Kornacki: Relentlessness, Trust Allow Michigan to Advance
5/22/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 22, 2016
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- There is a one-through-nine confidence on the University of Michigan softball team that makes it special.
The Wolverines entered Sunday's (May 22) NCAA Regional championship game with three batters hitting over .400 and five batting over .300. When the weak link in your batting order is at .292, you have no weak link.
As dominating as Sierra Romero's bat and Megan Betsa's arm can be, make no mistake about it. The reason Michigan beat Notre Dame, 6-2, for the title was because there was no let up for Fighting Irish pitcher Rachel Nasland.
Romero and leadoff hitter Sierra Lawrence, both All-Americans, lined solo homers into the teeth of a powerful wind that had the Alumni Field flags stiff from the air current.
However, the last four RBI came from batters located sixth and seventh in the order, Aidan Falk and Lindsay Montemarano, who have combined to knock in 75 runs this season.
"The game doesn't know where you're batting in the order," said Wolverine head coach Carol Hutchins. "Monty's been very valuable for us, and we keep her hidden down there. But everybody just needs to do their part, and everybody's not always going to succeed.
"So, whether Romo's getting it done or (Kelly) Christner's getting it done or Abby (Ramirez) is getting it done, we just need people to help us win. And our kids do a good job."
Abby Ramirez, the No. 9 hitter, lined a double over the head of pulled in left fielder Ali Wester leading off the sixth inning and is batting .380 while reaching base 49 percent of the time. She's tied for third on the team with 46 runs and turns the batting order over like a second leadoff hitter.
There's just no let up, and that was never more evident than in the fifth inning. The game was up for grabs then with the No. 2 Wolverines (49-5) clinging to a 2-1 lead.
Michigan had the bases loaded with one out, and No. 6 hitter Falk stepped to the plate. You could feel the tension throughout the sell-out crowd because teams don't usually stay in the game this long with their Wolverines.
The sophomore catcher allowed them a collective sigh of relief by lining the first pitch to the grass in short center field, driving in two runs. Falk also threw out Wester, who had been 21-for-23 on steals, made a nice tag to cut down a run at the plate after catching a strong throw from right fielder Kelsey Susalla and worked so well with Betsa.
"Aidan had an outstanding day for her," said Hutchins. "She had a couple of not-so-great at-bats, but it doesn't matter what you did in your last at-bat. It only matters what you're doing right now, and Aidan's been doing and working really hard to do her part."
No. 7 hitter Montemarano, the team's sparkplug, strode to the plate with all the confidence of a middle-of-the-order slugger.
The fans were eating it up, clapping in unison and stomping on the aluminum bleacher flooring.
Montemarano stroked a 2-1 pitch into right-center, scoring two more runs with a clutch single. The Wolverines were in control with Betsa on her game with a four-run lead.
"Hutch says it a lot that the game doesn't know how many runners are on base, and you have to approach every at-bat the exact same way," said Montemarano. "That's really helped me this season.
"I can't control the outcome, but I just have to trust my swing and be aggressive. I was just looking to drive something hard."
Notre Dame pulled starter Nasland at that point, and while the pitching change was being made, Justin Bieber's "Baby" blared over the P.A. system. Montemarano stood on first base, lip-synching the words while doing a dance routine.
She's a big reason why the team plays loose and hard, and believes. Montemarano has a pre-game routine where she exchanges a different handshake with each teammate, and last year orchestrated the whole bit where players mimicked making a pizza as they reached different bases after hits.
As the song says, "It's GREAT to be, a MICHIGAN WOLVERINE!"
Everybody does their part on this team.
"That trust is something we work really hard at," said Betsa, who allowed two runs in 17 innings pitched in the NCAA Regional. "It's something that separates our team from a lot of other teams in the country, how much we really trust each other.
"If I throw the ball over the middle of the plate, I trust that my teammate's going to make the play, and they did that really well today."
Not only did the Wolverines come into the weekend leading the nation with 8.4 runs per game, they also ranked fifth nationally with a .977 fielding percentage.
So, everybody fields their position and everybody hits.
While the Wolverines got four RBI and three hits from its hitters sixth or lower in the batting order, Notre Dame didn't get a base-runner from one of those four spots. The Irish went 0-for-12 with six strikeouts in the No. 6 through No. 9 spots.
The reason Michigan advanced to the championship series of last year's Women's College World Series was that it had the best team, one through nine. It's where the Wolverines want to be again during the first week of June, and a win in the NCAA Super Regional next weekend at home against another Sweet 16 survivor would punch their tickets to Oklahoma City.
Hutchins said her team "feels the pressure" of high expectations and felt the need to encourage them to "celebrate" an NCAA Regional championship. She realized it was something they were expected to accomplish but wanted them to "relish" what they had done, sweeping three quality teams by a combined score of 20-2.
Hutchins also knows the challenges on the horizon, and the key to surviving:
"I told my kids in the locker room, 'You didn't always do everything right today, but we were just tough. When we needed to be tough, we were tough. And that's the only way you get to keep playing. You have to be the toughest team on the field.'
"And as a team, we are the toughest team. You have to be tough around the edges. You have to be tough physically. But, mostly, you have to be tough mentally."
Trust is at the center of their success -- believing somebody is going to come through.
"I think it's really important to trust every batter in our lineup," said Christner. "If we just trust everybody and stick to the game plan, hopefully things will go our way."
• Wolverines Pull Away from No. 23 Notre Dame to Claim Regional Crown
