With its postseason hopes on the line, the Michigan softball team came into its rubber match with Indiana ready to swing for the fences.
Instead, it was the Hoosiers who did just that.
On Sunday, the Wolverines aimed to continue their momentum from a Game 2 win in an effort to win the series against a strong Indiana team. In that game, Michigan minimized the Hoosiers’ impact off long balls, allowing just one home run late that ultimately proved fruitless. But today, the Wolverines couldn’t keep Indiana at bay, giving up eight runs off three homers.
Indiana made their long ball presence known early — center fielder Ellie Goins stepped up to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded, saw three pitches and sent the fourth screaming over the outfield wall. In just the first inning, Michigan had already given up four runs, thanks to one well-timed homer from the Hoosiers.
“That has been the issue, closing and shutting the door when we have two outs,” Wolverines coach Bonnie Tholl said. “Tone set, yet we still have to respond. We have a long game to respond.”
And Michigan responded with a long ball of its own — a two-RBI homer by junior left fielder Ella Stephenson in the bottom of the first put the Wolverines back in the game, giving them a spark of hope. But that hope was short-lived, as another home run by Indiana sent it even further ahead: This time, a three-run shot increased the Hoosiers’ lead to five, and Michigan was never able to catch up.
Entering the fifth frame, the Wolverines were trailing by just four runs which, although daunting, kept them in the game. But not for long.
A solo shot in the fifth inning extended Indiana’s lead once again, but it wasn’t just homers that made the Hoosiers’ offense dominant on Sunday. Up eight runs later that inning, Indiana outfielder Cassidy Kettleman smoked a drive that bounced off the left field wall and allowed another run to score, putting the cherry on top of a dominant performance that run-ruled Michigan in five innings, 11-2.
“The balls were elevated a little bit too much, maybe too hittable for, certainly, for the balls that (junior right-hander Gabby Ellis) gave up,” Tholl said. “You know, certainly our pitching coach did not call them to be an elevated ball like neither (sophomore right-hander Kat Meyers) nor Gabby really utilize the rise ball in that situation. And I think that the pitches that they called were supposed to be lower half of the zone and I’m not quite sure that they got there. That’ll be something that we review in video.”
While the Wolverines’ defense wasn’t producing efficiently, neither was its offense. For a team that has prided itself lately on its ability to swing the bat, Michigan saw little success today, scoring merely two runs off Stephenson’s homer early. Although the Wolverines managed six hits — just two less than the Hoosiers’ eight — Indiana’s came with a lot more force, bringing in runs when Michigan wasn’t able to.
“Finding a way to keep the ball in the ballpark and not allow solid contact (is important),” Tholl said. “That’s huge, but looking at our offense, two runs is not enough. It’s well below our average. And regardless of what the other side is doing, we still have a role to do and as offensive players, we need to make some things happen.”
But the Wolverines weren’t able to make those things happen, and the Hoosiers were. It was this fatality that cost Michigan on Sunday, and the Wolverines had to sit and watch as Indiana sent dominant home runs sailing over the wall, taking the game with them.
