AUSTIN, Texas — After back-to-back home runs put No. 6 Texas up 5-3 in the third inning Saturday, Michigan softball team coach Bonnie Tholl took a gamble.
The demanding Longhorns offense was able to line their timing up and get on the board from the jump against senior right-hander Lauren Derkowski, a rare occurrence since the start of a dominating postseason campaign from the veteran. In the wake of Texas’ third-inning assault, Tholl made a rather unorthodox change. Instead of sending in sophomore right-hander Erin Hoehn, the other half of the pitching tandem that propelled the Wolverines to the Big Ten Championship, Tholl called the number of senior right-hander Emerson Aiken.
It was a calculated and time-constrained risk, as Tholl had confidence Aiken’s differing approach would momentarily throw off the momentum Texas had so quickly gained at the tail end of Derkowski’s time in the circle.
“Emerson throws a good seven, eight miles an hour different than Derkowski,” Tholl said. “We thought, ‘let’s get her through at least an inning and then bring Erin in.’ ”
But an inning was all the Longhorns needed to blow a tight game wide open. The elite offense had no issue adjusting to the slower pitching velocity, quickly getting their first two batters on base for utility player Kaydee Bennett to launch a three-run home run over the right-field wall.
A few more hits later the Longhorns notched another run on a fielding error, and what had been a two-run margin shifted into a six-run blowout. The gamble didn’t pay off.
“That’s the decision I made, and it was the wrong decision,” Tholl said.
Instead the bad beat opened a lead so large that any later effort from Hoehn would just prove a futile waste of her strength ahead of the Wolverines’ second game of the day. An outing where Michigan’s season was in jeopardy, and Hoehn’s heroics would certainly be called upon. It was smarter to preserve her.
“When we got to that point, and then we got behind by a few more, you don’t necessarily want to put Erin in because you think you’re going to see Texas again, or you have to win this game and rest her,” Tholl said. “It was a tough decision.”
Instead of taking another risk and hoping a strong close from Hoehn could be backed up by a late offensive explosion, Tholl opted to stay the course for the rest of the outing. And for the first time since the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, Hoehn stayed in the dugout.
Instead, Aiken was subbed out first for freshman right-hander Haley Ferguson and later sophomore right-hander Reganne Bennet. Texas was able to muster seven more runs off the pair in the final two innings.
The result of the pair’s efforts proved that it was just that kind of hard-hitting day for the Longhorn offense. Texas found prolific success against every pitcher Tholl threw at it Saturday, and Hoehn may have been no different.
But as the Longhorns’ lead continued to grow, Hoehn never got the chance to prove otherwise. From her spot in the dugout, all she could do was watch.
