Michigan
Maryland
Wolverines Set to Wrap Regular Season at Maryland
5/1/2019 5:31:00 PM | Softball
» Michigan will wrap its regular season with three games at Maryland this weekend; the series kicks off at 6 p.m. on Friday (May 3), while Saturday (1 p.m., May 4) and Sunday's (2 p.m., May 5) will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network.
» The Wolverines are second in the Big Ten standings with a 19-1 record, while the conference's No. 1 and No. 3 teams, Northwestern and Minnesota, close with a three-game series this weekend.
» Faith Canfield was named the NFCA National Player of the Week after posting a 1.000 batting average, 2.000 slugging percentage and 1.000 on-base percentage last week; she has reached in 16 straight plate appearances.
THIS WEEK
Friday, May 3 -- at Maryland (College Park, Md.), 6 p.m.
TV: BTN Plus | Live Stats | Live Video
Saturday, May 4 -- at Maryland (College Park, Md.), 1 p.m.
TV: BTN | Live Stats | Live Video
Sunday, May 5 -- at Maryland (College Park, Md.), 2 p.m.
TV: BTN | Live Stats | Live Video
The No. 22-ranked University of Michigan softball team (37-11, 19-1 Big Ten) will wrap up its regular season with a three-game set at Maryland (20-28, 4-16 Big Ten) this weekend at Maryland Softball Stadium in College Park, Maryland. The series kicks off with a 6 p.m. slate on Friday (May 3) and continues with a 1 p.m. game on Saturday (May 4) and a 2 p.m. game on Sunday (May 5). The latter two game times were adjusted slightly when added to the Big Ten Network schedule last week.
• Michigan enters the final regular-season weekend in second place in the Big Ten Conference standings with a 19-1 record -- one game behind first-place Northwestern with a 20-0 mark. The Wildcats will travel to third-place Minnesota (18-1) for a three-game weekend series. The Big Ten champion is the team with the best winning percentage of its regularly-scheduled conference games.
• Michigan is the reigning conference regular-season champion. U-M, which reclaimed the league's top spot last year after a one-year hiatus, has captured 20 of the last 27 Big Ten regular-season crowns, including 10 of the last 11. The Wolverines posted an 18-3 league record in 2018, finishing one game ahead of second-place Minnesota, and outscored their Big Ten opponents, 134-31.
• Senior second baseman Faith Canfield was named the NFCA National Player of the Week -- and Big Ten Player of the Week -- after posting a 1.000 batting average, 2.000 slugging percentage and a 1.000 on-base percentage over the Wolverines' four games last week. She reached in all 15 plate appearances -- with eight hits, four walks and three hit-by-pitches -- and tallied 10 runs and seven RBI. It is the second time in her career that Canfield garnered NFCA National Player of the Week honors.
• Freshman right-handed pitcher Alex Storako was named Big Ten Co-Pitcher and Freshman of the Week after posting a 2-0 record, with a 0.58 earned-run average and 21 strikeouts over three appearances and 12 total innings last week. She tallied a one-hit shutout against Penn State on Saturday (April 27) with nine strikeouts; she did not allow another PSU baserunner. On Sunday (April 28), she struck out 10 and allowed three hits -- two of which were sun-aided fly balls that dropped in.
• Michigan overcame deficits in seven of its last 14 games -- four early and three late. The Wolverines have also tallied a pair of walk-off wins over the stretch, scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to secure a 7-6 walk-off win in the Indiana series finale (April 7) before, more recently, using a leadoff solo homer -- from junior third baseman Madison Uden -- to beat Penn State, 6-5, last Friday (April 26). Michigan also plated four runs in the top of the seventh to beat Illinois, 9-8, on April 20.
• U-M's hitting with two outs has been a strength of late. While the Wolverines are hitting .249 this season with two outs, they have batted .338 (47-for-139) in the same situation over the last 15 games with 56 RBI. In its two recent seventh-inning comeback wins against Indiana and Illinois, Michigan scored six of seven runs with two outs.
• Michigan posted a .402 team batting average over its four games last week against Michigan State and Penn State. Three Wolverine players hit .400 or better; Canfield with her 1.000 average (8-for-8) with seven RBI, freshman Lexie Blair batted .636 (7-for-11) with eight RBI and sophomore shortstop Natalia Rodriguez hit .429 (3-for-7) from the No. 9 spot.
• Blair leads Michigan -- and ranks second in the Big Ten -- with a .433 batting average and owns team bests with 68 hits, 20 doubles and 48 RBI. Three Wolverine freshmen have led the team in hitting since 1995 -- Sara Griffin (.432, 1995), Amanda Chidester (.350, 2009) and Sierra Romero (.379, 2013).
• Senior catcher Katie Alexander has been on a tear of late, hitting .382 over the Wolverines' last 11 games with six homers and 10 RBI. Prior to her current hot streak, Alexander was hitting just .195 over the season's first 37 games.
• Senior first baseman Alex Sobczak and senior designated player Mackenzie Nemitz are both having breakout seasons in their final season at Michigan. Sobczak boasts a career-best .358 batting average -- a 100-point improvement over her previous best average in 2016 -- and similarly owns career bests in runs (32), hits (39), home runs (nine) and RBI (36). Nemitz, after only earning one hit in seven total plate appearances over her first three seasons -- she missed all of 2017 with injury -- owns a .291 batting average with 25 hits, five homers and 28 RBI.
• Michigan has belted out 42 home runs over its last 25 games, including a season-high six in the series finale against Illinois (April 21). Alexander and Sobczak lead the Wolverines with 10 and nine homers, respectively. Alexander's previous career best was five homers, while Sobczak's was three.
