At the end of the Big Ten Tournament last season, the Michigan softball team stood alone atop the conference. The Wolverines hoisted the trophy, earned their rings and reaffirmed Michigan’s elite status in the Big Ten.
Then, the new Big Ten arrived. Oregon, UCLA and Washington entered the picture — Southern California doesn’t have a varsity softball program — and vaulted to the top of the standings. Without these new powerhouses, the Wolverines would be third in the Big Ten right now. With them, Michigan is sixth.
In a conference of 17, sixth place is respectable. The Wolverines have had a decent season so far, posting a 27-12 record. They’ve yet to beat a ranked team, but they’ve come close, falling to then-No. 8 Duke and then-No. 10 Georgia in low-scoring, one-run defeats.
The problem is that with the new Big Ten powerhouses, a successful season for Michigan won’t get it as far in the conference as in years past. Last season, the Wolverines and Northwestern duked it out, with the Wildcats taking the regular-season crown and Michigan taking the tournament title. Now, not only do the Wolverines still have to deal with Northwestern and other original Big Ten contenders like Nebraska and Ohio State, but three new heavyweights that muddy the waters even further.
Michigan’s recent losses to the Ducks drew the line in the sand. Unsurprisingly, No. 6 Oregon has been raking through the Big Ten. The Ducks swept Illinois, Rutgers and Michigan, and they took two of three games from Washington. Tied with UCLA and Northwestern, Oregon sits atop the Big Ten standings.
The Wolverines knew playing such high-caliber competition would be a challenge, but they were excited for the opportunity.
“The conference realignment, in some ways, has been a really, really good thing for Big Ten softball, and that’s how we’re going to approach it,” Michigan coach Bonnie Tholl said Tuesday. “We love the fact that to be able to reach our goals and to win championships and get to Oklahoma City, you have to fight against and see top-caliber teams.”
If there’s one benefit of the Wolverines’ rough weekend, it’s that they now know where they stand. They mostly cruised through games against Maryland, Wisconsin and Michigan State, knowing the Ducks would be their first big test. They had the chance to see if they could beat a championship contender, and they got their answer: they couldn’t.
To give credit where credit is due, Michigan played Oregon close in the first two games and showed glimpses of what it can be at its best. Two home runs on Friday almost gave the Wolverines enough juice, but a double and RBI single from the Ducks in the sixth inning plated the winning run. Michigan looked even better Saturday, claiming a 4-2 lead in the third inning with another home run. But then a seventh-inning collapse stole the Wolverines’ chance of earning a signature win right from under their noses. In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, one rocky inning, in which Michigan allowed five runs, sealed its fate.
From second in the conference standings a year ago, with a Big Ten Tournament trophy to boot, to sixth in the standings today, it looks like the Wolverines have fallen off dramatically. In reality, they’ve only taken a small step back. It’s the Big Ten that took the bigger step forward, making Michigan’s small step feel like a leap.
The Wolverines felt it this weekend. In three games against a new Big Ten team — the best one at that — they saw firsthand how much tougher life will be in the new Big Ten. If they want to return to the top, they’ll have to raise their standards.
