They also blew a call in the top of the 7th, where NW’s coach got in the way of Audrey LeClair’s attempt to catch a foul pop-up.
On Wednesday, Michigan Softball wrapped up their home schedule with a 13-0 win vs. Oakland U.
All 6 seniors played and had hits, highlighted by Audrey LeClair’s HR early on, and Lexie Blair’s HR in her last AB ever at The Hutch.
Lots of emotion, lots of feel-good, and the sun even poked through for a minute.
Photo highlights can be found here:
Since it was the final game, I went big on the gallery.
I think I may shoot at least one baseball game before the season ends.
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U-M men’s lacrosse won the big ten tournament championship today and will be making the program’s first appreance in the NCAA Tournament. Shoutout to them. Way to go, boys!
The women’s team lost to NW in the quarters and will find out their fate tomorrow. They were ranked 16 going into that match and NW was number 1 so hopefully no harm no foul. Good luck tomorrow, Ladies!! Fingers crossed!!
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Ziyah Holman appears to still be at Michigan. But, I don’t know the portal window for Track & Field.
Rough finish for Michigan Softball. They had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 vs. Penn State, but gave up the tying run in the bottom of the 6th. And, then in the bottom of the 7th, Derkowski gave up a walk to start. The next PSU player laid down a bunt and Carricaburu fielded it quickly and opted to try to get the force at 2B. Unfortunately, she sailed the throw not only past 2B but past CF. It went all the way to the wall (or close enough) and the winning run came across. This turned out to be an indirect result of Lexie Blair nearly stealing another HR (she robbed one the week before) last Friday, but instead got hurt (and dropped the ball, adding insult to injury) when crashing hard into the fence.
So, instead of having our superstar out there, both all-B1G hitting and fielding, we had to make the best of it, which meant Mataya moving from RF to CF, LeClair going from 3B to RF, and Carricaburu filling in at 3B. Did that cost us? It certainly did at the plate, and may have in the field. Carricaburu did make a great diving play and throw just a couple of innings earlier, so maybe the final throw was just a flukey play. I’m sure she feels terrible, but it in no way cost us the season. It was just the punctuation mark on a season of what ifs. What if Storako, Carson, Widra, and Essman don’t hit the portal? What if Vallimont doesn’t have a knee injury? What if the umps don’t blow 3 key calls vs. NW? What if Blair doesn’t miss the final 3+ games?
It was quite a challenging season for a new coach to be thrust into. I think Hutch would’ve had a tough go of it, as well.
On the bright side, Indiana Langford looks like a really good hitter, with great speed. She had her first 3-hit game of the season yesterday, and finished 2023 with a .329 average. Keke Tholl will be back as well, and really finished the year on a hot streak, hitting several HR’s in the final few weeks.
Also, Craig Ross said on the radio today that Michigan does have a top-5ish recruiting class coming in next year. It’s pretty hard to find recruiting info for softball, so I am really not sure who’s coming in. I’m hoping some big bats. Keke can’t be the only power threat for pitchers to worry about.
I think the pitching, which is already good, should improve. They will have to replace CF, 3B, and 1B in the field, but I don’t think that will be a huge deal. CF will be the toughest, as Lexie really locked it down.
If there aren’t any portal-suprises, I’d expect Michigan to be back in the top-4 of the conference, and back in the post-season in 2024.
?
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Our Indy is better! Plus, her walk-up song is the theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
I have found out a couple of things, regarding recruiting. One recruit is Jenissa Conway, who Max Preps ranks #20 overall.
“A lefty with power, speed, and massive athleticism, Conway batted .567 with nine home runs and 23 RBI in 22 games with 25 walks last spring.”
It looks like she plays CF, so that might be our replacement for Lexie.
And Extra Innings Softball ranks Michigan as the 6th best class. The next best recruiting class in the B1G is OSU at #17. Nebraska (18th) and Purdue (23rd) are also in the top-25. I’m surprised about Purdue.
Perfectgame (dot) org has Conway ranked #32 overall, and a pitcher named Erin Hoehn at #50. Their rankings are from last August.
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I also found that they have a top-20 player committed to the 2024 class:
https://extrainningsoftball.com/i-committed-2024-extra-elite-100-infielder-andee-dircks-on-why-michigan-it-felt-like-i-was-at-home/
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This year’s freshman class was ranked 6th.
Yep. I mentioned that. I wish they would’ve named who was in the class.
3B/OF Audrey LeClair will be using her Covid year, but is entering the transfer portal.
why is alexis ohanian commenting on this lol
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Who’s that?
founder of reddit(?), Serena Williams’s husband
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Man would’ve been nice
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To be fair
Clemson for a half dozen reasons has a ceiling as a program Michigan can’t match without teleportation
Bakich is literally getting opportunities we could and can never offer
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There’s some talk in Twitter world that a handful of Michigan baseball players have entered the portal.
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