AUSTIN, Texas — All season long, senior right-hander Lauren Derkowski had led the Michigan softball team from the circle, with sophomore right-hander Erin Hoehn coming in to relieve her in the home stretch. It was the formula that had won Michigan last week’s Big Ten Tournament.
But against Central Florida in the Wolverines’ first game of the NCAA Regional, Derkowski found herself the protagonist of a flipped script. Hoehn had come in to relieve her after a fifth inning where she had allowed back-to-back singles. But in the bottom of the seventh, with Michigan holding a one-run lead, she hit Knights first baseman Ashleigh Griffin with a pitch.
And with the game potentially on the line, the Wolverines opted to give Hoehn some help and their ace a call — and Derkowski answered it, striking out UCF designated player Izzy Mertes to retire the Knights and put a bow on Michigan’s victory.
“We rely on each other,” Derkowski said of Hoehn. “That’s what makes us great as a team. I know every time, she has my back. She’s come in for me a lot these past few games, and it was great to have her back, and just to let her know that I’ve always got her back out there.”
For the first four innings, Derkowski bent, but she didn’t break — not entirely, at least. Though she yielded four hits and UCF’s first run of the game, she kept the Wolverines in the contest by stranding three runners on base and preventing the Knights from adding to their tally.
In the fifth, however, UCF tabled back-to-back singles, sending second baseman Coco Jaimes into scoring position. At that point, Michigan opted to make the switch, the same way it had all season long, and put Hoehn in the circle.
“Just having full belief and trust in Erin,” Derkowski said of her approach in between innings. ”She’s great out there, so just giving all my energy to her while she’s out there, and remaining focused knowing that there’s a possibility to go back and so still sitting present and in my own process.”
Unlike in the Big Ten Tournament, though, the Knights quickly rattled Hoehn. Two quick runs propelled UCF to a 3-1 lead, and though she got out of a jam with two baserunners in the sixth inning, her control over the game was less steady than it had been in the weeks past. And so, in the seventh, after Hoehn gave up the hit-by-pitch, the Wolverines’ coaching staff decided she could use a helping hand.
With two runners on base, Mertes was in prime position to capitalize on Hoehn’s shaky day in the circle and walk a win off for the Knights — though they had just one out remaining. All Derkowski needed for a win was three more strikes, but even one of those balls could spell disaster for Michigan if it floated away from the strike zone.
But even though it wasn’t Hoehn’s best outing, it still provided Derkowski with the valuable rest she needed to get those final three strikes. And to do so, she stuck with a simple approach — relying on her trademark changeup.
“I knew that the goal was to get her with the change up,” Derkowski said. “We’d seen it earlier in the game, so we went out there and just executed whatever pitch was called by (pitching coach Jennifer Brundage).”
Three pitches. Three changeups. And three strikes, to hold the Knights to just three runs.
And in executing for the final out, Derkowski did what Hoehn had done for her all season by providing security in relief. By doing so, she had flipped the script from the Big Ten Championship game, but the ending was the same for the Wolverines — a victory.
