Michigan
Illinois State
Wolverines Return to Sunshine State for ACC/Big Ten Challenge
2/14/2018 3:10:00 PM | Softball
» No. 20 Michigan participates in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge for the third straight season, traveling to Tallahassee, Florida, this weekend for two games apiece against Notre Dame and host Florida State.
» Last season's meeting against FSU ended in a 5-5 tie and was likely the Wolverines' top performance of the year; the game ended prematurely in the eighth due to the Seminoles' travel deadline.
» LHP Meghan Beaubien garnered Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week honors after posting a 1.11 ERA, 29 strikeouts and a .116 opposing average over the season's opening weekend.
THIS WEEK
ACC/BIG TEN CHALLENGE (Tournament Central)
Friday, Feb. 16 -- vs. Notre Dame (Tallahassee, Fla.), 4 p.m. [ Game Postponed ]
Live Stats
Saturday, Feb. 17 -- vs. Notre Dame (Tallahassee, Fla.), 10 a.m.
Live Stats
Saturday, Feb. 17 -- at Florida State (Tallahassee, Fla.), 5:30 p.m.
Live Stats | TV: ACC Network Extra
Sunday, Feb. 18 -- at Florida State (Tallahassee, Fla.), 12:30 p.m.
Live Stats
• Complete Game Notes (PDF)
The No. 20-ranked University of Michigan softball team (3-2) will head back to the Sunshine State for the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge in Tallahassee, Florida. The Wolverines kick off the weekend with a 4 p.m. slate against Notre Dame (3-2) on Friday (Feb. 16) and continue with a 10 a.m. contest against the Fighting Irish on Saturday (Feb. 17). U-M will then face tournament host, No. 8 Florida State (4-0), at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday and again at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday (Feb. 18). All games will be held at the Seminoles' JoAnne Graf Field.
• Michigan will play in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge for the third straight season and carries a 7-1 record through its last two appearances. U-M previously traveled to Tallahassee for the 2016 event, earning two wins against Florida State and Virginia Tech. Last year, the Wolverines swept host NC State but split a pair against Notre Dame.
• The Wolverines have good rivalries with both of their weekend opponents. U-M is 19-5 all-time against Notre Dame with 12 of the 24 meetings coming in NCAA Regional play -- and always in Ann Arbor. The Fighting Irish snapped a 14-game Michigan win streak in the series with a 6-4 win at last season's ACC/Big Ten Challenge. U-M responded with a 9-2 decision in the event finale.
• Michigan is 24-6-1 all-time against Florida State and is 4-1-1 in the last six meetings, but the Seminoles ended U-M's season in both 2014 and 2016. Last year's meeting ended in a 5-5 tie -- U-M's first since 2001 -- at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. FSU scored runs in the first, fifth and sixth innings, but the Wolverines responded each time, taking the lead on a Tera Blanco two-run double in the sixth before the Seminoles again evened the score in the top of the seventh. RHP Megan Betsa collected 11 strikeouts through seven innings and added three more in the top of the eighth before the game was called -- without U-M getting a chance to hit in the bottom half -- due to Florida State's drop-dead time due to travel.
• Senior utility Aidan Falk batted .400 (6-for-15) with two doubles, a home run and six RBIs at the season-opening USF Wilson-Demarini Tournament (Feb. 9-11). She tallied two hits and three RBIs -- the game's first three runs -- in the opener against UAB. She also drove in a pair of runs in the first inning against Illinois State as part of a 2-for-3, two-RBI day.
• Junior second baseman Faith Canfield was also strong from the plate over the Wolverines' opening weekend and tallied a team-best seven hits while she hit .389 over the five-game stretch. Canfield has slugged .778 with two homers -- in the first two games of the season -- and a double. She ranked among U-M's top-two leaders in both categories last year.
• Canfield ended 2017 on a 10-game hitting streak and pushed the streak to 13 with five hits over the opening three games at the Wilson-Demarini Tournament. A hitless game against host USF snapped the streak, but Canfield responded with a pair of base knocks against Illinois in the tournament finale. Senior RHP/first baseman Tera Blanco also boasts a 13-game hitting streak in her collegiate career.
• Sophomore Abby Skvarce, who tallied hits in both of her 2017 plate appearances, maintained her 1.000 career batting average through her first two plate appearances last weekend with an RBI single against UAB and another single against host USF. However, after she started the weekend finale against Illinois State, she went 0-for-2 with a pair of walks. She still owns a career .667 batting average and .750 career on-base percentage.
• Freshman LHP Meghan Beaubien garnered the Big Ten's Co-Freshman of the Week award after posting a 2-1 record, 1.11 earned run average, 29 strikeouts and a .116 opposing batting average over 19 innings at the USF Wilson-Demarini Tournament. Beaubien tossed a six-inning no-hitter with 11 strikeouts against Georgia State in her first collegiate start and added nine strikeouts in a 2-0 loss to No. 2 Florida.
• Beaubien's no-hitter was the 45th in Michigan program history, and the seventh by a Wolverine freshman. Marissa Young (2000-03), who earned her first win as a head coach last weekend with Duke's first-year program, also pitched a no-hitter in her first month of college softball, striking out five in a 1-0 win against USF in her fourth collegiate start (Feb. 29, 2000).
• Four Michigan freshmen made their collegiate debuts at the Wilson-Demarini Tournament. In addition to Beaubien, infielders Taylor Bump and Natalia Rodriguez started games -- Rodriguez batted .429 (3-for-7) on the weekend -- while RHP Sarah Schaefer tossed a pair of relief innings against Illinois State.
