The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
8 — Wednesday, May 18, 2022
Michigan falls in extra
innings to Nebraska, losing
Big Ten Championship
NOAH KINGSLEY
Daily Sports Writer
EAST LANSING — Exactly 50
days ago, the Michigan softball team
got punched in the mouth.
In the first Big Ten series of the
season, Nebraska came into Ann
Arbor and swept the Wolverines in
a doubleheader, putting them in an
early hole in Big Ten play.
For the past 50 days, Michigan
has grinded itself out of that hole.
The Wolverines have battled through
injuries, built momentum, and ridden
a recent hot streak to set up a rematch
with the Cornhuskers in the Big Ten
Tournament championship game.
But on Saturday, Michigan could
not get over the hump.
The
23rd-ranked
Wolverines
(36-16 overall, 16-9 Big Ten) fell to
Nebraska (40-15, 20-5) for the third
time, 3-1 in extra innings, letting a
Big Ten Tournament championship
slip away. Senior right-hander Alex
Storako held the Huskers mostly
dormant, but two clutch hits by
second baseman Cam Ybarra was all
Nebraska needed to defeat a sluggish
Michigan offense.
“We just came up short,” Michigan
coach Carol Hutchins said. “Our kids
were great, they’ve been playing
great ball. … So we just need to stay
with it.”
With Storako on the mound, the
top of the first inning went quickly,
taking just 10 pitches to retire the side.
But unfortunately for the Wolverines,
Ybarra crushed one of those 10 balls
over the right-field fence, giving the
Huskers an early one-run lead.
Still, Storako remained composed.
She cruised through the next four
innings, limiting Nebraska to only
one hit and punching out three.
Instead of trying to just blow it past
opposing batters — as she typically
does — Storako instead relied more
heavily on her offspeed pitches to
keep the ball in the park.
“I thought (Storako) kept us in the
game the whole way,” Hutchins said.
Outside of the one solo shot,
the early innings played out like a
traditional pitcher’s duel. And despite
having multiple opportunities, the
Michigan bats could not capitalize.
In both the first and fourth
innings, the Wolverines put a runner
on third with less than two outs. But
both times, they failed to bring the
run home.
After the slow start, though, the
bats broke through to get the run back
in the bottom of the fifth inning.
With one out, freshman utility
player Annabelle Widra took a pitch
to the head, reaching first base. Right-
hander Olivia Ferrell induced a fly out
for the second out, flipping the lineup
card over for graduate outfielder
Kristina Burkhardt — who already
recorded two hits on the day. Ferrell
elected to pitch around her, walking
her and bringing junior outfielder
Audrey LeClair up to the dish.
LeClair poked a ball over shortstop
Billie Andrews’ head into left-center
field for an RBI double. And though
the Wolverine bats struggled to string
anything else together, the game was
knotted up at one.
But a controversial call halted
Michigan’s hopes of a late-game rally.
SOFTBALL
SELENA SUN/Daily
Alex Storako allowed 3 runs over eight innings in Michigan’s loss.
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