Michigan
Ohio State
Wolverines Kick Off Seven-Game Road Swing with Series at Ohio State
4/9/2019 1:30:00 PM | Softball
» Michigan will kick off a two-week road swing with a three-game set against Ohio State this weekend in Columbus. The series kicks off with a 6 p.m. slate on Friday (April 12) at Buckeye Field.
» The Wolverines have won each of their last 15 games -- their longest win streak of the season -- with a 134-22 scoring margin over the stretch.
» Head coach Carol Hutchins, the winningest coach in NCAA softball history, enters the weekend with a 1,598-514-5 career record over her 36 seasons as a head coach.
UPDATE (4/12): Due to an inclement weather forecast for Sunday (April 14) in Columbus, Michigan and Ohio State will now conclude their three-game weekend series with a 2 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday (April 13).
THIS WEEK
Friday, April 12 -- at Ohio State (Columbus, Ohio), 6 p.m.
TV: ESPNU |Â Live Stats | Watch
Saturday, April 13 -- at Ohio State (Columbus, Ohio), 2 p.m.
Live Stats | Watch
Saturday, April 13 -- at Ohio State (Columbus, Ohio), 4 p.m.
Live Stats | Watch
• Complete Game Notes (PDF)
The No. 21-ranked University of Michigan softball team (27-10, 9-0 Big Ten) will kick off a two-week, seven-game road swing with a three-game set against rival Ohio State (23-11, 7-2 Big Ten) this weekend in Columbus. The series opens with a 6 p.m. slate on Friday (April 12) and concludes with a 2 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday (April 13) at Buckeye Field.
• Michigan has won each of its last 15 games -- its longest win streak of the season -- by a combined 134-22 margin. The Wolverines have boasted a .372 team batting average over the 15-game stretch with a 1.37 combined earned-run average and .192 opposing average. Four Wolverines are batting .400 or better over the stretch, most notably freshman left fielder Lexie Blair, who is hitting .523 (23-for-44) with 20 RBI.
• Head coach Carol Hutchins, already the winningest coach in NCAA softball history, is closing in on her 1,600th career win. She has compiled a 1,598-514-5 record over her 36 seasons as a NCAA head coach, including the last 35 at Michigan. Hutchins became NCAA softball's all-time coaching wins leader when she earned her 1458th with an 8-0, 5-inning win at Indiana on April 2, 2016, and became the first to reach 1,500 wins with an 11-3, six-inning decision against Kent State on March 19, 2017.
• Michigan's coaching staff of Hutchins, associate head coach Bonnie Tholl and assistant coach Jennifer Brundage reached 1,000 wins together with an 8-0, five-inning decision against Nebraska (March 23) and now boasts a stellar 1,010-251-2 record (.800) over the last 21 seasons.
• Michigan scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to earn a 7-6 walk-off win in its Indiana series finale on Sunday (April 7). Four Wolverine seniors contributed to the seventh-inning rally. Second baseman Faith Canfield knocked out a solo home run, center fielder Natalie Peters doubled and first baseman Alex Sobczak drew an intentional walk to set the stage for designated player Mackenzie Nemitz, who connected with the 3-2 pitch to drive a two-out, two-run double to the gap in right-center. It was U-M's second walk-off win of the season; it also earned a 1-0 decision against Cal State Northridge -- on a Canfield double in the seventh -- in its Judi Garman Classic finale on March 3.
• Peters led the Wolverines with a .667 batting average (6-for-9) with a 1.000 slugging percentage and .769 on-base percentage over their four games last week, including a 6-for-8 effort in the Indiana series. She boasted three hits, a run and two RBI in the series opener -- on "Natalie Peters Day" -- to contribute to three of U-M's four runs. She also posted two hits and two runs in the walk-off win in the finale, posting a double in the seventh and scoring the game-tying run.
• Sobczak and Nemitz are both having breakout seasons in their final seasons at Michigan. Sobczak leads the Wolverines with a career-best .382 batting average -- a 124-point improvement over her previous best average in 2016 -- and similarly already owns career bests in runs (24), hits (29), home runs (seven) and RBI (25). Nemitz, after only earning one hit and seven total plate appearances over her first three seasons -- she missed all of 2017 with injury -- owns a .305 batting average with 18 hits, three homers and 19 RBI.
• Michigan has belted out 24 home runs over its last 15 games, including four last weekend against Indiana and six off the bat of Sobczak, who now leads the Wolverines with a career-best seven homers on the season. Of interest, U-M posted back-to-back-to-back homers in the third inning of the Nebraska series finale (March 24) -- the first time the Wolverines posted home runs in three straight at-bats since the 2001 season. U-M also recorded three homers in the sixth inning of the KSU series finale.
• Sophomore left-handed pitcher Meghan Beaubien earned all three wins in the Indiana series, improving her record to 16-3 -- Beaubien led the nation last season with 33 wins. Over the Wolverines' 15-game win streak, Beaubien is 10-0 and boasts a 0.74 ERA with 69 strikeouts and a .179 opposing batting average.
