The Michigan softball team’s offense has run through their leadoff duo all season. Batting .393 and .378, respectively, from the top of the order, junior second baseman Indiana Langford and sophomore center fielder Jenissa Conway have been reliable down the stretch in kick-starting the offensive attack for the Wolverines.
The potent pair compliment each other well in their different approaches. Langford’s signature slap-hit approach consistently results in an infield single that activates Michigan’s most dangerous base runner. Then Conway, who leads the Wolverines with 13 home runs on the season, tends to distance the ball from herself and the infielders, knocking a powerful hit into the grass or beyond and setting Michigan’s offense fully into motion.
But on Saturday against Rutgers, the pair went a combined 0-6, an unprecedented statline in which neither part of the well-oiled machine was able to operate. It seemed as if the Wolverines had no solution for Scarlet Knights right-hander Ella Harrison’s three-speed approach or the infield’s anti-bunt technique. And while the top of the lineup seemed to have the rug pulled out from underneath them, the rest of the lineup cushioned the fall and woke up Michigan’s offense.
The afternoon started with a strikeout Harrison dealt to Langford and ended the same way with another to sophomore right fielder Ella Stephenson. Making it through the heavy-hitting segment of the Wolverines‘ order with ease, Harrison made it clear why she had earned the ace role in just her freshman year. Constantly alternating the speed of her pitches between three different levels of velocity, it was clear that hits would not be in abundance throughout the afternoon. On top of that, the Rutgers infield had clearly watched their tape on Langford. Bringing their first and third basemen in to halfway from home plate, they were more than prepared to field a short smack off Langford’s bat.
“We knew we were going to face a pitcher with a low ERA, and we didn’t know (how we would fare),” Michigan coach Bonnie Tholl said. “When a pitcher can work up and work down, typically she’s effective.”
When senior left fielder Ellie Sieler, also dubbed a “table setter” with small-ball tendencies by Tholl, stepped up to the plate, Rutgers brought their infielders past the circle again. But while the Scarlet Knights could play their fielders in close, they couldn’t put any in the bleachers — which is exactly where Sieler drove the second pitch she saw — notching the first hit and first run of the day for the Wolverines.
And Sieler wasn’t done, either. She recorded her second hit of the afternoon with a single into center, and even though it didn’t lead to any runs on the board, it proved that Harrison’s pitches could be attacked.
“(Sieler) obviously saw the ball well and was swinging her bat with a purpose,” Tholl said. “I like when she does that. It really does add a bunch to our offense.”
Sieler hotwired the offense, and after a few quiet, scoreless innings, the engine was revving. Once again, it was hitters in the back half of the order recording the RBIs. After a double from freshman designated player Lauren Putz and a single from Stephenson, it was redshirt sophomore catcher Lilly Vallimont, batting .283 on the season, that hit a bloop single to center that brought in the second run. And later within the same inning, a ball ripped off of junior first baseman Madi Ramey’s bat and rolled into right field to score the third and final run.
“I was just happy that even though we didn’t have a bunch of offense going, we stayed with it and we were resilient,” Tholl said. “The offense found a way to get people on base.”
The absence of Langford and Conway’s consistent production was palpable at Carol Hutchins Stadium on Saturday. But with Derkowski playing to her strengths for six straight scoreless innings, Michigan just needed anyone to pick up the slack to secure the win.
With multiple hitters filling the shoes of their absent frontmen, the Wolverines proved that just about anyone can get it done on offense when their number is called.
