{"id":1255,"date":"2025-05-11T17:10:37","date_gmt":"2025-05-11T17:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/05\/11\/langford-conway-score-in-typical-fashion-to-secure-big-ten-championship\/"},"modified":"2025-05-11T17:10:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-11T17:10:40","slug":"langford-conway-score-in-typical-fashion-to-secure-big-ten-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/05\/11\/langford-conway-score-in-typical-fashion-to-secure-big-ten-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Langford, Conway score in typical fashion to secure Big Ten Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>WEST LAFAYETTE\u2014 It was run of the mill for Jenissa Conway.<\/p>\n<p>With the score of Saturday\u2019s Big Ten championship matchup against No. 2 seed UCLA deadlocked at zero runs apiece in the top of the sixth inning, the sophomore center fielder settled into the batter\u2019s box and squared herself up. Conway looked straight ahead and beyond the circle to see junior second baseman Indiana Langford leading off of second base. A familiar scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Amid a season darkened by offensive stallouts, Langford and Conway have been a guiding light from the top of the batting order. Since conference play opened, Langford and Conway \u2014 batting first and second for the Wolverines \u2014 have hit .397 and .432, respectively, while accounting for 75 of Michigan\u2019s 136 runs. They both were also recently named First Team All-Big Ten for the 2025 regular season.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a title they earned together, through an approach that leans into one another\u2019s strengths. Langford, a slap hitter by trade, often finds herself on base in the form of a bunt or shallow hit into the outfield that she was able to beat the tag on with her abundant speed. This tactic positions a fast runner on the basepaths for Conway, whose extra-base hitting \u2014 12 doubles, two triples and 17 home runs \u2014 completes the momentum-shifting combination.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cNormally when we\u2019re starting out I\u2019ll (say to Langford), \u2018Alright Indy, me and you,\u2019 \u201c Conway said. \u201cWhen she gets safely on base, it hypes me up because if I hit it, she\u2019s gonna score.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Langford and Conway had their moments throughout the Wolverines\u2019 first three rounds of the tournament, but often found support from an array of teammates along the way. Junior third baseman Maddie Erickson found herself a few crucial hits and RBIs throughout the weekend, as did redshirt sophomore Lilly Vallimont, freshman designated player Lauren Putz and junior shortstop Avery Fantucci. But against the Bruins Saturday, Michigan\u2019s offensive drive came to a screeching halt. UCLA right-hander Addisen Fisher held the streaking Wolverines bats to only one hit and zero runs through the first five innings. Michigan\u2019s holistic production had met an end. As the contest grew increasingly intricate, the Wolverines went back to the basics.<\/p>\n<p>After starting her day 0-2, Langford finally made solid contact with one of Fisher\u2019s pitches. A shallow knock into center field quickly transformed into a double as Langford\u2019s foot speed capitalized on a fielding error. With the first hit either team had had in four straight innings, it was a jump Michigan needed. Now it was up to Conway to capitalize. Within the gravity of such a moment, Conway had a ready belief that she was going to be the difference maker.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c100%,\u201d Conway said of her confidence level in the moment. \u201cAfter all the stuff I\u2019ve been working on and all the adjustments I had to make, yeah I was prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Once Langford was secure at second, it was almost predictable that Conway would go on to hit a game-defining double over the head of UCLA center fielder Jessica Clements, sending Langford all the way home on a tear to bust through the staunch five-inning stalemate.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cIndy, she just hypes me up,\u201d Conway said. \u201cShe got us going, and we capitalized on that. And it was great.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Once again this season, the pair of all-conference hitters did their duty in giving the Wolverines an offensive jumpstart. But with only a one-run lead, a little more assistance was going to be needed to break away from such a talented Bruins roster.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Just two batters later, sophomore right fielder Ella Stephenson answered the call. Contact on an inside fastball put a ball in play long enough to make it safely to first while Conway coasted into home from third to record the second run of the game, and the second scored by the leadoff pair. Langford and Conway\u2019s two scores proved to be plenty enough as the Wolverines\u2019 pitchers continued to lock down the UCLA offense.<\/p>\n<p>Michigan\u2019s run to the Big Ten Championship was anything but predictable, but on the back of Langford\u2019s and Conway\u2019s bats, the improbable journey ended in typical fashion.<\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WEST LAFAYETTE\u2014 It was run of the mill for Jenissa Conway. With the score of Saturday\u2019s Big Ten championship matchup against No. 2 seed UCLA deadlocked at zero runs apiece in the top of the sixth inning, the sophomore center fielder settled into the batter\u2019s box and squared herself up. Conway looked straight ahead and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[515,584,1323,513,1396,1397,1080,259,1398],"class_list":{"0":"post-1255","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-big","9":"tag-championship","10":"tag-conway","11":"tag-fashion","12":"tag-langford","13":"tag-score","14":"tag-secure","15":"tag-ten","16":"tag-typical"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1255"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1257,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1255\/revisions\/1257"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}