Wolverines Set to Wrap Spring Break at ASU Invitational

» Michigan will travel to Tempe, Arizona, for a five-game slate at the ASU Invitational this weekend (Thu-Sat., March 7-9); U-M will face No. 21 James Madison, No. 16 Arizona State, Lehigh, New Mexico State and South Dakota.
» The Wolverines re-entered the national rankings at the No. 25 spot after defeating No. 2 UCLA (3-1) and No. 5 Washington (4-2) at last weekend's Judi Garman Classic.
» LHP Meghan Beaubien posted a 1.50 ERA last weekend with just three runs and nine hits allowed against UCLA and Washington.

THIS WEEK
Thu-Sat., March 7-9 -- at ASU Invitational (Tempe, Ariz.)
Thursday, March 7 -- vs. James Madison, 1:30 p.m. MST
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Thursday, March 7 -- at Arizona State, 6:30 p.m. MST
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Friday, March 8 -- vs. Lehigh, 2 p.m. MST
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Friday, March 8 -- vs. New Mexico State, 4:30 p.m. MST
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Saturday, March 9 -- vs. South Dakota, 9 a.m. MST
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• Complete Game Notes (PDF)

The No. 25-ranked University of Michigan softball team (9-8) remain out west for the second half of its spring-break trip and will travel to Tempe, Arizona, for a five-game slate at the ASU Invitational this weekend. The Wolverines will open play with two games on Thursday (March 7), taking on No. 21 James Madison (7-4) at 1:30 p.m. MST and host No. 16 Arizona State (15-6) at 6:30 p.m. MST.

Michigan will face Lehigh (5-2) at 2 p.m. MST and New Mexico State (9-5) at 4:30 p.m. MST on Friday (March 8) before wrapping play with a 9 a.m. MST contest against South Dakota (13-7) on Sunday (March 9). All games will be held at the Sun Devils' at Farrington Softball Stadium.

• After two weeks outside the national rankings, the Wolverines re-entered at the No. 25 spot this week after earning wins over No. 2 UCLA (3-1) and No. 5 Washington (4-2) at the Judi Garman Classic (March 1-3). Michigan is now 2-4 against ranked opposition this season and has faced five top-10 opponents in No. 2 UCLA, No. 5 Washington, No. 5 Florida, No. 7 Arizona and No. 9 LSU. Adding this weekend's slate at Arizona State, U-M will faced four of eight teams from the 2018 NCAA Women's College World Series over its non-conference schedule.

• Michigan will return to Tempe, Arizona, for the first time since the 2015 when it posted a 5-0 mark at the ASU Louisville Slugger Invitational. U-M battled to earn a pair of wins against the host Sun Devils in that tournament, winning, 7-5, in the opener and 6-2 in the weekend finale.

• Michigan posted some of its best offensive stats of the season at the Judi Garman Classic, combining for a .271 batting average -- a 52-point improvement from last weekend's LSU Invitational -- with seven extra-base hits, including two home runs.

• The Wolverines also posted a season-low 1.00 ERA at the Judi Garman Classic, allowing just three runs, 11 hits and five walks over 21 innings pitched. Sophomore left-handed pitcher Meghan Beaubien and freshman right-handed Alex Storako combined for 17 strikeouts.

• Senior second baseman Faith Canfield led the Wolverines with a .556 (5-for-9) average at the Judi Garman Classic and drove in the winning run against both No. 2 UCLA and Cal State Northridge. She used a two-run single in the sixth to spearhead the Michigan rally against UCLA and tallied a walk-off RBI double in the bottom of the seventh against CSUN.

• Freshman outfielder Lexie Blair batted .500 (4-for-8) with three doubles -- one in each game -- and two RBI in Michigan's 3-0 weekend at the Judi Garman Classic. She drove in a key insurance run off an RBI double in the sixth inning against No. 2 UCLA and used another RBI double to give U-M a first inning lead against No. 5 Washington.

• Sophomore shortstop Natalia Rodriguez, often a lefty slap hitter, knocked out her first collegiate home run in the fourth inning against No. 5 Washington, breaking a 2-2 tie with a two-run no-doubter to left field. The long ball came four batters after another, a leadoff solo shot from senior first baseman Alex Sobczak, who tied the game with her first home run in two seasons.

• Sophomore LHP Meghan Beaubien earned back-to-back wins over top-five opposition at the Judi Garman Classic last weekend, holding No. 2 UCLA and No. 5 Washington to just three runs and nine total hits over 14 innings. She was particularly strong against the Bruins, allowing just one run off three hits -- two coming against the first two batters she faced -- and no walks. She struck out three and allowed only four total baserunners, including two over the last six innings.

• Beaubien posted her fourth collegiate no-hitter against CSUN at the LSU Invitational, taking a perfect game into the fifth inning until a two-out hit-by-pitch spoiled the effort. In all, she allowed four baserunners on two HBP and two walks, and struck out seven. Beaubien was also a sixth-inning bunt single shy of a no-hitter against Louisville the previous weekend at the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

• Of the Wolverines' eight losses, only three have come with a margin of more than two runs, and in all three of those games -- against Florida (6-0), North Carolina (8-3) and Stanford (7-1) -- the opponent scored four or more runs in the last three innings. Prior to the Judi Garman Classic, Michigan had outscored its opposition, 22-13, over the first three innings of games but had been outscored, 24-18, in the fourth, fifth and sixth frames. But in Fullerton, California, the Wolverines used late-inning surges to earn its wins, scoring two in the sixth against UCLA, three in the fourth against Washington and one in the seventh against CSUN.