Scholar Stories: Beaubien Relates Biomedical Engineering to Mound Prowess
5/6/2020 10:00:00 AM | Softball
Continuing the series that began in 2016-17, each Wednesday MGoBlue.com will highlight a Michigan student-athlete and their academic pursuits. These are our Scholar-Athlete Stories, presented by Prairie Farms.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Despite the cancellations of winter and spring sports due to COVID-19, MGoBlue.com will continue to highlight our student-athletes' stories through May 6.
By Steve Kornacki
University of Michigan left-hander Meghan Beaubien is one of the premier pitchers in college softball, and she has found that her biomedical engineering major also connects to her sport.
"I can relate a lot of it over to softball," she said. "I actually bring it up a lot in practice. But I also like doing stuff that I know can make an impact one day. Medical things have always been necessary in the world because they help people. I like that aspect, too.
"In bullpen (sessions) all the time, I go into biomechanics or physics stuff. I can look at pitching and understand things better -- what small mechanical adjustment I need to make. I know why I have to do something different -- like getting your pitches to move, and why they move when you put a certain spin on them. Understanding why all that happens on a science level can help you understand how to make better adjustments and try new things, and it gives you kind of an advantage there."
Ted Williams, viewed by many as the greatest baseball hitter of all time, once noted that the Bernoulli principle explains airplane lift as well as why a curveball breaks.
Beaubien said, "One time, Jen (Brundage), our pitching coach, said, 'I want to understand this stuff.' She wanted to have a better physical understanding of it. So, I have these things saved on my computer about the Bernoulli and Magnus effects. She's so interested in it, but I'm still learning more from Jen than she is from me."
The junior from Newport, Michigan, also has a major that relates to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed her maternal grandmother, Pat Halleran, who lived on Long Island, New York, and was always one of Meghan's biggest supporters.
"She was in New York but came out here all the time to dance recitals, softball games -- literally anything I was doing," said Beaubien. "So, I have a lot of memories of her. Her always being around and making an effort, no matter what, to be in our lives is one of the biggest things I'll remember."
Beaubien will miss her grandmother coming to her games at Michigan -- where she is 70-17 with a 1.52 earned-run average and 585 strikeouts in 519 innings for her career -- but will continue relating to the virus that took her life in academic pursuits.
"(Biomedical engineering) can be a lot of things depending on what you concentrate in," said Beaubien. "You can choose to focus on medical and surgical devices or things like ventilators that are really relevant right now. It's an area of study that's definitely very relevant to what is going on right now. You can go into drug design and pharmaceuticals.
"And one of my professors does a lot of research on things that relate to sports -- like ACLs, tears and all the ligament injuries in your knees. I think those things are really interesting."
What is she focusing upon in the biomechanical branch of her major?
"What I'm interested in most are the devices and things like prosthetics," said Beaubien.
What attracted her to the field of study in the College of Engineering?
"When I was younger," Beaubien said, "I always wanted to be a doctor, and was interested in science, math and medicine. And when I was applying at Michigan, my mom (Kim) convinced me to go toward engineering in case I decided I didn't want to go to medical school. And then I ended up enjoying the engineering part of everything. I really enjoy all of my classes and doing things that pertain to my life."
She is unsure whether she will attend graduate school, but is "interested" in that. She might choose to work in the field to attain more insight in that regard and likely will end up designing prosthetics.
"I feel that's the biggest thing in engineering," said Beaubien. "The best thing is designing things."
Design courses are her favorites because they are "a group effort" much like the team pulling together in softball.
"Design classes also are where you get to practice being an engineer and get to see what that's like," said Beaubien. "You feel accomplished when you finish the semester project. It makes you feel like you've learned something and know what you're doing. Then you feel good about going into the real world and doing it. So, I enjoy that."
She had a class last semester in which a small group of students designed a hip implant that allowed for a controlled drug release from the implant. "It promoted integration into the bone and decreased the risk of (additional) surgery," Beaubien said.
"It's cool to do the research and find you can actually come up with something and understand what's going on," added Beaubien.
She has found that visiting instructors during their office hours (on Zoom or BlueJeans as last semester concluded in an online element) to have a clear understanding has been important.
"You don't want to stare at an assignment for three hours because you don't understand what is going on," said Beaubien.
Staying ahead on classwork also is critical in a sport where the majority of the season -- particularly early, non-conference games in Florida, California, South Carolina and North Carolina this season -- is played on the road.
Beaubien was 7-5 with a 1.52 ERA and 90 strikeouts in 73.2 innings when the spread of coronavirus caused the cancellation of the remainder of the softball season and all other sports two days before the March 14 home opener. She lost some tough games: allowing one run on two hits to No. 3 Texas and zero earned runs on three hits against Loyola Marymount.
"Even though it was a short season," said Beaubien, "I think I got a lot better at being able to put less pressure and responsibility on myself and just focus on doing my job, throwing my pitches one at a time, and not thinking about how the offense or defense are doing. Or what if I hit a batter? Or what if I gave up a hit? And just focusing on the right things."
Beaubien began improving in that regard in Michigan's 1-0, 12-inning win over James Madison in the NCAA Super Regional last year, when Madison Uden drove in the winning run and Beaubien outdueled Megan Good in her signature performance.
"That was such a fun game," said Beaubien. "I learned from that game that if I do my job, it's not my job to score runs. I just needed to do my part and give my team the confidence in me. I told them in one of the huddles that game, 'I'm going to keep going for however long this game takes. I know you are going to get it done.' I think that's really important whether you are a pitcher or a hitter -- to feel that your teammates believe in you.
"As a junior/senior, that's something I need to be responsible for."
Wolverine head coach Carol Hutchins said: "I think the biggest thing for Meghan is to understand who she is on our team and be a presence whether she's in the game or not. Pat Summitt puts it best, and I'm a big Pat Summitt follower. (Summitt, who died in 2016, holds the NCAA basketball record with 1,098 wins.) She said, 'The best players have to be your leaders. They have to instill confidence in the team.'
"We don't expect Meghan to always get it done. We don't expect (top hitter) Lexie (Blair) to always get it done. But if they can give that kind of cool calmness to the team and be about, 'Hey, I'm here to show you how to get things done. I got your back.' That moment for Meghan was definitely in that JMU game, and I inspired a little bit of that: 'They need to hear that you'll pitch as long as it takes: 'I got it, you guys.'"
"And the kids talked later about how Meghan 'gave us a total shot of confidence.' She didn't ask for a run because she was running out of gas. She can get very caught up and myopic in her game, and you appreciate her great focus. But sometimes it can just tighten you up and you try too hard. Just be free and easy and look at your teammates and give them energy. We need greatness from Meghan."
Beaubien also threw a remarkable, eight-inning shutout requiring only 63 pitches to beat Illinois, 1-0, in the 2019 Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals on Blair's walk-off homer. Beaubien was the conference tournament MVP and made first team All-Big Ten for the second time. Beaubien also was a first team All-American as well as the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year and Freshman of the Year in 2018.
Neither Big Ten nor national playing awards will be awarded for the shortened 2020 season. Though, Beaubien very likely will repeat as Academic All-Big Ten and earn another Michigan Athletic Academic Achievement award.
Beaubien is quarantined at home with her father, Jason, brother, Matt, and chocolate Labrador, Coco. She said her father "did an awesome job of catching me for the first 17 or 18 years of my life" but has been "forced into retirement" as her speed and repertoire improved. However, Hutchins and her staff provided creative voluntary workouts for the team to use with facilities closed everywhere. Classes will continue to be online for now, too.
The challenges to improve remain, though, and Beaubien is doing a good job of making the adjustments necessary to excel.
