Wolverines Battle to Claim Sunday Split, Take Finale at No. 9 Northwestern

Sunday, April 3

Evanston, Ill.

Noon CT

Michigan

19-11, 0

Northwestern (completion of suspended game)

24-4, 0

Michigan

Northwestern

Taylor Bump (Michigan Photography)

Wolverines Battle to Claim Sunday Split, Take Finale at No. 9 Northwestern

4/3/2022 7:12:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Leah Howard

» No. 23 Michigan split its Sunday games at No. 9 Northwestern, sacrificing a late lead in a 6-4 defeat before claiming the series finale 8-3.
» U-M scored two runs in the first inning and five in the seventh in the finale; Melina Livingston and Taylor Bump posted two hits and two RBI apiece, while Lauren Esman tallied a three-run double.
» LHP Meghan Beaubien won the finale from the circle, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk, while RHP Lauren Derkowski claimed her first collegiate save with the final 1.1 innings pitched.

EVANSTON, Ill. -- The No. 23-ranked University of Michigan softball team scored early and late to claim the series finale at No. 9 Northwestern, 8-3, to split its games on Sunday (April 3) at the Wildcats' Sharon J. Drysdale Field. U-M sacrificed a late lead to fall 6-4 in the earlier slate -- the completion of the series' second game that was suspended Saturday.

Michigan led throughout the finale, scoring twice in the first inning before blowing it open with a five-run seventh. Four different Wolverines posted multiple hits off Wildcat ace Danielle Williams, including fifth-year senior Taylor Bump with two doubles and two runs batted in. Graduate student second baseman Melina Livingston also posted two hits and two RBI along with three runs scored, while junior first baseman Lauren Esman drove in three runs on a seventh-inning double.

Livingston and Bump both registered two-out RBI in the first inning to provide the early lead after graduate student outfielder Kristina Burkhardt set the tone with a leadoff double. Livingston plated Burkhardt with a single to the left-center gap and scored herself when Bump banged a double off the right-centerfield wall three pitches later.

Northwestern got on the board with an RBI single to shallow center in the fifth inning, but Michigan got it back quickly in the next half inning on Bump's second RBI double off the top of the left-field wall, scoring Livingston from first base.

The Wildcats again cut the lead in half on a first-pitch leadoff solo homer to center in the sixth and, after a subsequent double chased graduate student LHP Meghan Beaubien from the game, freshman RHP Lauren Derkowski entered and ended the threat with a swinging strikeout to strand the tying run on second.

The Wolverines used a two-out rally to add plenty of insurance in the top of the seventh. Livingston drilled an RBI single to center, and after a Bump walk loaded the bases, Esman sent them all home with a lined three-run double off the top of the left-field wall. Esman came home herself when junior outfielder Audrey LeClair chopped a single up the middle to round out the scoring surge.

Northwestern narrowed the final score with a sacrifice fly in the home half of the seventh. Bump made a spectacular diving catch on the third-base line, before Livingston fielded the final out on a grounder to second.

Beaubien (5-4) allowed two runs on six hits and a walk and struck out three Wildcat batter through 5.2 frames to earn the win from the circle. Derkowski picked up her first collegiate save with just one run on one hit and one walk allowed over the final 1.1 innings pitched.

The Wolverines sacrificed a late lead in the day's first game -- the completion of the series' second game was that halted due to inclement weather yesterday with no score in the top of the third. Michigan led 4-2 in the sixth when the Wildcats knocked out back-to-back home runs with one out, including a three-run shot down the left-field line to take control.

Northwestern scored first with a two-out RBI double in the third before Michigan put up four runs in the fourth. The Wolverines used a pair of singles and a fielding error to load the bases with one out before sophomore designated player Sierra Kersten came through with a three-run double to the left-center gap; the Wildcat centerfielder lunged for the ball and it got past her to allow all three runners to score. Kersten advanced on a throwing error on the play and came home when Burkhardt beat out a chopper to short.

Northwestern cut into the Michigan lead with a leadoff solo homer in the fourth, but the Wolverines stymied the surge with diving catches from senior RHP Alex Storako -- after taking a comebacker off her glove arm in the previous at-bat -- and Livingston up the middle to end the inning.

Storako (14-4) took the loss in relief after coming in today in the third; she allowed six runs -- five earned -- on six hits and three walks while striking out four.

The series' second slate also featured an unusual play during yesterday's first inning. Northwestern lined a two-out, two-run homer over the left-field wall, but the lead Wildcat runner veered off the base path between second and third base, appearing to head back to the dugout. The batter-runner was called out when she passed the point at which the lead runner left the base path, and the home run converted to a double with no run scored.

Michigan (20-11, 1-4 Big Ten) will kick off a five-game homestand with the first half of its annual home-and-home series against in-state rival Michigan on Wednesday (April 6). The game is slated for a 6 p.m. start at Alumni Field inside the Wilpon Complex and will be aired live on the Big Ten Network.