‘M’ softball shows two sides in opening weekend

Deadly. Lucky. Cold.

All three words described the No. 17 

Michigan softball team at different times in 

its opening weekend. Pitching carried the 

Wolverines to sweeps against Purdue and 

Iowa, but Illinois capitalized on Michigan’s 

inability to bring home runners to get a 

sweep of its own.

Ultimately, inconsistent run support 

proved to be the Wolverines’ downfall as the 

weekend progressed.

The pitching pulled its weight, notching 

78 strikeouts on the weekend — Purdue 

couldn’t score a run on Michigan, as senior 

Meghan Beaubien and junior Alex Storako 

gave the Boilermakers little to swing at.

Hitting started off strong too, but its 

success dwindled over the course of the 

six games as the Wolverines managed just 

one run in each outing against Illinois on 

Sunday. Those woes could be expected after 

almost a year-long offseason.

“There’s something to be said for having a 

set lineup,” Michigan coach Carol Hutchins 

told reporters on Tuesday. “The kids start 

getting in a flow, and having a flow in our 

offensive lineup is certainly, I think, one of 

our biggest challenges. And we just have 

to let them get out on the field and play. 

They’ve got to get their timing back.”

Michigan seemed to have some of its 

timing back, but still stranded 12 runners 

over the first two games. The Wolverines 

managed to get critical offense from junior 

outfielder Lexie Blair and sophomore 

infielder Julia Jimenez. Both batters seemed 

to pick up right where they left off last year.

Iowa fared no better than Purdue when 

the Hawkeyes took on Michigan. Beaubien 

posted her second shutout of the season in 

game one, and game two looked like another 

easy win for the red-hot Wolverines as 

Storako gave the Hawkeyes little room to 

breathe.

Michigan’s bullpen struggled in the next 

game against Iowa, but there are more 

games to sharpen that aspect of its game.

“It’s going to be really hard to rely on two 

pitchers in a six-game weekend,” Hutchins 

said Tuesday. “And largely in a four game 

weekend. … The opportunity’s there for the 

taking.”

But the Wolverines’ couldn’t keep the 

energy going as the weekend progressed. 

Michigan looked like a completely different 

team on Sunday, especially at the plate. 

Facing Illinois, each game would see any 

offense squashed by solid fielding and 

pitching. 

With the first game on the line as the 

Wolverines trailed by one in the seventh 

inning, struggles seemed to quell Michigan’s 

batters. Blair took first on an error and 

Jimenez sacrificed to put her in scoring 

position. However, a groundout put the 

Wolverines against the wall and a strikeout 

sealed their fate.

The same story could be told in the next 

game. Michigan again trailed by one in the 

final inning, when a single and a wild pitch 

put graduate outfielder Thais Gonzalez on 

second. Blair popped one up toward third 

and Illinois snagged it, ending the game and 

sealing the sweep. The team that dominated 

the first half of the weekend went out with a 

whimper to an unranked opponent.

Jimenez said that looking for the pitch 

each batter likes and keeping things simple 

can help with these issues. That simplicity 

helped her drive in four runs on the weekend 

and could help her teammates deliver much-

needed run support.

Michigan showed two sides of the same 

coin this weekend: one that can win any way 

the game is played and another that can’t 

give its pitchers run support. When it came 

down to the pressure of scoring to stay alive, 

the Wolverines folded.

Softball is back, but it’s undetermined 

what the Wolverines will be this year. 

Strengths in pitching were confirmed, 

but hitting created more questions than 

answers.

Ah, March. In the world of college 

basketball, March can be a double-

edged sword full of both promise and 

disappointment. 

For 67 teams, 

it’s a time when 

dreams die. For 

one 
fortunate 

team 
though, 

it’s a time when 

dreams 
are 

realized. 

The 
NCAA 

Tournament is uncompromising in 

both difficulty and duration, meaning 

that few teams are truly cut out to 

make it all the way. Sure, there are 

always bracket-busting upsets and 

so-called Cinderellas that go further 

than anyone could’ve predicted. 

But, in general, there’s always a class 

of true contenders at the top — if 

they don’t make the Final Four, it’s a 

disappointment. 

This year’s version of the Michigan 

men’s basketball team is in the upper 

echelon of that second category. 

At 18-1 overall and on the verge of 

clinching the Big Ten regular-season 

title pending a win over No. 4 Illinois 

on Tuesday night, the second-ranked 

Wolverines look infallible. 

Since returning from a 23-day 

pause, Michigan has allayed any 

doubts 
about 
its 
championship 

potential. Over the last two weeks, 

the 
Wolverines 
have 
beaten 

Wisconsin, Rutgers, Ohio State, Iowa 

and Indiana — all slated to make the 

NCAA Tournament, according to 

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi — by an average 

of 11.6 points. Michigan is running 

roughshod through what is widely 

considered the best conference in 

the country. Take any one of the 

aforementioned five games and 

you see unmatched intensity and 

consistency from the Wolverines. 

On Feb. 14, the Badgers came out 

and punched Michigan in the mouth 

with a barrage of 3-pointers while 

holding the Wolverines to 34% from 

the field. After arguably its worst half 

of the season, Michigan walked back 

to the locker room down by 12. 

For most teams, that’s not a 

great spot to be in. No one told the 

Wolverines that. 

“Our leader, our boss, (Michigan 

coach Juwan Howard) walked in 

clapping his hands,” senior wing 

Isaiah Livers said after the 67-59 win. 

“He’s smiling, talking about, ‘This is 

where we want to be. We’ve been in 

this situation before, not in a game, 

in a practice, a scrimmage. Find some 

way to put yourself in the situation 

again, you’ve already been there.’ 

And we did that exactly. Nobody was 

pointing fingers, nobody was upset.” 

Championship 
mettle 
isn’t 
just 

demonstrated in tight road victories 

like the one against Wisconsin and 

Michigan’s five-point win over the 

Buckeyes eight days ago. It also 

manifests itself in the second half 

of games like Saturday’s, when the 

Wolverines turned a nine-point lead 

against the Hoosiers into 17 within 

the blink of an eye. 

“They just keep coming,” Indiana 

coach Archie Miller told reporters 

after the game. “There’s a reason I 

think Michigan is championship-

good, and I think a lot of people will 

talk about their skill level, and a lot of 

people will talk about their versatility 

and their ball movement and how 

hard they are to guard. I think they’re 

one of the most difficult teams to play 

against on the other end of the floor.”

Michigan is relentless. Regardless 

of the score, the Wolverines never 

seem phased. The energy they bring 

to every sideline keeps the team 

engaged from tip-off to the final 

buzzer. It’s why no double-digit 

halftime lead seems out of reach 

and why a single-digit advantage 

for Michigan snowballs rather than 

shrinks — just ask Fran McCaffrey 

and Iowa. 

“There aren’t many fans, if any 

at all, so you kinda got to bring your 

own energy,” Michigan video analyst 

Jaaron Simmons told the Daily. “We 

go by the motto, ‘For competitors only,’ 

so we have our players competing 

on the floor, but on the bench, we’re 

competing as well. … When we are 

as a unit over on the bench, loud 

and banging on the bleachers and 

stomping on the ground, that brings 

energy to the group that’s on the floor, 

and it’s just part of that competitive 

spirit. We want every advantage.”

The Wolverines rarely, if ever, 

experience scoring droughts or 

prolonged defensive lapses. At the end 

of games, opposing coaches are left 

reconciling defeat with the fact that 

their team — as Rutgers coach Steve 

Pikiell said on Feb. 18 — “played really 

hard from start to finish.” 

“That’s as good a team as I’ve 

played in my five years as a coach in 

this league,” he added. 

And so, while Michigan may have 

lost to Minnesota earlier this season 

with senior guard Eli Brooks out due 

to injury, that game certainly seems 

more a mirage than a blueprint. As 

we’ve seen throughout the season, 

all things being equal, opposing 

teams can’t just beat the Wolverines 

by playing a half, or even 35 minutes, 

of really good basketball. Beating 

Michigan is a 40-minute endeavor.

Advancing through March — with 

the NCAA Tournament being the 

great equalizer that it is — is one of 

the toughest gauntlets to run in all 

of sports, college or pro. Whichever 

two teams are left standing on that 

first Monday night in April will have 

earned their way, standing as the two 

best teams in the country. 

The Wolverines look every bit the 

part.

Brennan can be reached at 

connbrenn@umich.edu or on 

Twitter @connrbrennan.

CONNOR EAREGOOD

Daily Sports Writer

JULIA SCHACHINGER/Daily

The Michigan men’s basketball team has looked like one of the best teams in the country as of late.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, March 3, 2021 — 15

How the shutdown 

changed Michigan hockey

Through the first 10 games 

of the season, the Michigan 

hockey 
team’s 
performance 

was akin to Jekyll and Hyde. 

After jumping out to a 4-0 start, 

the Wolverines dropped five of 

their last six games heading 

into the Christmas break. 

That inconsistent play could 

have been chalked up to a 

variety of factors. The team 

was 
integrating 
numerous 

freshmen. They were playing 

four games 
in 
seven 
days 

after months of being off. In 

their December series against 

Minnesota, they were missing 

five players at World Juniors. 

Whatever the lingering issues 

were, Michigan clearly figured 

out a solution after the break, 

racing out to a 5-1 start.

But one thing it did not 

deal with in the first half of 

the season was a COVID-19 

shutdown. Now three weeks 

removed 
from 
the 
23-day, 

athletic 
department-wide 

shutdown, the Wolverines are 

still trying to figure out how to 

overcome this hurdle. 

“There’s no doubt about it, 

we’re not the same team right 

now that we were before the 

break,” Michigan coach Mel 

Pearson said. “We’re just not 

as together, and I’m concerned 

about our conditioning.”

Following 
series 
splits 

against both Wisconsin and 

Ohio State, the Wolverines’ 

up-and-down play continued 

this 
past 
weekend 
against 

Arizona State. They throttled 

the Sun Devils 4-1 in the first 

game of the series, controlling 

play from the outset. But the 

following 
night 
— 
despite 

dominating the shot totals — 

they played to a 1-1 draw and 

never led in the contest. 

In the second half as a 

whole, Michigan’s play is still 

encouraging. With an 8-3-1 

record 
since 
the 
break,the 

Wolverines’ wins have come by 

an average margin of victory of 

4.3. Meanwhile, each of their 

losses have come by just one. 

When Michigan is on, it can 

be one of the most dominant 

teams in the country, but it can 

be difficult for a team to be 

firing on all cylinders, all the 

time. The lack of conditioning 

from the 23-day pause can be 

attributed to the latest stretch 

of inconsistent play. 

“When you get tired, and you 

start to break down mentally, 

you’re not as sharp,” Pearson 

said. “I’ve been around this 

game a long time. You can tell 

when your team is in really good 

shape and has that energy.”

Not 
having 
the 
proper 

conditioning is an obstacle the 

Wolverines can overcome, but time 

is quickly running out. The Big Ten 

tournament is set to begin on Mar. 

14. The NCAA tournament kicks 

off two weeks later on Mar. 27. It 

would be shocking for Michigan 

to miss that latter tournament 

entirely; it would be less surprising 

if it can’t sort through their issues 

by that time. 

One potential fix for the 

Wolverines: taking shorter shifts.

“Shift length … that’s one area 

we have to look at real close,” 

Pearson said. “A guy stays out 

for 34 seconds, recovery time is 

a lot less. You start lingering for 

a minute and a half minute, a 

minute 45 seconds, now you’re 

tired, and it takes longer to 

recover between shifts.”

Michigan came out of winter 

break looking like a strong team 

that had solved its problems. 

It wasn’t prepared to go into 

a second break three weeks 

later — especially one where it 

couldn’t practice. 

In a unique season, these 

challenges were not unexpected 

but can be detrimental to a 

team’s championship hopes. For 

Pearson though, his optimism 

overshadows his concerns:

“We’re good. We’re good for 

the stretch run.”

JOSH TAUBMAN
Daily Sports Writer

 EMMA MATI/Daily

The Michigan hockey team is still looking to recover from the three-week athletic department-wide shutdown.

Who’s got it better than (them)? Arguably no one.

CONNOR 
BRENNAN

//

//

Online Event: Thursday, March 4, 2021 | 4:00 p.m.

STEVEN 
CUNDIFF 

Harrison M. Randall 
Collegiate Professor of Physics

An online lecture. For more information, visit 
events.umich.edu/event/81662 or call 734.615.6667.

LSA COLLEGIATE LECTURE

Optical 
Frequency 
Combs

