Tony Garcia|Detroit Free Press
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It was late March, just as Big Ten season was starting, when the Michigan softball team sat in its locker room during a rain delay against Nebraska.
The Wolverines had lost the first two games of the series to open conference play, and freshman Ella McVay had an idea.
“She came up to me and said, 'We should go around as a team, everybody pick one person and say what we’re proud of what they did’,” senior catcher Hannah Carson said. “We did and it just showed that appreciation, so we decided we’re going to do this every game.
“We still had a few ups and downs, but that was the day it started (to turn around).”
That third game against Nebraska was rained out. Then after a win over Miami (Ohio), the Wolverines traveled to Northwestern less than a week later, dropping the first two games of the series, falling to 0-4 in the Big Ten.
That’s when the winningest softball coach in NCAA history, Carol Hutchins, made a plea.
“Before the third game, Hutch pulled us together, challenged the upperclassmen and the seniors and said ‘I need you to be better and lead this team on the field with good at-bats and good body language in the circle,’” fifth-year senior pitcher Meghan Beaubien said. “She looked us in the eye, challenged us to be better and we responded that game.
“It wasn’t like our season was perfect after that, but it was another turning point in how we carried ourselves.”
Michigan (36-16, 14-8) took the finale from the Wildcats and went on to win 16 of its final 21 games, makingthe Big Ten tournament championship game.
Now, the Wolverines are in Orlando, Floridapreparing for an NCAA tournament regional that starts against Summit League champions South Dakota State (40-11) at 3:30 p.m. Friday.
No. 16 seed Central Florida, the AAC Champions, hosts and will start play against Villanova, the Big East Champions, at 6 p.m. Friday.
“We were talking this week about how lucky we really are to be part of a program where, in some ways, the postseason is really the beginning of our calendar,” Beaubien said. “We're playing really well right now, we've been close and haven't been able to win a regional since I've been here ... but we all feel really confident and I think we have a good chance."
This season of ups and downs was new for everybody in the program. Beaubien won a regular-season Big Ten championship each year,until this season when the Wolverines finished fourth.
But Beaubien said with this newfound adversity came new lessons in camaraderie.
“It’s really easy to support your teammates when everybody is winning and you have a championship ring every year,” Beaubien said. “But it’s easy for a team to fall apart when the expectation is to win championships and you didn’t do it this year, but I think our team was the opposite.
“We responded so well and I think that will be a big factor in getting us through regionals and beyond.”
For all the success the Wolverines have had, the regional has been a sticking point. Michigan hasn’t made it to the super regionals since 2016 — also the last season it made the Women's College World Series.
In the final game of the regional in Seattle in 2021, the Wolverines led Washington,5-1, through two innings, before giving up nine straight.
“Knowing I’d be back this year, I was more motivated than ever to show we belong in a super regional and we were right there,” Beaubien said. “I think this is our year to do it.”
Not only do the Wolverines have, to some onlookers, a favorable draw, they’re playing well. They knocked off regular-season champion Northwestern in the Big Ten tournament semifinals and made it to extra innings in the title game.
Beaubien, who said she struggled to get her rhythm early in the season, has found her form. The senior, who threw a no-hitter in last year’s regional opener, is 8-5 on the season with a 2.75 ERA, having started 19 of the team’s 52 games.
Taylor Bump, who hit a two-out, two-run shot in the seventh against the Wildcats to keep the tournament run alive, was named to the all-tournament team as was Annabelle Widra.
And then, there’s this.
Beaubien credited the senior class with keeping the vibe of the team up, learning from the failures as the season went along.
She and Carson both mentioned the infectious vibe the freshmen class has brought, both with their competitive nature and positive attitudes.
Now, the Wolverines said it’s time to show everybody what this team is really made of.
“All season we’ve joked around a bit, but we’re also serious when we say we’re a postseason team,” Carson said. “Conference play didn’t go how we wanted but we know how to handle every situation. If we’re behind, if we’re ahead, we think and we know we can thrive in every game.”
Oakland softball on cloud nine
Maddie Jones had made the Horizon League championship game twice in her first four years at Oakland, with the Golden Grizzlies coming up short both times.
Just because there's a phrase "third time's the charm," doesn't meanit's always true. This time, it was.
"This team this year we really clicked and it just had that feeling," she said. "I knew it was special when we had a really tough preseason and hung with those tough teams and after that, everything just kind of fit perfectly the way we needed it to."
The Golden Grizzlies lost, 6-5, to No. 3 Florida Stateon March 2, less than a week after playing No. 4 Florida tight until the bottom of the fifth, when the Gators scored four runs to win, 6-1. Oaklandopenedthe season with defending national runner-up James Madison, and won, 4-3.
"They’ve seen they can play with that high talent," acting head coach Jenna Modic said. "We really do embrace the challenge and the girls are having a ton of fun."
Modic is serving as head coach because Lauren Karn, gave birth to her daughter, Sophie, last week. The Golden Grizzlies, who won the Horizon League regular-season title, topped Robert Morris, 5-4, in the tournament championship in Youngstown, Ohio, to earn their NCAA berth.
They bussed home later that day, where Karnwas waiting in the parking lot at the complex in Rochester Hills. The team ran off the bus and gave Karnthe trophy and presented her the game ball for her daughter-to-be.
"After we won, we FaceTimedher while we were on the field" Modic said. "It was that night that she went into labor and had (Sophie). A championship and a baby, so that was special."
Karn will be in attendance (as a fan, not as coach)when the Golden Grizzlies open regional play against Big Ten regular-seasonchampion Northwestern in Evanston, Illinois, at 4:30 p.m. Friday.McNeese State (38-19) and Notre Dame (39-10) are also in the Evanston regional.
Modic said this team is so player-led, her jobas acting head coach isn't too difficult.
"The girls know how to play softball with or without us there. So my job isn’t that bad," she said. "They stay together, they do their thing and we let them do what they do best."
Sydney Campbell leads the Golden Grizzlies on the mound. The Horizon League Pitcher of the Year is 23-7, with a 1.73 ERA, 1.017 WHIP and 161 strikeouts in 211⅓ innings.
Jones leads the team offensively in average (.352), OPS (1.028), home runs (nine), total bases (92) and is second in RBIs (24) and OBP (.394).
Jones says they're player-led becausethey lead with energy. Whether it's getting in a circle before every game and yelling "O-U" or their "J-Money" cheer for her teammate Jessica Munson, Jones said the dugout is always loud.
On Wednesday, the Golden Grizzlies were flying from Detroit to Chicago for the tournament— a special experience because they bus for every game, including the spring break week down in Florida.
"The overall experience,I haven’t been to anything like this and our main goal was to win the (Horizon League) tournament," Jones said."Anything beyond this is just icing on the cake, so that's why we're trying not to put pressure on ourselves, play our best.
"If we do that, we think we can win, but we will be proud no matterwhat."
Contact Tony Garcia at apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @realtonygarcia.
