Thirty-four.
That’s how many runs the Michigan 

softball team scored in its four-game 
sweep of Penn State this weekend.

Twenty-three.
The Wolverines’ previous best total 

for runs in a series, recorded a little less 

than a month ago against Ohio State.

The 
offensive 
explosion 
for 

Michigan was the catalyst to the four 
wins it enjoyed this weekend and is 
indicative of the team’s trend over the 
past month.

In the first game in Saturday’s 

double-header, Michigan came one 
run short of their best single-game 
run total of 11 in a 10-0 victory. They 

followed that game up with their best 
output of the season in a 12-2 victory. 
Both games ended in a six-inning 
mercy rule.

It wasn’t just one or two players 

providing 
the 
offense 
for 
the 

Wolverines — they got production out 
of almost everybody on the weekend. 
12 different Michigan players got 
hits throughout the four-game set, 

and 11 drove home at least one run. 
Sophomore utility player Audrey Leclair 
recorded her first collegiate hit and RBI, 
showcasing the offensive depth that 
was on display all weekend.

Despite the team’s overall offensive 

success, some players stood above the 
rest.

Senior first baseman Lou Allan was 

the driving force behind the Wolverine 
offense and was a constant presence in 
the box score. Allan tallied two hits in 
all four games, drove home nine runs 
and hit her eighth home run of the year, 
tying for the team lead with senior third 
baseman Taylor Bump.

Bump also continued her upward-

trending offensive production over 
the weekend. She tallied seven hits, six 
runs, six RBI and two home runs in the 
four-game set.

“I think that’s what your hope is 

as a staff and as a program, that your 
seniors play their best ball in their final 
year. And, that’s exactly what we’re 
seeing right now,” Michigan assistant 
coach Bonnie Tholl said last week. “ I 
think that … Taylor Bump and Lou Allan 
have never been more productive in a 
Michigan uniform than they have been 
over the past month, and I’m super 
excited for them. Because this is what 
everyone hopes their senior year is like.”

It wasn’t just the seniors showing out 

either. Sophomore second baseman 
Julia Jimenez and junior outfielder 
Lexie Blair had strong individual 
showings of their own. 

Jimenez secured a hit in all four 

games — multiple hits in three of the 
four — drove in three runs and scored 
two runs herself. After only managing 
one hit last weekend, Jimenez bounced 
back with her strongest weekend of 
the year. 

Blair simply continued producing as 

she has done all year. The Wolverines’ 
leader in batting average got four hits 
and RBI, while also scoring six runs for 
her team. 

“We all just have one common goal,” 

Blair said. “Just to be on time, play with 
one heartbeat, and just focus on having 
quality at bats, you can, if you’re fouling 
off 8, 10, 12 pitches and you end up 
striking out we still consider that quality 
at bat because you made the pitcher 
work, you’re seeing the ball.”

The 
ease 
at 
which 
Michigan 

produced runs all weekend hasn’t been 
there all season. 

At the beginning of the year when 

the Wolverines played their games 
in Florida, they frequently struggled 
to find consistent offense. To win 
games, Michigan had to rely on its 
stellar pitching, with final scores being 
relatively low. But the Wolverines 
have slowly righted the ship since 
then, 
finding 
offense 
not 
only 

more frequently but with a greater 
consistency. That trend culminated in 
their performance against the Nittany 
Lions.

Michigan dominates Illinois, 19-4

EVANSTON – By the bottom of the 

sixth inning, everyone in the lineup 
had a hit besides senior left fielder 
Danny 
Zimmerman. 
Zimmerman 

finally joined the party, smashing a 
two-run home run that extended 
the Michigan baseball team’s lead to 
double digits and put the game even 
further out of Illinois’ reach.

In the second game of Sunday’s 

doubleheader, the Wolverines (21-11) 
not only beat the Illini (15-16) to secure 
a 2-2 series tie — they posted one of 
their most complete performances of 
the year and dominated Illinois, 19-4, 
in a seven-inning, run-ruled game.

Michigan coach Erik Bakich made 

drastic changes to the starting lineup 
from the first game. With fifth-year 
catcher Griffin Mazur serving the 

second game of his suspension, fifth-
year Christian Molfetta, who usually 
plays third base, took his place. Junior 
right-hander Willie Weiss, usually 
the closer, made the first start of his 
Michigan career. 

“Willie’s been so good,” Bakich 

said. “We wanted to try to keep them 
off the scoreboard for a couple of 
innings so we could try to score, but it 
didn’t work out that way.”

Instead, the Illini got off to a hot 

start in the top of the first against 
Weiss, who struggled to throw 
strikes. Weiss walked two of the first 
three hitters he faced, both of whom 
scored on a pair of singles later in the 
inning. Illinois’ momentum would 
soon disappear.

Michigan began to take advantage 

of poor pitching by the Illini in 
the bottom of the first, loading the 
bases on two walks and a single. 
Sophomore first baseman Tito Flores’ 

infield single scored one run and 
reloaded the bases for sophomore 
third baseman Ted Burton, who 
cleared the table with a grand slam. 
Fifth-year center fielder Christian 

Bullock’s opposite-field home run 
gave the Wolverines a commanding 
7-2 lead after just one inning.

Weiss settled in at the top of the 

second, striking out two, although he 

consistently got behind in the count. 
Redshirt sophomore left-hander Ben 
Dragani relieved him in the third and 
threw four innings of two-run ball. 

“He does what he does: comes 

in, gets the job done,” Bullock said. 
“Good control of his change-up on 
both sides of the plate, and he was 
really huge for us.”

Dragani got hitters to chase his 

offspeed pitches in the dirt, and the 
defense handled everything put in 
play, most of which was weakly hit. 
In the third, fifth-year shortstop 
Benjamin Sems fielded a ground ball 
in the shallow outfield and threw to 
first, just in time to make the out. In 
the fourth, sophomore third baseman 
Ted 
Burton, 
redshirt 
sophomore 

second 
baseman 
Jordon 
Rogers 

and Flores turned an inning-ending 
double play.

 JACK WHITTEN
Daily Sports Writer

Michigan’s upward trend culminates in an offensive explosion in 
weekend sweep of Penn State

SPENCER RAINES
Daily Sports Writer

10

Thursday, May 6, 2021
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

TESS CROWLEY/Daily

Michigan’s Lou Allan was a key driving force in the team’s series sweep over Penn State.

BECCA MAHON/Daily

Michigan player Ted Burton scored a grand slam in the team’s throttling of Illinois.

Read more at michigandaily.com

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