{"id":4591,"date":"2026-03-21T23:49:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T23:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/03\/21\/michigan-unable-to-keep-up-with-washingtons-bats-falling-6-4\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T23:49:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T23:49:18","slug":"michigan-unable-to-keep-up-with-washingtons-bats-falling-6-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/03\/21\/michigan-unable-to-keep-up-with-washingtons-bats-falling-6-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan unable to keep up with Washington\u2019s bats, falling 6-4"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>With two outs in the bottom of the second inning, senior shortstop Avery Fantucci stepped up and launched one to left-center field, giving the Michigan softball team its first and only lead off its first hit of the game. Fantucci\u2019s solo home run would set a trend for the rest of the game \u2014 bats would be flying, but not just for the Wolverines.<\/p>\n<p>Michigan (19-11 overall, 0-5 Big Ten) fell to Washington (25-6, 8-0) on Saturday in a game with multiple big hits. While the Wolverines only put up three hits over the seven innings, two of those were home runs that batted in three total runs. But the Huskies were swinging hard as well, and Washington\u2019s two homers for five runs were too much for Michigan to handle, as it fell 6-4.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey changed their pitcher, and I think we had an opportunity to score more runs on the first pitcher we faced,\u201d Wolverines coach Bonnie Tholl said. \u201cYou have to continue to put the gas pedal on, and we missed out on a few opportunities. I felt that we hit the ball hard in the \u2026 first couple innings right at people. We were pretty efficient, and we scored four runs on three hits, but the gas pedal came off, and then we did not make any adjustments to their pitching adjustment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Defensively, Michigan was sailing smoothly until the top of the third inning, when two singles and a walk led to bases loaded for junior right-hander Gabby Ellis. But with two outs, she struck the Huskies\u2019 batter out swinging, saving the Wolverines from giving up runs in a dangerous position.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>Then Michigan\u2019s bats took advantage in the bottom of the third \u2014 after senior infielder Indiana Langford walked, junior outfielder Jenissa Conway sent a deep ball to right field to drive two runs home for a 3-0 lead. Sophomore utility player Lauren Putz followed that with a walk and then made her way around the bases, sliding in at home plate resulting in a called out that was overturned to be the Wolverines\u2019 fourth run. After Conway\u2019s homer, Washington switched pitchers from left-hander Ryan Maddox to right-hander Allie Thomsen. And even though she let Putz score, the Huskies\u2019 pitching held strong after the switch.<\/p>\n<p>Michigan faltered in the top of the fourth inning, cutting its lead to just one and then giving it up entirely. After notching one out, Ellis was replaced by junior right-hander Kat Meyers. Meyers\u2019 first four pitches walked a batter, putting two runners on base for Washington. On her sixth pitch, a Huskies batter slammed one to left field, bringing home three runs to cut the Wolverines\u2019 lead to one. An RBI double later in the inning made this lead nonexistent.<\/p>\n<p>That was the turning point.<\/p>\n<p>Washington\u2019s strong fourth inning cemented itself as the defining moment of the game. While the Huskies\u2019 momentum picked up, Michigan\u2019s only faltered, and it was never able to recover. After junior outfielder Ella Stephenson got Putz home in the third, the Wolverines didn\u2019t notch another hit for the rest of the game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a major shift of momentum, and we didn\u2019t manage it well as an entire team,\u201d Tholl said.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>Michigan gave up two more runs in the fifth thanks to a two-run shot by Washington infielder Melody Acevedo, and the Wolverines were unable to respond in the bottom of the inning. The sixth went scoreless for both teams, and the Huskies notched another run in the seventh to extend their lead to three, 7-4.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Although Michigan held control early, propelling itself to an early lead, Washington caught up halfway through and took control with a pitching change and dominant hitting. The Wolverines\u2019 early batting strength eventually petered out while the Huskies\u2019 only heated up, leading Michigan to its fifth straight Big Ten loss.<\/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>With two outs in the bottom of the second inning, senior shortstop Avery Fantucci stepped up and launched one to left-center field, giving the Michigan softball team its first and only lead off its first hit of the game. Fantucci\u2019s solo home run would set a trend for the rest of the game \u2014 bats [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[1006,4311,222,2656,4310],"class_list":{"0":"post-4591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-bats","9":"tag-falling","10":"tag-michigan","11":"tag-unable","12":"tag-washingtons"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4591","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=4591"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4593,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4591\/revisions\/4593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}