Michigan to Head Back to Tampa for South Florida Showdown

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan softball team (5-4) will travel back to Tampa, Fla., for a four-game slate at the South Florida Showdown this weekend. U-M will face Kent State (3-6) at 11:15 a.m. and USF (10-2) at 4:05 p.m. on Friday (Feb. 21) and Louisville (7-3) at 9 a.m. and Troy (7-3) at 11:15 a.m. on Saturday (Feb. 22). All games will be held at the Bulls' USF Softball Stadium.

Notes

• Michigan will face USF for a second time this season after winning a close 1-0 game on opening day at the USF Invitational (Feb. 7-9). Senior RHP Lauren Derkowski threw a five-hit shutout with three strikeouts, while U-M scored the game-winning run on a 6-3 groundout from sophomore outfielder Jenissa Conway in the fifth inning. The Wolverines have gone 17-12 in the all-time series against USF.

• The Wolverines will look to avenge a pair of 2024 losses to Louisville. The Cardinals defeated U-M 2-0 at the Joan Joyce Classic in Boca Raton, Fla., then 12-4 in five innings in their own home Cardinal Classic. Michigan owns an 18-6 advantage in the all-time series against Louisville.

• The Wolverines posted a team average of .371 (39-for-105), with four players with averages of .400 or better, over their four games in Georgia. Michigan boasted 14 extra-base hits with nine doubles, two triples and three home runs for a .581 team slugging percentage. It was a 127-point improvement over its week-one team average (.244) and, even more dramatically, U-M improved its average with runners in scoring position by 318 points -- from .068 to .386.

• Junior/sophomore Lilly Vallimont boasted a .667 average (4-for-6) with seven RBI over three games last weekend. Vallimont drove in six in back-to-back games against Longwood and Western Carolina, boasting a pair of two-run hits in the former and two sac flies in the latter. She also plated U-M's sixth-inning run at No. 10 Georgia with an infield single to second.

• Freshman Lauren Putz knocked out two homers for five runs in Michigan's 11-1, five-inning win at Georgia State last Sunday (Feb. 16) and batted .364 with a 1.182 slugging and .500 on-base over U-M's four weekend games in the Peach State. Putz owns a .360 batting average on the year, ranking third on the team, and leads the Wolverines with three homers and 10 runs scored.

• Junior Indiana Langford leads the Wolverines with a .412 batting average on the season and went 4-for-7 over last weekend's games, going 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI on a double down the leftfield line against Longwood.

• Michigan's pitching staff also shined in the Peach State, combining for a 1.22 earned-run average, two shutouts, 26 strikeouts and a .127 opposing average. Sophomore RHP Erin Hoehn went 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA and allowed just three hits over 7.2 innings pitched.

• Senior RHP Lauren Derkowski posted her third complete-game shutout of the season in a five-inning one-hitter against Longwood with eight strikeouts. She added another strikeout in a 1.1-inning relief appearance in the day's second slate against Western Carolina. Derkowski is 3-1 and owns a team-best 0.72 ERA and 31 strikeouts through two weekends.