As Michigan coach Carol Hutchins likes to say, “the game doesn’t know.”

The game doesn’t know that the No. 6 Michigan softball team hoisted its sixth-consecutive Big Ten trophy on Friday with a win over Northwestern. The game doesn’t know that the Wolverines (19-2 Big Ten, 41-9 overall) are the highest-ranked Big Ten team in the nation.

Five years ago, the game certainly didn’t know.

Five years ago — the last time Michigan participated in the Big Ten tournament before it was stopped indefinitely — the then 6th-ranked Wolverines faced in-state rival Michigan State in Evanston for the first round. Michigan entered the contest with just five losses on the season, poised to host a regional game for the seventh consecutive year, facing a Spartan team with a sub-.500 record.

But a bloop single with two outs in the sixth inning was enough to knock the Wolverines out of the tournament, as they went on to lose 2-1.

Headed into the first Big Ten tournament since then, Hutchins is hoping the game doesn’t remember, either.

After a five-year hiatus, the tournament is back in Lincoln, Neb., and promises a stronger bracket than in years past. Though the Wolverines began the season as the only Big Ten team represented in the Top-25, they have since been joined by No. 25 Wisconsin and No. 16 Nebraska — the only Big Ten team to best Michigan in conference play. Both Minnesota and Wisconsin have also received votes in the polls late in the season.

As the No. 1 seed in the tournament, Michigan is set to face the winner of No. 8 Ohio State and No. 9 Iowa on Friday in the semifinals.

The Hawkeyes and Buckeyes were just two casualties of Michigan softball at Alumni Field this season, as the Wolverines went on to sweep each of their opponents at home. During the two sweeps, Michigan outscored their opponents 54-15 and completed two mercy-rule efforts.

The Wolverines have yet to face Minnesota and Wisconsin this season, but could find themselves in a semifinal against the Badgers.

The fourth seed in the tournament, Wisconsin (16-7, 39-11) is perhaps the team most similar to Michigan. The pitching staff boasts a sparkling team ERA at an even 2.00, while the offense punishes opposing pitchers. Opponents hold a 4.42 ERA against the Badgers. And like Michigan, several of Wisconsin’s victories have come in mercy-rule decisions.

Matching up with new opponents provides a challenge Hutchins looks forward to.

“I think it’s one of the pluses of the tournament,” Hutchins said. “We may get to see teams from the other side of the conference and we’re excited about that. We won’t prepare any differently. We’ll prepare to play Michigan softball and focus on what we do well. That’s how we prepare every day.”

Among other late-season successes is No. 6 seed Illinois. The Illini went 9-1 through the final 10 games of the Big Ten to finish the conference season one game shy of .500.

“We simply started playing better softball,” said Illinois coach Terri Sullivan. “The conference was really strong this year, top to bottom. That’s exactly the way you’d want it to be.”

The game may not know about freshman shortstop Sierra Romero, but the opposing pitchers sure will.

After spending several series batting second in the lineup — a move made by Hutchins to force hurlers to pitch to Romero — the freshman looked to be all but figured out by the Big Ten, if only for a weekend. In the series loss to Nebraska, Romero was held to only one hit in seven at-bats.

It wasn’t enough to stop Romero from setting a single-season record for home runs or from capturing Big Ten Freshman and Player of the Year honors.

Back to batting third against Northwestern on Friday, Romero hit her 22nd home run of the season. She went 1-for-1 on Saturday before drawing seven walks through the next two games en route to her seventh Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor.

During Big Ten play, the freshman led the conference in seven offensive categories including home runs (12), RBI (35), runs (34), slugging percentage (1.125), on-base percentage (.659), walks (28) and total bases (63). Her home runs and runs marks established new all-time seasons bests for the Big Ten, and she tied the mark for most RBI. On Wednesday, she became the first Wolverine since 1995 to win both awards.

“She makes the people around her better,” Hutchins said.