Kornacki: World Series-Bound Wolverines Never Quit on Each Other
5/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball, Features
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- There were more hugs than you get at a family reunion, and an endless slapping of high-fives. The players ceased congratulating and dancing only long enough to sing "The Victors" several times. It was nine minutes of pure joy played out over nearly every square foot of Alumni Field.
That's what it feels like to celebrate reaching your team's dream destination.
Michigan won a tense, 7-6, game over No. 14 Georgia on Friday night (May 22) to win the NCAA Super Regional in two games and advance to next week's Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Starting pitcher Megan Betsa, who came out after a rough first inning in favor of game hero Haylie Wagner, returned with the tying run on first base and two out in the bottom of the seventh inning. She fell behind Niaja Griffin in the count, 3-1, but worked the count full before getting her to foul one back.
The tension built with each delivery, but the next pitch would end the drama. Griffin barely got a piece of the ball and popped it up. Second baseman Sierra Romero, the superstar captain who led the way all season, caught the final out and the emotions began to flow.
Coach Carol Hutchins, going to the WCWS for the 11th time in 31 seasons and second time in three years, was asked about her emotions as the game ended.
"I don't know how to describe how you feel," said Hutchins. "You're so proud of your kids, and we're all in this together. So, actually, I might cry. So, I'd like to get out of here."
And then her eyes welled up with tears. "Coach Hutch," as her players call her, can be a tough task-master and an intense competitor. But when it comes to her girls, the ones who accepted her challenge and gave their all, well, "Coach Hutch" is marshmallow soft.
Wagner, Betsa and hitting hero Kelsey Susalla also were asked what they felt upon realizing they were World Series-bound.
"Oh, boy," said Wagner. "There were a lot of emotions that went through me. But I was just so excited and so proud of this team because in the end we fought together and we played together. And we're a team and we're a family. And we did everything together this game, and it took every single one of us.
"So, the emotions were just indescribable, and there's nothing that will ever top this. We're just going to keep fighting, keep working and do it as a team."
Betsa, who gave up three runs in the first inning after giving up only three in pitching seven innings on Thursday night, got the save in a game she started.
"I think Haylie hit the nail on the head," said Betsa. "It took every single one of us, and she came in the first inning when I didn't have my best stuff, and I was right there cheering her on.
"This is my first time going to (the World Series), but I believe in this team. We have a great team, and that aspect is really important. The belief we have in each other is indescribable."
Susalla's solo homer, her 14th of the season, got Michigan re-charged in the second inning by getting on the scoreboard. She also had a single and a double, coming up a triple shy of hitting for the cycle, and added another RBI.
"It's surreal that we won the game," said Susalla. "The team has a lot of fight, and we all believe in each other. So, it was great getting that final out."
Wagner did it all in this game -- allowing two earned runs in six innings of relief, making a huge defensive play and blasting the go-ahead homer in the fourth inning. By inserting the light-hitting Wagner in the batting order, Hutchins had the flexibility to re-insert Betsa at pitcher and potentially bring back Wagner to pitch in extra innings if she wanted.
The senior from El Modena, California, had batted only 24 times this season, and was hitting .167 with one homer. But in her second at-bat of the game, Wagner lined a 1-0 pitch over the centerfield wall. She raised both arms over her head rounding first base, and sprinted around the bases while her teammates ran and bounded to meet her at home plate for a joyous celebration.
Wagner said she focused on the hitting mantra of her coaches: "See the back of the ball; hit the back of the ball."
And that's exactly what she did in crushing the pitch from Georgia's Chelsea Wilkinson, hitting it squarely with authority.
"I used my timing swing and I really don't remember swinging," said Wagner. "I just saw the ball and hit it. I didn't know how far it was going, and it was a great feeling."
That made it 4-3 for Michigan, which had trailed, 3-0, when Wagner (22-2) came on to relieve 30-game winner Betsa with two outs in the first inning.
Wagner kept Georgia off the scoreboard for four consecutive innings. It pushed a run across in the sixth inning, but an alert play by Wagner kept the lead at two runs. Paige Wilson hit a dribbler out in front of the plate that Wagner charged to field and throw out Chaycie Goggins, making a head-first slide, with a perfect throw to catcher Lauren Sweet.
"That's what we work on every day in practice -- those swinging bunts," said Wagner.
Hutchins, seated to her right at the press conference, chimed in, "I love to hear that."
Wagner chuckled and continued: "I saw her out of the corner of my eye and came home. I just knew I had to get it to Lauren and keep it low, and I knew she was going to do the rest."
The Bulldogs got a two-out, two-run homer from Anna Swafford in the bottom of the seventh, but came up one run short.
The insurance run Sweet supplied with a two-out, run-scoring single in the top of the seventh was the difference.
The No. 3-seeded Wolverines (56-6) take a 25-game winning streak to Oklahoma City, where they will face the winner of the Super Regional series that began Friday between No. 6 Alabama and No. 11 Oklahoma.
"Well," said Hutchins. "I thought my kids were fantastic, they've been fantastic all year. I'm really proud. I said, 'Don't be proud just because you won, be proud of what you worked so hard to accomplish,' because this has been a hard-working group. They believe in each other. We've been a good team ... And that Georgia team, they are fighters, they're scrappy. That's a tough team to play, that's a tough team to beat.
"We stayed on course. We didn't lose our cool. I'm just really proud of our kids. Our heart was fantastic. This time of year, talent isn't the most important thing. Heart and soul is the most important thing."
And that's what they were celebrating when they sprinted to centerfield for a group hug and sang the school fight song, and then ran to the fans down the leftfield line. The next stop was slapping high-fives with fans leaning over the outfield fence in rightfield before singing "The Victors" once again, fists pumping with each "Hail," with their faithful followers behind their dugout.
The longest hug came between Hutchins and Wagner. It was their last go at Alumni Field, and Wagner made it one to remember.
"It means a ton to me," said Wagner. "This is my last time at Alumni Field. I wouldn't want to go out any other way. Being out there, and the fans are amazing, it's an amazing atmosphere. I think we're ready for OKC, and we're ready to fight."
• U-M Erases Early Deficit, Defeats Bulldogs to Advance to World Series
