On Wednesday, the Michigan softball team suffered an ugly 7-3, loss at the hands of Miami in which everything that had led the Wolverines to their recent successes faltered. The pitching was uncharacteristically shaky, and the bats were, for the most part, silent.
But on Friday against Nebraska, the slate was wiped clean from the last game and brought the debut of Big Ten play. Michigan had the chance to start conference play on a better note with a matchup against one of the Big Ten’s better teams.
But it failed.
The same issues that plagued it on Wednesday were present once again, to a lesser extent, but still enough to doom the Wolverines in a 3-2 loss. It wasn’t a dismal game, but at every turn, Nebraska outplayed Michigan. Its pitching was more consistent, its hitters made better contact and its fielders made fewer errors.
“We got outplayed in every aspect of the game,” Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said. “We need to play better, we need to hit better, we need to field better and we need to pitch better.”
The game started out as a pitcher’s duel. For the first two innings, senior right hander Alex Storako seemed back to standard form, going strikeout for strikeout with Cornhuskers right-hander Olivia Ferrell. In the third inning, though, Ferrell remained strong, but Storako once again started to falter.
Nebraska opened the third with a lucky single on a ricocheted drive, and immediately followed it up with a home run to left field from Cornhuskers catcher Ava Bredwell that just narrowly snuck over the wall.
The Wolverines managed no runs in the bottom of the third, and in the fourth, Nebraska came back from more. The Cornhuskers loaded the bases with three straight singles. A fourth hit resulted in no runs because a delay from third baseman Sydney Gray gave Michigan graduate outfielder Kristina Burkhardt just enough time to scoop up the ball and hurled it home in time for senior Hannah Carson to tag Gray out.
But that was only out two, and a ball driven right to freshman shortstop Ella McVey gave the Wolverines a prime opportunity for a double play, but the graduate third baseman dropped the ball. Storako walked the next batter, and the score became 3-0. That unearned run would be all Nebraska would manage, but it didn’t matter, it was enough.
“We have high standards,” Hutchins said. “We need better standards. Field routine balls, catch pop ups, hit the ball out of the infield. Those need to be standards.”
The Wolverines had another quiet inning in the fourth. And in the top of the fifth, Nebraska once again threatened to score, but a Bredwell strikeout ended the inning for the Cornhuskers, leaving base runners stranded at first and third.
The Wolverines had another quiet inning in the fourth. And in the top of the fifth, Nebraska once again threatened to score, but a Bredwell strikeout ended the inning for the Cornhuskers, leaving base runners stranded at first and third.
Michigan finally started breaking through in the fifth. The inning started with freshman utility player Annabelle Widra being walked before advancing to second on a fielder’s choice. Then graduate utility player Melina Livingston, pinch hitting, drove a ball to the second that was bobbled. Livingston only made it to first, but Widra’s speed shined. She managed to take two bases on the infield hit and make the score 3-1.
The Cornhuskers stayed silent, and in the sixth inning, Michigan once again put a run on the board. Jump Started by a single from senior outfielder Lexie Blair, a hit-by-pitch, fielder’s choice and infield error brought Blair home and brought the Wolverines to within one.
But it wouldn’t be enough. Michigan was unable to score in the seventh, and it dropped its second straight game, and first game of Big Ten competition.
The struggle for the Wolverines now becomes maintaining confidence. They haven’t lost multiple home games back-to-back in years, and losing can impact a team’s psyche, but they understand that wallowing in emotion is only going to deepen the hole they’re currently in.
“This team is passionate, and sometimes passion is smothered when you are, you name the word,” Hutchins said. “Whether you’re fearful, whether you’re afraid of disappointing people, whether you’re afraid of not living up to expectations.
“I’m most concerned about where our kids are and where’s their confidence. That’s what concerns me most. And right now their confidence is very low.”
If Michigan is going to bounce back, it needs more than better pitching, or hitting, or skill or luck. It needs confidence.
And against Nebraska, it struggled to find it.