-3 one it had after returning home in 
2019, it will have to rely on all levels of 
its roster.

The 
Daily 
breaks 
down 
the 

Wolverines’ lineup by position for an 
in-depth look at where they have found 
stability and where they haven’t so far, as 
they look to replace last year’s graduated 
starters and reclaim the Big Ten title.

Pitchers:
Michigan’s pitching success, along 

with the success of the entire team, 
stops and ends with its returning 
top two: junior left-hander Meghan 
Beaubien and sophomore right-hander 
Alex Storako.

Beaubien is coming off of a year where 

she posted a 1.87 ERA and finished with 
a 30-6 record — a seemingly strong 
sophomore performance that, in reality, 
was seen as a regression from her first 
team All-American freshman campaign 
in which she touted a 1.16 ERA and 
0.67 WHIP. This year, Beaubien has 
performed at a high level game after 
game, and although her statistics are not 
quite those of her first year, she holds an 
impressive 1.52 ERA and 0.86 WHIP. In 
Beaubien, the Wolverines have found 
consistency, a rare commodity so far 
this season.

Storako, 
the 
second 
punch 
in 

Michigan’s pitching attack, does just 
that — attack. Storako throws strikeouts 
at a high clip, dishing out 141 so far and 
averaging 1.88 per inning. At the same 
time, Storako’s punishing approach 
has led to 34 walks and a 2.43 ERA. 
Developing 
more 
consistency 
and 

control will be key to whether Storako 
can reach her ceiling as a lethal pitcher 
by eliminating walks and big plays.

In the early stages of her development 

is freshman right-hander Chandler 
Dennis. While currently posting a 7.00 
ERA in just four appearances and one 
start, it’s hard to tell to what degree 
Dennis will be involved in the rotation 
as the season progresses. Despite the 
glaring ERA, Michigan coach Carol 
Hutchins believes Dennis is “capable of 
some great things.” Expect to see Dennis 
more involved as a relief pitcher as the 
season progresses, with a possibility 
that she makes it into a limited role in 
the starting rotation. 

Catchers:
Sophomore Hannah Carson has 

claimed the catcher position as her 
own. After filling a backup role in 
her 
freshman 
year 
behind 
now-

graduated 
two-year 
captain 
Katie 

Alexander, Carson has started behind 
the plate every game this season for 
the Wolverines, and she hasn’t shown 
any signs of relinquishing the position. 
Carson is currently batting .284 and at 
the top of the team with 10 RBI. 

Backup responsibilities, if Carson 

were to fall to an injury, are assumed 
to go to senior Abby Skvarce, who is 
currently nestled in at the designated 
player spot. 

First base:
First base has proved to be a shared 

position thus far, being split between 
juniors Lou Allan and Taylor Bump. 
Allan, coming off of freshman and 
sophomore years plagued with injuries, 
has seen the majority of starts at first. 
It’s difficult to argue with her .403 
slugging percentage and team-leading 
10 RBI that she shouldn’t get them. 
Allan’s drawbacks stem from her lack of 
speed on the basepath, not helped by her 
previous injuries.

Bump, while sometimes getting the 

start, fills her role at first more often 
than not midway through the game — 
usually after Allan is pulled for a pinch 
runner. Bump, holding a .171 batting 
average and .310 on-base percentage 
while also having the range to play 
multiple positions, slots herself as a 
versatile infield utility player but not a 
consistent starter. This can place her on 
either of the corners, leading to playing 
time split between first and third.

Middle infield:
For 
two 
years, 
junior 
Natalia 

Rodriguez 
has 
been 
Michigan’s 

starting shortstop. Through 14 games 
this season, that remained true. Then, 
Hutchins did something unexpected 
and switched Rodriguez with freshman 
second baseman Julia Jimenez. Through 
the past nine games, it has remained 
like that — Jimenez at shortstop and 
Rodriguez at second. 

Rodriguez has struggled at the 

plate, holding on to a lowly .188 batting 
average, but the slap-hitter has never 
been in the starting lineup because of 
her batting. It was her fielding that held 
her there, and it’s not like Hutchins has 
removed Rodriguez from the batting 
order by shifting her over to second. 

The freshman, Jimenez, has been 

impressive so far. Starting all 23 games 
this season — 14 at second, nine at 
shortstop — she’s racked up 12 runs, 
seven doubles, seven RBI and a home 
run while holding a .263 batting average. 
Three weeks ago, she was moved into 
the leadoff spot for her performance at 
the plate.

Rodriguez and Jimenez have similar 

fielding statistics and only one error 
each. Hutchins hasn’t answered why 
the switch took place, but in her world, 
no position is permanent. Currently, 
Jimenez is the starting shortstop and 
Rodriguez the starting second baseman, 
but it wouldn’t come as a surprise if 
Rodriguez won her spot back and the 
two swapped positions again.

Third base:
Third base, like first, has been a 

shared position for Michigan. 

Bump, who plays first and third, 

along with senior Madison Uden, 
have been the two Wolverines holding 
down the hot corner. Both are hitting 
on the lower end, and their overall 
offensive production is best described 
as lackluster. But so is the majority of 
the team’s — Michigan holds a collective 
.258 batting average — so although both 
are below the team average, neither are 
out of range of starting. The only player 
either is likely to lose playing time to is 
the other.

NICHOLAS STOLL

Daily Sports Writer
T

ake one look at Alumni 
Field, the home of Michi-
gan 

softball, and 
you’ll be 
reminded of 
the program’s 
success. Hang-
ing directly 
behind the 
first base 
seats is a giant 
poster of the 
2005 National 
Championship 
team holding their trophy.

Walk 
inside 
the 
Donald 

R. 
Shepherd 
Softball 
Center 

clubhouse and take a stroll up the 
stairs to the conference room. 
You’re immediately greeted with 
a life-sized painting of a past team 
with the famous quote from Bo 
Schembechler — “The team, the 
team, the team.”

Take a step back from the door 

and you’ll see the boards that hang 
next to it with the names of All-Big 
Ten and All-American Michigan 
softball players. 

While each is a reminder of the 

greatness of the Michigan softball 
program as a whole, to me, the 
focus is much clearer.

It’s the faces that stand out. 
Looking at the 2005 poster I see 

Samantha Findley — the freshman 
who hit a three-run homer to win 
the 2005 World Series. On the 
boards next to the conference room 
door, I see Sierra Romero’s name, 
among Tera Blanco’s and Faith 
Canfield’s and the image of their 
faces immediately comes to mind. 
In the life-sized picture of a past 
team, I see Megan Betsa screaming 
as she’s running to her teammates 
to celebrate a win.

Samantha 
Findley, 
Sierra 

Romero, 
Tera 
Blanco, 
Faith 

Canfield, Megan Besta.

They’re the players I followed on 

Instagram in seventh grade when I 
decided I wanted to be a Michigan 
softball player. They’re the girls 
I dressed up as for Halloween. 
They’re the older sisters I never 

had. They’re the role models I 
followed and aspired to be.

They’re the faces of Michigan 

softball and the legacy it boasts. 

But this year, it’s undetermined 

who that face will be.

Flash back to the start of the 

season, when a roster was first being 
determined. One can only imagine 
what flew through Michigan head 
coach Carol Hutchins’s head as she 
crafted her starting lineup. With 
the absence of five key seniors from 
last year, there was room for older 
players to finally get their shot, or 
for younger players to step up and 
shine. 

For many years the Wolverines 

were typically managed by one 
standout 
athlete. 
They’re 
the 

players you list off the top of your 
head. The ones Hutchins pencils 
into the lineup or trusts in the circle 
without hesitation.

While no one has emerged to 

carry that mantle this season, many 
have made their case.

After outfielder Lexie Blair’s 

breakout freshman season last year, 
it seemed straightforward to deem 
her the face of the team. But after a 
sophomore hitting slump that’s left 
her with a .307 batting average, a 
slip to second in the batting order, 
and just 11 runs scored over 23 
games so far — compared to her 
.406 and 42 runs, it’s hard to clearly 
determine that she’s the favorite for 
the role. 

Junior 
left-hander 
Meghan 

Beaubien also seemed like a clear 
choice. In years prior, Michigan 
has been known to have one ace — 
a pitcher that does the majority of 
the work, and controls the defense. 
Since 2004 (the furthest back stats 
go), with the exception of two 
seasons, Michigan has had a pitcher 
over 200 innings and below 2.00 
ERA. Instead, this year, Beaubien 
and sophomore right hander Alex 
Storako have been tag-teaming it, 
working together. Earlier in the 
season, Hutchins likened them to 
“co-aces.”

Roster Breakdown

Who is the face of the team?

When it’s 8 a.m. and freezing cold, 

there’s one person Donny Dreher can 
count on to be in the stands of a weekend 
tournament: Michigan coach Carol 
Hutchins. 

Some college coaches don’t come out 

until 11:00 or noon, but when Hutchins 
is recruiting a player, she’s there for the 
first game. She wants all the information 
she can get. 

Dreher is a coach for Michigan 

Finesse — the top club team in the 
state — and knows how thorough 
Hutchins and the rest of her coaching 
staff like to be. “Thorough” is a word 
that’s thrown around a lot in reference 
to the Wolverines’ recruiting practices. 
They’re thorough in their search 
for prospective players, thorough in 
watching them develop throughout 
high school and thorough in making 
offers to the ones they really want.

Usually, the process starts in the 

middle of June when the coaching 
staff — Hutchins, associate coach 
Bonnie Tholl and assistant coach Jen 
Brundage — start traveling to massive, 
national tournaments to see the best 
players from across the country. There’s 
tedious online research of rankings and 
statistics. From there, club coaches try 
to identify the future Michigan players 
on their teams and point them to the 

Wolverines. 

Everyone has a different idea of the 

stereotypical Michigan recruit: big, 
strong players that can hit home runs; 
strong pitchers and defenders; athletic 
shortstops; a kid that can handle tough 
love. 

In Tholl’s perfect world, though, 

eight out of every 10 recruits would be 
a shortstop — the position she played 
for the Wolverines. They’re typically 
the most athletic on the team and 
can be easily moved around the field. 
According to Chez Sievers, a senior 
editor at FloSoftball, that’s common for 
the top collegiate programs. 

“They’re a five-tool athlete that can 

play multiple positions,” Sievers said. 
“They’ve got some speed. They’ve got 
power. They’ve got some versatility. 
They can also hit for average. For the 
top teams, they try to collect as many of 
those players as possible.”

At the same time, the Wolverines 

have to look at the team’s needs on a 
larger scale. Some years they’ll decide 
they need more speed. Others they’ll 
realize they lack power at the plate. The 
coaches keep a board in their office that 
lays it all out: what the team has and 
what positions it needs. 

After the team identifies what it’s 

looking for, the coaches start visiting the 
club facilities and contacting the players 
and their families, starting in the state of 
Michigan. 

The strategy makes the logistics 

easier for the Wolverines — they have 
stronger relationships with the clubs 
and can easily see players in person. 
Seven of the 20 players currently on the 
roster are in-state.

Bill Conroy, the head coach of the 

Beverly Bandits, has sent nine players 
through Michigan’s program. Between 
all three Wolverine coaches, they’ll 
come down to watch a player on his 
team an average of 12 times a year. 

“They do their due diligence more 

than most schools,” Conroy said. 
“Michigan wants to make sure they’ve 
got the right kid.”

Sometimes, Tholl will meet kids that 

just seem destined to be Wolverines, like 
sophomore catcher Hannah Carson. 

Carson is from Weidman and played 

club softball for Michigan Finesse. 
Tholl and the rest of the coaching staff 
watched her progress through high 
school, seeing her at tournaments and 
softball camps in Ann Arbor. When 
Carson started the recruiting process, 
she was sought out by several colleges, 
including other top programs like 
Florida State. In the end, though, she 
didn’t even visit. Tholl was right — she 
was meant to be a Wolverine. 

“I’ve always wanted to play here,” 

Carson said. “I grew up coming to the 
games, coming to all the camps and I 
really looked up to a lot of the players 
that played here before me. I would 

say in middle school, I started to get 
recruited by Michigan and then my 
freshman year is when I decided to 
commit, and it was the best feeling in 
the world.”

Carson committed in 2015, before 

NCAA regulations were put in place 
to stop early recruiting. Now, coaches 
can’t have direct contact with players 
until Sept. 1 of their junior year. Before 
the new regulations, teams felt like they 
had to make offers earlier and earlier 
to secure the players they wanted, and 
kids felt pressure to commit early or risk 
missing out.

But as recruiting occurred earlier and 

earlier, Michigan held its ground. 

“I would say Michigan in particular 

has really embraced the thorough 
process of evaluating their players,” 
Sievers said. “They didn’t really cave 
into the early recruiting. They waited, 
they wanted to see which kids really 
wanted to become Wolverines and 
would really fit their program.”

To some extent, Hutchins had to 

participate in the system. Several 
current players — including Carson 
— were recruited in ninth grade. But 
Hutchins was outspoken against the 
early recruiting practice and missed out 
on some top players. 

“We were able to make verbal offers 

to your firstborn that was six months 
old,” Hutchins said.

She believes that when players were 

recruited in ninth grade, they lost the 
incentive to keep improving. 

“It’s not because they don’t care,” 

Hutchins said. “Because they don’t 
know better. It doesn’t matter who’s the 
best in ninth grade. It matters who’s the 
best in college.”

Even though Carson was part of 

the early recruiting wave, she’s sure 
she made the right decision. But not 
everyone’s path is so linear. 

Sometimes, there are surprises along 

the way. Tholl didn’t first hear about 
sophomore right-hander Alex Storako 
on a rankings website or at a national 
tournament. It was in a text from her 
brother. 

You should take a look at this pitcher — 

she’s really good. 

At the time, Storako was playing on 

a high school team in central Illinois 
with Tholl’s niece. She’d already been 
recruited to play at DePaul, but Tholl 
still took an interest, following her and 
keeping tabs when her name showed 
up in The Chicago Sun-Times or the 
Chicago Tribune. Her name kept 
coming up, and it was fun to track her 
progress. 

One day, Tholl was running a camp in 

Peoria, Ill. when she got another text — 
this time from an unknown number.

Alex Storako, class of ’18 pitcher, has 

just decomitted from DePaul.

LANE KIZZIAH
Daily Sports Writer

Thorough recruiting defines Hutchins’s philosophy

ALEC COHEN / DAILY

A preview of the 2020 Michigan softball team

MORE AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM

MORE AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM

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ABBIE

TELGENHOF

