Michigan Home for Three against Ohio State This Weekend
4/15/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 15, 2016
• Tickets Sold Out | Parking Notice
• Friday: | BTN Plus | ZOOperstars!
• Saturday: | BTN Plus | Sierra Lawrence Day, Postgame Kids-Run-the-Bases
• Sunday: Big Ten Network (TV) | | BTN2Go | Bark in the Park
• Complete Game Notes 
The No. 2-ranked University of Michigan softball team (30-4, 8-2 Big Ten) will host rival Ohio State (25-8-1, 9-1-1 Big Ten) for a three-game series this weekend at the Wilpon Complex, home of Alumni Field. The series will kick off with at 6 p.m. on Friday (April 15) and continue with a 2 p.m. game on Saturday (April 16) and a 1 p.m. slate on Sunday (April 17). All three games are sold out.
• This weekend's series will pit the current leaders in the Big Ten Conference standings. Ohio State currently sits atop with standings with its 9-1-1 league record -- OSU tied Wisconsin through eight innings earlier this month -- and enters the weekend unbeaten in its last eight games. Michigan is 7-2 in league play and has won three in a row.
• The Wolverines are looking for their 19th Big Ten title in program history. U-M has won 18 of the last 21 B1G Championships, including at least a share of last eight crowns. No other team has a stretch of more than two in a row (Northwestern, 1984-85).
• Michigan will face a familiar face in this weekend's Ohio State series. The Buckeyes are coached by former Wolverine pitcher Kelly ([Kovach) Schoenly, who is in her fourth season at the helm of the OSU program. Shoenly was a First Team All-American and two-time Big Ten Pitcher of the Year during her Michigan career (1992-95). She previously served as head coach at Miami (Ohio).
• Junior RHP Megan Betsa posted 13 strikeouts en route to the complete-game shutout at Michigan State (April 13). It was her fifth game this season with double-digit strikeouts and fourth in her last seven starts. She also owns five complete-game shutouts on the season.
• With 642 strikeouts now in her career, Betsa sits in sixth place among U-M's all-time strikeout leaders, recently passing Sara Griffin (602, 1995-98). She is 72 shy of the fifth spot, currently held by Lorilyn Wilson (714, 2004-07).
• Senior centerfielder Sierra Lawrence extended her hit streak to eight straight games with seventh-inning single at Michigan State. She has batted .560 over the current stretch with three doubles, three homers and 13 RBI. Her career-long hit streak is nine games, which she tallied as a freshman in 2013.
• Lawrence headlined the Wolverines' series last weekend at Nebraska, where she hit .600 (6-for-10) with five runs scored and five RBI. She posted a pair of seventh-inning home runs, including the game-winning two-run bomb to break a tie game in the series finale.
• Senior second baseman Sierra Romero already holds eight Michigan program records -- and also ranks among the NCAA's all-time leaders in a bulk of the same categories. She currently lists seventh among the in career RBI (282), fourth in runs scored (276), 10th in walks (201) and 11th in home runs (75). She already holds the career grand slam record (11).
• Head coach Carol Hutchins strengthened her hold on the all-time NCAA career wins record, upping her career win tally to 1,462 with U-M's midweek win at Michigan State (April 13). Hutchins broke the record, previously held by former Fresno State coach Margie Wright (1,457, 1980-2012), with U-M's 8-0, five-inning decision at Indiana on Saturday, April 2. She has compiled a 1,462-475-4 record in 33 seasons as a NCAA head coach.
• Lawrence and Romero were named among the 25 finalists for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award. Romero has twice been a top-three finalist (2014, '15) and was a top-10 finalist as a freshman (2013), while Lawrence makes the cut for the first time in her career.
• Romero and senior RHP Sara Driesenga were selected in the 2016 National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) College Draft on Wednesday (April 14). Romero went to the USSSA Pride as the No. 2 overall pick, becoming the highest-selected Wolverine in program history, stretching back to the 1998 WPF Senior Draft, and the sixth first-round selection. Driesenga was selected by the first-year Scrap Yard Dawgs with the No. 27 overall pick.
