Beaubien, Hutchins Earn Top Honors; U-M Puts Four on All-Big Ten Teams
5/9/2018 2:05:00 PM | Softball
ROSEMONT, Ill. -- The University of Michigan garnered three individual awards and four team selections as the Big Ten announced its 2018 all-conference softball teams and award recipients Wednesday afternoon (May 9). Freshman LHP Meghan Beaubien was named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year and a unanimous selection as Freshman of the Year, while head coach Carol Hutchins claimed her 17th Big Ten Coach of the Year accolade.
Beaubien garners Pitcher of the Year honors after posting a 16-1 Big Ten record with a 0.93 earned run average, six shutouts, 117 strikeouts and a .123 opponent batting average in league games. Beaubien becomes the 15th Michigan pitcher to win the honor -- the fifth different one since 2009 -- and the 13th Wolverine to net the top freshman award. She is the fourth player in conference history to claim both the top pitcher and freshman honors and the second Wolverine, joining Haylie Wagner (2012). Beaubien also was a unanimous selection to the All-Big Ten first team.
After guiding Michigan to its 20th Big Ten title in program history and 10th in the last 11 years, Hutchins garnered Coach of the Year accolades for the 17th time in her career. The Wolverines finished the Big Ten season 18-3. Hutchins has been named the league's top coach in eight of the last 11 seasons.
Senior first baseman Tera Blanco and junior second baseman Faith Canfield join Beaubien on the All-Big Ten first team. Blanco is also a unanimous selection. The Wolverines have boasted at least three representatives on the first team in each of the last 11 seasons.
Junior catcher Katie Alexander was named to the All-Big Ten second team, while Canfield earned a spot on the All-Defensive Team and Beaubien and freshman shortstop Natalia Rodriguez were named to the new All-Freshman Team. Senior Morgan Swift was selected as Michigan's sportsmanship honoree.
Blanco
Blanco earned first team honors for the third consecutive year after leading the Wolverines with a .438 batting average, 23 runs batted in and a .645 on-base percentage in league games -- ranking among the top-four conference leaders in those categories. She posted at least one hit in all but five Big Ten games with four multi-hit and eight multi-RBI games. Though selected as a first baseman, Blanco also earned a pair of Big Ten wins from the circle and posted a 1.000 fielding percentage with 108 putouts and six assists.
Canfield
Canfield garnered her second straight first team selection after hitting .417 -- the league's fifth-best batting average -- with 30 hits, 20 runs and 15 RBI. She recorded hits in all but three Big Ten games with eight multi-hit and four multi-RBI games as U-M's leadoff hitter. A defensive-team selection, she boasted a 1.000 fielding percentage at second base with 24 putouts and 29 assists in conference play.
Alexander earned All-Big Ten honors for the first time in her career after hitting .351 in league games with eight extra-base hits and 11 RBI. She posted a .994 fielding percentage behind the plate and caught two no-hitters in Big Ten play as part of a program-record six this season.
Rodriguez, who started all 21 Big Ten games at shortstop, joined Beaubien on the first-year All-Freshman Team. She posted a .244 batting average, .320 on-base percentage and a .913 fielding percentage.
No. 1-seeded Michigan will open up play in the Big Ten Tournament on Friday (May 12) in Madison, Wisconsin. U-M will play either Michigan State or Nebraska in the 4:30 p.m. CDT quarterfinal at Goodman Diamond. All quarterfinals, semifinals and the championship game will air live on the Big Ten Network and BTN2Go.
