Wolverines to Head to Orlando for NCAA Regional Play

Schedule Update: Friday's (May 20) game between Michigan and South Dakota State has been moved to 11 a.m. (originally scheduled for 3:30 p.m.) due to forecasted weather in the Orlando area.

THIS WEEK
NCAA Regional
Tournament Central | Bracket
Friday, May 20 -- vs. South Dakota State (Orlando, Fla.), 11 a.m. (Note new time)
TV: ESPN+ | Live Video | Live Stats

• Complete Game Notes (PDF)

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The No. 20-ranked University of Michigan softball team (36-16) will head to Orlando, Fla., to kick off NCAA Tournament play this Friday through Sunday (May 20-22) at the University of Central Florida's UCF Softball Complex. The Wolverines will open play against South Dakota State at 11 a.m. on Friday, streamed live on ESPN+.

• Michigan is making its 29th NCAA Tournament appearance (1992-93, '95-2019, '21-22) and has earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament every season since 1995. It is just the eighth time in program history that U-M will play a regional round on the road. The Wolverines are 86-21 all-time in the NCAA Regional round and have won 18 regional titles.

• The winner of the Orlando Regional will move on to a super regional against the winner of the regional being hosted by Oklahoma in Norman. That regional consists of No. 1 overall seed Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Minnesota and Prairie View A&M.

• Friday (May 20) will mark the first-ever meeting between Michigan and South Dakota State.

• The Wolverines have won seven of their last eight games. U-M saw its seven-game win streak halted with a 3-1 loss in eight innings against Nebraska in the Big Ten Tournament final. Over the last eight games, Michigan has outscored its opposition 48-20.

• Fifth-year senior third baseman Taylor Bump knocked out two home runs in the Big Ten Tournament to up her total to a team-best six this season. She posted a two-out, two-run shot in the top of the seventh inning to propel U-M to a 2-1 comeback win against Northwestern in the semifinals. Bump, an All-Big Ten first team honoree last season, also led U-M with 12 homers in 2021.

• Senior first baseman Lexie Blair has been a big addition since returning to the Wolverine starting lineup from an injury suffered in the Northwestern series opener (April 1), batting .394 with six extra-base hits and eight RBI over the 11 games since. She earned the final regular-season Big Ten Player of the Week award after batting .700 (7-for-10) in the Wisconsin series and delivered the go-ahead two-run double in the fourth inning to complete U-M's comeback in the finale against Ohio State. After starting 155 games in the Wolverine outfield over her career, she has started the last 11 at first base.

• Graduate student Kristina Burkhardt ranks fifth nationally with 20 doubles and eighth with a 0.38 doubles-per-game average this season and lists fourth with seven triples and fifth with 0.13 triples per game. Burkhardt's seven triples are the most for a Wolverine player since Patti Benedict tied the program record with 11 in 1993. Adding her solo homer against home finale against Minnesota, more than 40 percent (28-of-64) of Burkhardt's hits this season have gone for extra bases.

• Junior Audrey LeClair is enjoying a breakout year with a .345 batting average -- a 178-point improvement over her average last season (.167) -- and boasts career highs in every offensive category, including 27 runs, 38 hits and 14 RBI. Primarily a pinch runner over her first two seasons, LeClair has started 39 games in the outfield for Michigan.

• Senior catcher Hannah Carson has been the Wolverines' hottest hitter of late, batting .462 over the last 10 games with nine runs scored, four extra-base hits and seven RBI. She initiated U-M's seventh-inning rally against Northwestern in the Big Ten semifinal with a two-out single and boasted eight hits and four RBI in the three-game Wisconsin series to close the regular season.

• Senior right-handed pitcher Alex Storako ranks 12th nationally in wins (23), eighth in complete-game shutouts (9), 11th in total strikeouts (284) and ninth in strikeouts per seven innings (10.9). She owns 12 double-digit strikeout games. 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.

• Freshman RHP Annabelle Widra posted a perfect 0.00 earned-run average over five relief innings in the Big Ten Tournament, allowing no hits and one walk and striking out four through appearances against Maryland and Northwestern. She earned the win in the latter, retiring the last seven batters, and contributed to a shutout in the former, setting down all six batters faced with three strikeouts in the seventh. She was named to the All-Tournament Team.

• Blair and Storako were named to the All-Big Ten first team -- the third such honor for Blair and second for Storako, who were the Big Ten Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, last season. Carson, LeClair and Melina Livingston were all named to the all-conference second team for their first time in their career.

• Already the winningest coach in NCAA softball history, head coach Carol Hutchins became the first to hit the 1,700 wins milestone with Michigan's 8-4 win in the series rubber match against Minnesota on May 1. Hutchins, who is now 1,705-549-5 in her 39 years as a collegiate coach, reclaimed the mantle among NCAA softball's winningest coaches with the Wolverines' 3-0 win against Northern Kentucky (Feb. 25) after previously holding the top spot for more than two years after passing Margie Wright's record of 1,457 career wins in 2016.