NORMAN, OK — It was the bottom of the seventh inning, tied at 0, and Kansas had runners on both second and third poised to take off if given the chance. But the Jayhawks never saw that chance — Gabby Ellis drew two weak groundouts that kept the Michigan softball team alive for one more inning.
It is not particularly common for a pitcher to pitch a full game without relief, but on Friday, the junior right-hander not only pitched throughout seven innings, she handled the extra eighth inning as well.
“I think Gabby’s been throwing really well,” Wolverines coach Bonnie Tholl said. “ Especially these last three weeks. I think she’s throwing the best she’s thrown all year. She started the season with a bang and she’s ending it with a bang.”
Throughout seven innings, Ellis prevented any runners from striding across home plate and limited Kansas to just six hits, resulting in a defensive battle spread across seven scoreless innings. Her ability to disrupt the Jayhawks’ momentum early on allotted Michigan the grace it needed when its offense wasn’t able to follow through effectively. Totaling three strikeouts in the first two innings, Ellis wrapped up Kansas’ time at the plate early and disrupted the Jayhawks’ rhythm.
For a pitcher that usually pitches-to-contact and relies on her dependable defense, Ellis totaled five strikeouts on the game. All five of these strikeouts came when the Jayhawks had at least one runner threatening on base, stranding Kansas and boosting the Wolverines’ spirit when it was most needed. As Ellis discovered, the most effective tool in her pitching artillery against the Jayhawks was her offspeed pitch, which disrupted Kansas’ timing.
“I just kept doing what I’ve been doing,” Ellis said. “ I just kept on holding on to the fact that I knew that we were going to do something good eventually throughout the game. Knowing that we were going to get out of any situation that they put us in, and knowing that my offense was going to show up eventually.”
But even though Ellis kept doing what she was doing, her offense didn’t show up.
After Michigan left the top of the seventh without altering the scoreboard, Ellis and her defense had to face the elevated challenge of escaping from the bottom of the inning unscathed. And they did, tacking on another inning and another chance for the Wolverines’ offense to finally pull through.
But once again, the eighth inning achieved nothing offensively, and it was down to Ellis and the defense to prevent the Jayhawks from scoring and claiming the game.
A leadoff walk and a powerful double to center field put Kansas on both second and third, and an intentional walk filled the bases. With the bases now loaded, Michigan hoped to coax a forced out at home. But the Jayhawks stepped up to the plate as the Wolverines hadn’t been able to do all game, sending a single that threaded through the gaps in the infield and gave Kansas its first run of the game, the only run it needed to win.
“I feel like we were battling with (Michigan),” Jayhawks left-fielder Ava Wallace said. “Michigan’s a good team, and I think that it honestly came down to that last hit, until then defense has proven everything.”
Up until the final moments, the first round NCAA regional game proved to be a defensive battle. Ellis’ strong and confident presence in the circle was clearly reflected in her teammates, who limited the Jayhawks’ at-bats per inning to around just four, fielding the ground balls Ellis had drawn or making the sliding catch in the outfield to record the fly out.
“I’m really excited about the one-pitch approach and one-batter approach (that Ellis is applying),” Tholl said. “Just really not getting too far ahead of yourself, looking like three or four batters or three or four games down the line, and just really staying in that moment and being present for her team. And I think that is contagious, because then the team behind her stays present and really makes the place behind her, and so that was really the result of her great mindset today.”
While ultimately Ellis’s efforts couldn’t fill in for an offense that wasn’t present today, she shut out Kansas for seven innings and remained strong in the circle for eight. Her steadfastness on Friday was a contagious constant that fueled the clean defense behind her and held onto the game as long as possible despite the offensive silence.
