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Thursday, July 9, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS
Everything you missed from a shortened softball season
Thursday, March 12, 2020 was
what Michigan softball coach
Carol Hutchins described as
“the worst day of every coach’s
career.”
The
day
COVID-19
brought the entire world of
sports to a sudden stop.
That
was
87 days ago.
By now, the
softball season
would be over,
the champions
would
have
been crowned
in
Oklahoma
City
and
someone
would
have
carelessly asked Hutchins if she
had any plans to retire after her
37th season as the head coach of
Michigan softball.
None
of
that
actually
happened. In its place, all we
have are trends, hypotheticals
and predictions based on just 23
games.
The good news: That’s enough
information to tell you all of the
storylines and excitement you
missed as a result of the abrupt
and untimely end to the season.
Lexie
Blair:
Sophomore
slump or slow start?
One of the most interesting
early-season developments was
sophomore
outfielder
Lexie
Blair’s early hitting struggles.
As a freshman, Blair posted a
.406 batting average with 54
RBI and 22 doubles. Entering
her sophomore season, there
were high expectations for Blair
to perform at the elite level she
established in 2019.
Blair herself held those same
expectations.
“For me, in the beginning,
I was just putting a lot of
unnecessary
weight
on
my
shoulders,” Blair told The Daily
in February. “Trying too hard
not to disappoint the team
after the (freshman) year I had.
Trying to live up to expectations
when really I just needed to get
out and just play the game like I
know how.”
Yet, in her first 13 games of
2020, Blair was hitting at just
a .175 clip and lost her leadoff
spot, eventually sinking down to
eighth in the lineup.
After
her
uncharacteristic
start she made a phone call to a
former teammate; whatever was
said on that call appeared to help
Blair regain her confidence.
Over the final 10 games of
the season, Blair went 15 for 35,
posting a .429 batting average.
Those final 10 opponents were
some of the best in softball
including No. 1 UCLA, No. 2
Washington, No. 3 Texas and
No. 21 UCF. So not only was
Blair trending upwards at an
impressive rate, she was doing it
against harder competition.
To say Blair would have ended
at or above her .406 average from
her freshman year had the 2020
season been played in full would
be a strong assertion, yet it was
certainly possible considering
Blair’s upward trajectory.
Now, Michigan will have to
wait until the 2021 season to
decide whether Blair is truly
the star-studded slugger from
her freshman campaign or the
strong but streaky hitter she was
as a sophomore.
Abby
Skvarce:
A
true
designated hitter
In softball, there’s a position
titled “designated player,” which
fills a slot in your lineup that
can be used somewhat flexibly,
but when your designated player
holds the highest batting average,
on base percentage and second
highest
slugging
percentage
among starters and bats cleanup,
she should definitely be called
your designated hitter.
Senior Abby Skvarce appeared
in 37 at bats, which is more
in a shortened season than in
any of her previous three full
seasons. And it’s pretty easy to
see why Hutchins gave more
nods to Skvarce this year than
ever before — an on-base plus
slugging
percentage
at
.786
tops all other starters while she
knocked in seven runs, all on
a team that struggled to find
consistent offensive production.
Despite extended eligibility
granted by the NCAA to spring
athletes, Skvarce will not be
returning in 2021. This means
that after three years in the
system
and
finally
proving
herself as a viable offensive
contributor in her senior season,
Skvarce is never going to suit
up as a Wolverine again. And a
COVID-inflicted season ensured
we wouldn’t find out what
Skvarce could really do with a
full year as a starter.
Julia “Juju” Jimenez: The
Future
face
of
Michigan
softball
The
freshman
came
in
and
did
nothing
short
of
impress. Jimenez, the No. 20
overall prospect according to
FloSoftball,
walked
into
the
building more than just ready to
play — she was ready to start.
Offensively, she boasted 12
runs, seven RBI, seven doubles
and a .263 batting average. Sure,
the numbers don’t jump off the
page, but for a freshman batting
leadoff, it’s nothing to scoff
at. Not to mention, when Blair
couldn’t find a rhythm, it was
Jimenez who Hutchins turned to
as the answer for the first spot in
the batting order.
“Juju didn’t make it any bigger
than it was,” Hutchins told The
Daily in February. “Which was,
‘I’m batting.’ She doesn’t care
when.”
That mentality is exactly what
a team looks for in their batters
— just bat.
But Jimenez moving into the
spot of her upperclassmen wasn’t
just in the batting order, it was
also in the field. Just two games
after being moved up into the
leadoff spot, Jimenez shifted over
from second base to shortstop.
The previous shortstop, junior
Natalia Rodriguez, who swapped
positions with Jimenez, had held
the starting position at shortstop
for two years prior to the sudden
mix-up.
Why? Hutchins never gave
a straight answer. But when
commenting
on
Jimenez’s
capabilities, she described them
simply as “her swag on the field.”
With her freshman year cut
short, we were unable to flesh
out just how good Jimenez could
be. One thing is for sure, though:
Jimenez will see the field plenty
over the course of the next
three years. Jimenez’s dynamic
fielding ability paired with her
stoic hitting confidence is the
perfect recipe for a star player
that can anchor the Wolverines’
lineup, something they’ve been
missing since Sierra Romero in
2016.
The rest of the season: how
far would Michigan have gone?
First, I need to acknowledge
that with a 15-8 record, the 18th
ranked
Wolverines
still
had
not played a single home game.
In 2019, Michigan entered its
home series at 12-10 en route to
a 33-3 record down the stretch,
including a 17-2 record at home.
So, were the 2020 Wolverines
poised to make a similar run?
In short: yes.
The trend of winning in the
latter half of the season is not
uncommon for Michigan, and
there’s a pretty simple explanation
for why — besides ‘home field
advantage,’ (which does help).
The Big Ten, and other regionally
close opponents, are simply not
as good as the SEC, PAC-12 and
other
southern
and
western
teams that the Wolverines face
off against earlier in the season.
That’s not to say the Big Ten
is a bad conference, there are
certainly some contenders like
Minnesota,
Wisconsin
and
Northwestern that would give
Michigan a run for its money.
Even then, those teams weren’t
performing as well as what may
have been expected at the start
of the season with only No. 22
Wisconsin ranked.
Based on the first 23 games
of the season, the Wolverines
appeared to be the best team in
the Big Ten. I believe they would
have claimed the Big Ten regular
season title for the second year
in a row and had a chance to
grab
the
repeat
tournament
championship trophy as well.
In the tournament, the largest
barrier
would
have
been
Wisconsin’s
powerful
offense
containing Kayla Konwent and
Stephanie Lombardo, somewhat
of a mismatch to Michigan’s
lower-scoring pace.
In the NCAA tournament, the
Wolverines would have seeded
well enough to host a regional in
Ann Arbor. This year, I could see
them getting past the first stage
but likely falling in the super
regional when the competition
truly ramped up.
So no, COVID-19 did not
prevent you from seeing another
Michigan softball World Series
run. What it did take away was a
chance to gauge the trajectory of
the team and the core players it
has to build around in the coming
years.
But like everything else right
now because of the pandemic,
those answers are unknown — so
like everyone else, we’ll just have
to wait.
Stoll
can
be
reached
at
nkstoll@umich.edu or on Twitter
@nkstoll.
NICHOLAS
STOLL
ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily
Senior designated player Abby Skvarce found herself as a player at the begginning of her last year as a Wolverine.