The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
8 — Wednesday, May 25, 2022
Charlie Pappalardo:
This weekend captured
all of Michigan
If you’ve followed the Michigan
softball team throughout this past
season, you likely
know
there
is
no
clear
cut
storyline for the
Wolverines.
They
started
the season slow,
streaked
and
slumped,
and
finished Big Ten
play on fire. And
throughout the rollercoaster year, I
found myself confused. I had no clue
how good Michigan was, because it
didn’t consistently put everything
together and play like it did at its best.
I think the best way to classify
the Wolverines’ season is to look at
the way they played in Big Ten series
because they almost always played
out the same way.
There was always one game where
Michigan was firing on all cylinders
and blew their opponents out of
the water. In another contest their
hitting would be just OK and the bats
would get bailed out by their pitching
staff. And finally, one game featured
pitching
that
wasn’t
dominant
enough to carry the load of mediocre
bats, resulting in a loss.
Within these series, confusing as
it may be, you get the clearest picture
of who the Wolverines were. They
were a team whose most glaring
weakness was their constant battle
with inconsistency.
And in this past weekend where
their season ended after they went
2-2 at the Orlando Regional, all of
Michigan’s volatility was captured.
There really weren’t any constants,
even within this four game sample
size. Because what plagued or aided
the Wolverines changed game to
game.
Michigan’s two wins went a
similar way. They were both against
the Jackrabbits, and both were
highlighted by senior right-hander
Alex Storako who zoomed through
SDSU’s order over and over again,
allowing only one run each game.
But
the
losses
were
less
predictable. On Saturday, senior left-
hander Meghan Beaubien and the
rest of the pitching staff did more
than their fair share, allowing only
three runs through 11 innings. But
UCF outlasted the Wolverines and
made them pay for costly errors
and their inability to get runners
on base. Saturday was a loss where
the pitching staff did all it could but
received no run support.
On Sunday, the pitching collapsed.
Of the four pitchers who entered,
none could find control, evidenced
by the nine walks and a hit by pitch.
In just the first inning, three runners
scored — All of them walked in.
As the pitching collapsed though,
the batters finally seemed to find
some rhythm, keeping Michigan in
the game by plating four runs. But
throughout the game, the Wolverines
had opportunities to do more damage
that they didn’t capitalize on. They
wasted opportunities, leaving nine
runners stranded, and couldn’t save
themselves.
Michigan
wasn’t
eliminated
because of just one facet of its game.
SOFTBALL
FILE PHOTO/Daily
The Wolverines fell to UCF, ending their season.
Read more at michigandaily.com
Control issues doom Michigan in
season-ending regional loss to UCF
NOAH KINGSLEY
Daily Sports Writer
ORLANDO, Fla. — It’s hard to
win a softball game after walking in
four runs.
It’s one thing to give up runs when
the opposition is simply hitting it
hard. But by struggling to find the
strike zone, the Michigan softball
team’s pitchers allowed Central
Florida to take an insurmountable
lead early without getting many big
hits.
Lacking command from any of
its pitchers with nine walks on the
day, the Wolverines (38-18 overall,
16-9 Big Ten) fell once more to the
Knights (49-12), 9-4, ending their
season. Though Michigan attempted
to chip away throughout the game,
it could never catch UCF, falling
in the NCAA regional for the fifth
consecutive time.
“They
played
all
weekend,”
Michigan coach Carol Hutchins
said. “They gave it all they had, and
we just fell short.”
And
from
the
get-go,
the
Wolverines’ fatigue from three long
games under the Orlando sun set in.
Only one day after going 7.2
innings while giving up just two
runs to keep it in the game, fifth-
year left-hander Meghan Beaubien
quickly put Michigan in jeopardy
with a shaky first frame.
Outfielder Allyse Volpe opened
the game with a line drive single
into right field. Beaubien followed
it up by inducing a flyout and two
ground balls, but on both grounders,
the fielders’ decision to try to get
the force out at second base proved
costly as the Knights slid in safely
twice to load the bases. And after
getting the second out, Beaubien lost
her command, walking in the first
two runs of the game.
Beaubien’s
brief
start
ended
there, and freshman utility player
and right-hander Annabelle Widra
entered the circle in her place.
But Widra’s command was not
much better. She walked the first
batter she faced on just four pitches,
putting the Wolverines down three
runs.
“We gave them too much in the
first inning,” Hutchins said. “Too
many outs were given away. You just
can’t let that momentum build up.”
And in the top of the third
inning, UCF extended its lead
further. Leading off, designated
player Ashleigh Griffin crushed a
ball beyond the left-field fence for
a solo shot. Widra gave up a single
two pitches later, ending her outing
as freshman right-hander Lauren
Derkowski entered.
Derkowski walked her first batter
on four pitches, and fell behind
2-0 to her third. Derkowski exited,
bringing senior right-hander Alex
Storako in just hours after she threw
90 pitches in a complete-game effort
against South Dakota State.
Just like the three pitchers
before her, Storako struggled to
find the strike zone. She finished off
Derkowski’s walk to load the bases,
and hit third baseman Kennedy
Searcy to bring in the Knights’ fifth
run. Michigan’s hole to climb out of
grew deeper.
“(Beaubien and Storako), they’re
All-Americans. They’re tough,” UCF
coach Cindy Ball-Malone said. “A lot
of people swing and miss at those
balls out of the zone. To walk, I’m
really proud of our discipline.”
Though the Knights took an early
lead off the Wolverines’ pitching
errors, UCF began to let them back
in with errors of their own.
In the bottom of the third inning,
Michigan started to chip away at the
deficit — largely due to the Knights’
sudden fielding issues. Widra and
freshman shortstop Ella McVey
reached second and third base on
an infield single and two errors,
and graduate outfielder Kristina
Burkhardt capitalized with a two-
RBI single up the middle.
The Wolverines tacked on one
more run in the fifth inning on a
McVey walk, a Burkhardt single
and an RBI bloop single by senior
first baseman Lexie Blair to cut the
Knights’ lead to two.
But in the top of the sixth inning,
UCF blew the game back open.
Storako walked three more batters
and gave up three hits in the inning,
including a two-run deep single to
Griffin for her second big hit of the
day. Outfielder Joneisha Rowe added
one more run on her own RBI single.
After walking her fifth batter
of the day to load the bases again,
Storako left the game, and Beaubien
re-entered. Beaubien limited further
damage to one run on a sacrifice fly
in the seventh inning.
“I just think they pitched their
hearts out,” Hutchins said.
Michigan showed signs of life
once more in the bottom of the
seventh inning. Junior outfielder
Audrey LeClair reached on an error,
and fifth-year third baseman Taylor
Bump singled to bring her in.
But that was all the Wolverines
mustered, never fully able to recover
from the early hole the pitching staff
put them in.
Because for the second season in
a row, Michigan’s talented pitchers
faltered in the biggest game of the year.
JULIANNE YOON/Daily
UCF capitalized on the Michigan softball team’s pitching mistakes, eliminating the
Wolverines from the NCAA Tournament.
SOFTBALL
CHARLIE
PAPPALARDO