‘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