In the past month, Peters has put any questions of whether she peaked as a sophomore to rest.
Daniel Dash
Daily Sports Writer
Softball
The Wolverines have made it clear they’ve found the offensive power to carry them through the rest of Big Ten play — a conference in a historic downturn — but with the postseason less than a month away, that might not be enough.
Up 4-2 in the third inning of Sunday's slate against Indiana, the Michigan softball team entered a lull. Sophomore left-hander Meghan Beaubien took over for freshman right-hander Alex Storako in the circle, and the Hoosiers started to score. With two consecutive batters reaching base for Indiana, a player hit by a pitch and a walk, the Wolverines scrambled.
The result wasn’t pretty.
In Friday and Saturday’s contests, the Wolverines failed to get on the board until the third inning in both games, registering just seven runs over two days.
But, also like many of the Wolverines’ games, all Michigan needed was a spark.
One crack of a bat and the game ended. Wrapping up the weekend sweep over a strong Hoosiers team, the senior swatted a double into right field, and the stadium erupted.
Facing a 3-2 count with two runners on base, senior MacKenzie Nemitz swung hard, finding a gap between center and right field that propelled the Wolverines to a 7-6 walk-off victory over Indiana.
Freshman right-hander Alex Storako set the tone right away for the Michigan pitching staff, striking out eight Indiana batters in 3.2 innings en route to a 3-2 victory for the No. 23 Wolverines (26-10) over Indiana (28-12).
With two outs on the board in the last inning of the game, sophomore left-hander Meghan Beaubien threw two pitches straight into the center of the batters box. The third ended up in the dirt, but that didn’t matter in the end as the Indiana batter had already started her swing.
With that, Beaubien was able to start and end the game with a strikeout.
The No. 23 Michigan softball team (24-10) defeated Indiana (28-10) 4-0 in the first game of this weekend’s series.
On the next pitch, Carson swung hard, sending a line drive over the right-field wall — the first home run of her collegiate career. The grand slam increased Michigan’s lead to 19.
Because the ball was so low, Carson didn’t even know whether it went out of the field.
The four-strikeout inning is a rarity. On Wednesday, Storako achieved the feat during the No. 23 Michigan softball team’s 24-3 victory over the Rockets (10-19), an onslaught that marked the Wolverines’ (24-10) 12th consecutive win.