but going for the win.”
In the second set, Styler faced
some net errors but quickly fol-
lowed up with a service winner
and strong backhand to take the
first game. Kingsley, also eager to
take control, fought back to trade
the hold with Styler, taking a game
to make it 3-3. Eventually Styler’s
discipline endured, Styler won
the final game without dropping a
point, taking the set and with it the
match, 6-4.
NILS G.
WALTER
Francis S. Collins Collegiate
Professor of Chemistry, Biophysics
& Biological Chemistry
A public lecture and reception; you may attend in person or virtually. For more information,
including the Zoom link, visit events.umich.edu/event/103679 or call 734.615.6667.
Monday, May 8, 2023 | 4:00 p.m. | LSA Multipurpose Room, Kessler Student Center
From Spawning
Life on Earth
to Fueling Modern
Personalized Medicine
Can RNA
Do It All?
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, April 12, 2023 — 11
Defense translates to offense in
Michigan’s 2-1 walk-off win over Illinois
ZACH EDWARDS
Daily Sports Writer
In the Michigan softball team’s
series finale, more than just a series
win against Illinois was at stake. A
chance to build momentum toward
the rest of Big Ten play was at hand
as well. And the Wolverines capital-
ized on the opportunity by translat-
ing strong defensive performance
into offensive chances — culminat-
ing in a walk-off double from junior
catcher Keke Tholl to win the game.
With Tholl’s walkoff hit, Michi-
gan (19-15 overall, 5-4 Big Ten) won
the final game in the series against
Illinois (23-17, 2-8), 2-1, turning
what was a struggle all weekend —
translating defensive success into
offense — into its ticket to victory.
That defensive success stemmed
from sophomore right-hander Lau-
ren Derkowski on the mound with
her dominance continuing to pre-
vail.
“It starts in the circle and then
it has to go into defense and then
it finally gets to hitting,” Michigan
coach Bonnie Tholl said. “Hitting
is always the last to catch up in that
maturity curve but they’re being
exactly what they want to be in a
team and what I want to see out of
the team, which is still being feisty
right now. Sometimes we’re win-
ning ugly, but it doesn’t matter.
Right now, we’re just getting better.”
Those improvements showed
almost immediately with the Wol-
verines preventing a hit in the top
of the first inning for the first time
all weekend. For Michigan, building
momentum early has been instru-
mental to its success, and Derkows-
ki began to provide the momentum.
But that momentum came to
a screeching halt in the second
inning.
Illinois first baseman Sydney
Malott hit a solo home run to left
field to open the scoring. This could
have been detrimental for Michi-
gan’s defense, but the Wolverines
retired three of the next four batters
to get out of the inning without too
much damage from the Fighting
Illini.
Starting the top of the third,
Derkowsk built off that success by
facing the top of Illinois’ lineup —
which includes two of its top three
hitters — and retiring them in order.
“Derkowski was a rockstar once
again,” Bonnie said. “She got out of
some really big jams. And so you got
to credit your defense and pitching,
keeping us in the game until you
can make something happen offen-
sively.”
All season long, the Wolverines’
offense has fed on the energy and
success of their defense, and it did
exactly that in the third inning.
Sophomore shortstop Ella McVey
tallied Michigan’s first hit of the
afternoon and her third of the week-
end. After McVey advanced to third
on a fielder’s choice, graduate cen-
ter fielder Lexie Blair hit a single to
right-center field that brought Sieler
home and tied the game at one.
When the Wolverines’ defense
excels
and
prevents
potential
momentum-shifting hits, it trans-
lates to the offense
and
allows
them
to get moving. And
they
continued
their excellent field-
ing throughout the
remainder
of
the
game, including a
key double play in the
fourth.
The
Wolverines
found their stride on defense and
just needed a breakthrough on
offense to take the lead.
With the game on the line in
the seventh inning, both teams
placed runners in scoring posi-
tions with hits, but neither team
took the edge.
“We’re hitting .300 with run-
ners in scoring position,” Bonnie
said. “It hasn’t always equated
to victories, but I felt pretty good
about getting somebody in scor-
ing position. And we had defi-
nite momentum the last couple
of weeks, and it just speaks to
momentum.”
And in the eighth inning, using
the momentum it built from the
previous inning, the Wolverines
finally had their breakthrough.
Sieler opened up the inning
with a hit over second base for a
single. A sacrifice bunt from Blair
moved her to second and a walk
from graduate right fielder Ellie
Mataya put baserunners at first
and second.
Keke stepped up to the plate
with the entire game and week-
end series on the line — and she
delivered. Her walk-off double
brought Sieler home, capping off
the weekend with a narrow win
for Michigan.
“Every emotion was flowing
through me,” Keke said. “That was
just amazing. And to see my team-
mates fight out of that, I ran over
to the dugout after I saw Sieler go
home. I don’t think I have words
to say how great that feeling was.”
After winning the final game in
dramatic fashion, the Wolverines
get a much needed victory to also
win the series and potentially pro-
pel it through the rest of the Big
Ten season. The Wolverines built
defensive momentum to score the
walk-off hit and win the game on
Sunday, but they’ll look to find
better ways to accumulate scores,
without a nail-biting walk-off
being necessary to win games.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Sports
SOFTBALL
SportsMonday: Michigan is a football school. Don’t forget it.
NICHOLAS STOLL
Daily Sports Writer
About a month ago, I was sitting
at Good Time Charley’s watch-
ing the Michigan men’s basketball
team get thrashed by Rutgers in
the Big Ten Tournament, the clock
ticking down mercifully to end
their NCAA Tournament hopes.
Before the ‘double zeroes’ even
flashed across the screen, in a mix
of jest and self-consolation, some-
one at my table chimed in:
“It doesn’t matter, we’re a hock-
ey school anyway.”
A “hockey school.”
That phrase — some sport with
“school” tacked on the end — has
cracked me up since Kentucky’s
John Calipari and Mark Stoops got
in a petty debate over the Wildcats’
athletic identity last year.
In most scenarios, it seems
equally as arbitrary as it is obvious.
Kentucky is a basketball school
(get over it, Mark), Alabama is foot-
ball, Duke is basketball, Georgia is
football and Michigan State is bas-
ketball.
See? Easy.
And regardless of whether the
Crimson Tide have an up year in
basketball or the Spartans have a
down year under Tom Izzo, the
label remains the same.
So, while in my friends’ case
they were simply signaling their
shift in focus to the then-on-a-roll
Michigan hockey team and away
from the anemic state of both Wol-
verine basketball programs, they
weren’t correct in their assertion.
Michigan is not a “hockey
school.” Nor is it a basketball
school.
Say it with me:
It’s a football school.
And I don’t think it’s ever been
more clear. No, the Wolverines
haven’t won a national champion-
ship in over 25 years. And while
they’re built to win a title now, they
still might not in the next few years
either (but that feels like a column
for a different day). Yet that’s not
what makes it so painstakingly
clear to me that this is a football
school.
Sure, the history helps, but
when most living people have only
witnessed one Michigan national
championship and not a single cur-
rent undergraduate student was
alive the last time the Wolverines
lifted the banner, that history loses
its oomph.
What makes it clear is that
Michigan football is back.
Because it’s not just back from a
down year or two — it’s back from
the grave.
In my 22 years of life, the Wol-
verines have only beaten Ohio State
four times, two of which came in
the last two years. They’re also
11-11 against their second biggest
rival, Michigan State, in the same
time period. Not to mention a mea-
sly four wins in bowl games in my
lifetime. A 15-29 record against
its rivals and just four postseason
wins in 22 years? That’s not “Mich-
igan football” — that’s not the sign
of a strong football program.
From the end of the Lloyd Carr
era, to Rich Rod, to Brady Hoke,
the Wolverines have been in the
mud. Even the beginning of Jim
Harbaugh’s tenure ushered in
mixed feelings. Michigan might
technically have been winning
more, but not the important games.
But after two consecutive wins
over Ohio State, two consecutive
Big Ten Championships and two
consecutive College Football Play-
off berths — not to mention a 2024
recruiting class currently ranked
No. 2 while still picking up steam
— the Wolverines have been resur-
rected.
It shows when Heisman-caliber
and draft-eligible players like run-
ning back Blake Corum come back.
It shows when five-star quarter-
back Jadyn Davis committed to
Michigan and vowed to bring more
players with him, just three years
after star quarterback J.J. McCar-
thy did the same. And it shows
when the Wolverines have set their
sights on winning it all, from the
coach down to the players.
“I’m willing to do whatever it
takes to win it all,” Corum said on
the “In the Trenches” podcast Jan.
9. “I hope Team 144 is ready. I’m
going to make sure they’re ready.”
Before him, McCarthy’s “job’s
not finished” statements after
beating the Buckeyes and winning
the Big Ten Championship implied
it.
Before him, Harbaugh put it
simply:
“We could win college football’s
greatest trophy,” Harbaugh said in
March of 2022. “We could win the
national championship.”
The Michigan football program
TESS CROWLEY/Daily
is not just alive again — its heart is
beating, its stomach is hungry and
its eyes are filled with fire. Just a
few years ago, these Wolverines
were nowhere to be seen, and they
haven’t been seen for a long, long
time.
And this Lazarushian story
arc is what solidifies Michigan as
a football school. Because that’s
what “football school” or “basket-
ball school” means.
It means a program that can’t
truly die, no matter how lifeless it
might look.
That’s Michigan football.
On any given year, the basket-
ball teams, the ice hockey team,
the gymnastics teams, the base-
ball team, the softball team or any
other team that dons the maize and
blue might be better than the foot-
ball team in their respective sport.
That doesn’t change the label.
That success, even when sus-
tained, remains temporary and
fragile. The elite level could slip,
and any one of those programs
could fall off completely.
But Michigan football can’t be
felled.
Michigan is, Michigan was, and
Michigan always will be:
A football school.
JOSHUA BROWN
Daily Sports Writer
Sunday games for the Michigan
baseball team have not been its
sweet spot. The Wolverines have
slogged their way through Sundays
by conjuring together a hodge-
podge of leftover pitchers.
On Sunday, those remaining
arms tasked with winning the
weekend series against Nebraska
were a far cry from the quality out-
ings of the prior two days. The poor
pitching performances compound-
ed throughout the game and let any
hope of a win slip away.
And in this box-of-chocolates
day, where unpredictability loomed
at every pitch, Michigan (17-14
overall, 6-3 Big Ten) fell victim once
again to its Achilles heel of pitching
depth in an 11-3 loss to the Corn-
huskers (18-10-1, 4-2).
“(Nebraska) came out and beat
us in every facet today,” Michigan
coach Tracy Smith said. “Not a
lot to comment on with regard to
today, but (we) played hard and we
just got to get better and better, and
(recognize) that every 90 feet mat-
ters offensively, defensively.”
Early on, those 90 feet between
each base produced good results
for the Wolverines coming off their
strong hitting throughout the line-
up on Saturday. After a scoreless
first frame by senior left-hander
Jacob Denner, senior first baseman
Jack Van Remortel pounced on his
first opportunity with a two-RBI
single off Cornhuskers left-hander
Will Walsh to give his squad an
early 2-0 advantage.
For a moment, the Sunday curse
seemed to be lifted.
But after this promising first
inning, Nebraska delivered a com-
bination of devastating long shots
at the plate, blowing up Michigan’s
strategy to nurse its arms through-
out the game. Smith has repeatedly
told his team that solo home runs
don’t kill them.
But Sunday, solo shots delivered
the early dagger, as a pair of bombs
by Cornhuskers catcher Josh Caron
and second baseman Max Ander-
son, with a three-run homer by
shortstop Brice Matthews sand-
wiched in between, chased Denner
after just 2.1 innings and six runs
allowed.
“If we’re not getting length on
the starter — it’s problematic,”
Smith said. “Six runs, two-and-a-
third (innings), so kind of forced our
hand a little bit to make the move
earlier than we certainly wanted to,
but not sure we had a choice.”
The Wolverines’ inability to get
additional innings out of Denner
with an already-thin pitching staff
was then further complicated when
senior right-hander Cam Hart was
only able to record one out before
being pulled due to an apparent
injury.
This forced junior right-hander
Ryan Zimmer to anchor the long
relief role. Zimmer couldn’t fully
stem the bleeding though, allowing
three earned runs in three innings
pitched. Two of those were let in
by senior right-hander John Tor-
roella after replacing Zimmer with
runners on, however. As the game
unraveled from the mound for
Michigan, it found itself down 10-3
by the sixth inning.
Despite
these
compounding
challenges from the mound, Michi-
gan also wilted in opportunities
with runners in scoring position.
Freshman
third
baseman
Mitch Voit lined out to Walsh
with the bases loaded in the bot-
tom of the third inning, and the
Wolverines left runners on first
and second in the fourth after a
solo home run by senior left field-
er Jake Marti. Following these
missed opportunities, the batting
lineup failed to produce any more
runs.
While the hits and scoring
opportunities did not convert
into many runs — it scored a mere
three runs off 11 hits — Michigan’s
fate was sealed on the mound,
yielding 11 runs, all earned, in a
fashion similar to last Sunday’s
11-1 loss to Illinois. And it does not
seem like quick fixes are immi-
nent to solve the issue.
“It’s not like Major League
Baseball when you call guys up
from triple-A,” Smith said. “This
is who we are at this point. Just
guys are going to have to get bet-
ter.”
After winning their first two
Big Ten series, the Wolverines’
blowout loss brought them
back down to earth in this
Sunday rubber match against
Nebraska, serving as a sober-
ing reminder of their nagging
pitching weakness that has
plagued them in games across
the season.
BASEBALL
Ondrej Styler shows endurance in singles despite team loss
against No. 3 Ohio State
Following a doubles match loss
to Cannon Kingsley and JJ Trac-
ey, senior Ondrej Styler entered
the court determined to edge out
Kingsley on a solo court. After
trading holds in the first set, they
pushed the set to a tiebreak.
On the 32nd point, Styler
approached the net and slammed
the ball into the court. He threw
his hands up in the air in triumph,
conducting the crowd as they
roared, finally taking the set, 7-6
(15).
Styler’s performance against
No. 3 Ohio State was a true test
of endurance as he battled long
games and sets in a singles vic-
tory over Kingsley on Sunday at
the Varsity Tennis Center 7-6
(15), 6-4. Styler went on to win his
match, but his endurance was not
enough for the Michigan men’s
tennis team in a 4-2 loss.
In doubles play, Styler and
junior
Jacob
Bickersteth
saw
difficulty breaking against the
Buckeyes and were plagued by mis-
communication, dropping the set
6-2.
“I think we need to figure out
our patterns a little bit more and get
a little bit more on the same page,”
Styler said. “I’ve switched partners
throughout the season and we are
still trying to figure out the best
fit.”
In singles play at the No. 2 court,
Styler opened the match with
strong serves to take the first game,
but Kingsley promptly followed up
to take the next. After continuing
their back-and-forth game, Kings-
ley began to read Styler’s play and
forced him into net returns, win-
ning three consecutive games, with
the score 5-3.
Still determined to outlast King-
sley, Styler fought back. He forced
Kingsley to run the baseline with
crafty line shots and slice volleys,
eventually forcing a tiebreak, six-
all.
“(Kingsley and I have) played a
lot since my freshman year,” Styler
said. “We both came at the same
time and since I kind of won in two
sets last time, I tried to do a similar
thing, just the same strategy.”
In their past two singles meet-
ings, Kingsley and Styler similarly
pushed the match to a tiebreak with
Styler ultimately taking the set, and
with it both matches. Again, Styler
had to find the strength and endur-
ance to clench the win, but on Sun-
day for several more points.
Styler was able to capitalize
on Kingsley’s forced net errors,
returning drop vol-
leys and multiple
saved set points,
taking the set on his
17th point.
“I just tried to
stay in the moment
and keep going for
my shots and even-
tually go for the
win,” Styler said.
“Not just hoping for
the win, not hoping
for other misses,
MEN’S TENNIS
ANNA FUDER/Daily
JEREMY WEINE/Daily
Poor pitching piles up for
Michigan in loss to Nebraska
KENDALL MCCASKILL
Daily Sports Writer
CALEB ROSENBLUM/Daily