When senior right-hander Emerson Aiken came in to pitch against Oakland last Tuesday, many assumed it would be her last bout in the circle as a member of the Michigan softball team.
After all, she hadn’t seen the field since the first week of March where she closed out an 11-0 landslide over North Carolina Central. In games against weaker non-conference opponents, Michigan coach Bonnie Tholl has consistently elected to give the closing moments to the younger members of her rotation in freshmen right-handers Kat Myers and Haley Ferguson.
Which is why, just a few days before Senior Night and the final homestand of the season, it was refreshing to see the veteran Aiken step into action for a few innings. In her time in the circle, Aiken allowed just one hit and recorded three strikeouts. This was the most she has ever notched in a single appearance as she aided the Wolverines to a 6-1 victory over the Golden Grizzlies. The career performance would have been a satisfying finale to Aiken’s campaign with Michigan.
Except, there was an encore.
On Saturday, senior right-hander Lauren Derkowski tossed a serviceable five innings against the heavy-handed Bruin batting order hitting .349 as a team on the year. But a home run, a hit-by-pitch and a walk in the fifth inning prompted the need for a fresh arm for the Wolverines.
Instead of opting for sophomore right-hander Erin Hoehn or Myers as she had been doing lately, Tholl chose Aiken for the second time that week. And unlike the time she received against Oakland, Aikens’ time on Saturday had more reasoning alongside it than getting the senior some reps.
“(Putting in Aiken) was about matchups,” Tholl said Saturday. “We know that Kat does better against right-handers than left-handers, and where UCLA was in the lineup at that point we thought, ‘let’s give Emerson a shot.’ ”
The switch in the circle came at a crucial point in the game. Michigan was down just two runs to a top-ten team in the nation, and due up in the sixth was the top of UCLA’s imposing batting order.
It was a situation only a select few would be trusted to control and Aiken, at the end of a quiet season, had earned exactly that.
Aiken got out of the sixth after facing just four batters. She retired two left-handers, just as Tholl had hoped, and recorded a crucial strikeout against Bruins third baseman Jordan Woolery, who boasts a .421 season batting average.
For the second time in a week, Aiken pitched what would have been a suitable final effort. And on Monday, for the second time in a week, she earned herself another go.
By the fourth inning of Monday’s contest the Bruins had ran both Derkowski and Hoehn out of the circle on their way to posting an early five runs. But in a rare showing this season, the Wolverines’ offense had scored five runs of its own through the fourth. In another tight game on the weekend, Tholl turned to Aiken.
Aiken once again had to face the brunt of the Bruin’s attack, this time allowing four hits and three runs before getting pulled for Myers in the sixth. But the bad look in the box score doesn’t tell the whole story. A pair of miscues in the field stripped Michigan of two crucial outs that could have gotten Aiken out of a bases-loaded jam unscathed.
“If we make different defensive plays it’s a different look,” Thol said. “I thought Emerson did a really nice job of disrupting the timing of their hitters. It’s not like they squared up well against her.”
Aiken’s Monday showing on the last home game of the year wasn’t the most fulfilling finale one could hope for. But after seeing the amount of trust Tholl displayed in Aiken this past week indicates trust in the senior. With a series against Minnesota this weekend and the Big Ten Tournament on the horizon, the veteran right-hander could be called upon a few more times as Michigan looks to elevate itself into the postseason.
