Michigan
Elon
Wolverines to Continue Spring Break Swing Against Elon, UNC
2/28/2022 12:10:00 PM | Softball
» No. 19 Michigan will play road games at Elon at 4:30 p.m. on Monday (Feb. 28) and North Carolina at 5 p.m. on Tuesday (March 1) in continued spring-break action in the Tar Heel State.
» Kristina Burkhardt, a grad transfer from UNC, leads the Wolverines with a .465 batting average and 12 RBI; U-M posted a 63-point on its team batting average over the four-game Duke Invitational last weekend.
» RHP Alex Storako continues to rank among the national leaders in total strikeouts (79) and strikeouts per seven innings (11.7).
THIS WEEK
Monday, Feb. 28 -- at Elon (Elon, N.C.), 4:30 p.m.
TV: FloSoftball | Live Video | Live Stats
Tuesday, March 1 -- at North Carolina (Chapel Hill, N.C.), 5 p.m.
TV: ACC Network | Live Video | Live Stats
• Complete Game Notes (PDF)
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The No. 19-ranked University of Michigan softball team (8-5) will remain in North Carolina for a pair of spring-break road games. The Wolverines will face Elon (9-3) in their newly-added 4:30 p.m. slate on Monday (Feb. 28) at Hunt Softball Park in Elon, N.C., before facing North Carolina (9-6) at 5 p.m. on Tuesday (March 1) at Anderson Softball Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C.
• Head coach Carol Hutchins reclaimed the top spot among NCAA softball's winningest coaches with the Wolverines' 3-0 win against Northern Kentucky last Friday (Feb. 25) and now boasts a 1,677-538-5 career record over her 39 overall seasons as a head coach. Hutchins, who previously rose to the top spot in 2016 after passing Margie Wright's record of 1,457 career wins, entered the weekend tied with Arizona great Mike Candrea (1,674-436-2), the Hall of Famer and eight-time NCAA champion who retired from coaching last spring.
• The Wolverines batted .302 over the four-game Duke Invitational last weekend -- a 63-point improvement over their .239 team batting average entering the weekend. Michigan boasted season highs with 14 runs and 16 hits, including three homers, in the tournament finale against Northern Kentucky. Graduate student Kristina Burkhardt and senior Lexie Blair both hit. 500 over the Duke Invite, while senior Hannah Carson and sophomore Sierra Kersten knocked out two homers apiece.
• Michigan belted five home runs at the Duke Invitational after entering the weekend with just one on the season. Carson broke a scoreless tie with her three-run bomb in the tournament opener against NKU, while Kersten posted a solo shot on each day of action -- the first of her collegiate career. Junior Lauren Esman also knocked out a three-run homer in the finale against NKU.
• Burkhardt continues to lead the Wolverines at the plate, boasting a .465 batting average -- with a team-best 12 RBI -- through the opening three weekends. With seven doubles and two triples, nearly half of her hits (20) have gone for extra bases. Burkhardt, who joined U-M this season as a grad transfer, was a two-time All-ACC selection, including a first teamer in 2019, at North Carolina and led the Tar Heels with a .333 batting average last season.
• Senior RHP Alex Storako Storako leads the conference and ranks third nationally with 79 total strikeouts and ranks 12th with an 11.7 strikeouts-per-seven-innings average. She owns four double-digit strikeout games, including 18 in her debut against Illinois State - the third-most Ks in a single game in her career. Storako also led the nation last season with a 12.9 strikeout average, while the Michigan staff posted the nation's top team mark with a 10.76 strikeout average.
• Graduate student LHP Meghan Beaubien earned her first save of the season -- and eighth of her career -- with a masterful relief performance against No. 13 Duke last Friday (Feb. 25). Beaubien entered with no outs in the seventh and the tying and winning runs aboard and handled all three outs herself with two strikeouts and a groundout to the right of the circle to close out the Wolverine win.
Up Next
Thu-Sat., March 3-5 -- at John Cropp Classic (Lexington, Ky.)
