Michigan
Minnesota
Wolverines to Hit the Road for B1G Matchup at No. 23 Minnesota
5/6/2021 1:07:00 PM | Softball
» No. 19 Michigan will travel to Minneapolis, Minn., for a four-game weekend set at No. 23 Minnesota; the series kicks off at 7 p.m. CDT on Friday (May 7) at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium.
» Alex Storako leads the nation with a 0.59 ERA and ranks second with a 12.9 strikeout-per-game average after her program-record 22 strikeouts in midweek action at MSU.
» Lou Allan and Taylor Bump are batting .472 and .452, respectively, over the last 10 games and share the team lead with eight homers apiece.
THIS WEEK
Friday, May 7 -- at #23 Minnesota (Minneapolis, Minn.), 7 p.m. CDT
TV: Big Ten Network | Live Stats | Live Video
Saturday, May 8 -- at #23 Minnesota (Minneapolis, Minn.), 1:30 p.m. CDT
TV: Big Ten Network | Live Stats | Live Video
Saturday, May 8 -- at #23 Minnesota (Minneapolis, Minn.), 4 p.m. CDT
TV: Big Ten Network | Live Stats | Live Video
Sunday, May 9 -- at #23 Minnesota (Minneapolis, Minn.), 2 p.m. CDT
TV: Big Ten Network | Live Stats | Live Video
• Complete Game Notes (PDF)
The No. 19-ranked University of Michigan softball team (29-5, 29-5 Big Ten) will head to Minneapolis, Minn., for its final road trip of the 2021 regular season this weekend and take on No. 23 Minnesota (25-7, 25-7 Big Ten) in a four-game set at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium. The series kicks off at 7 p.m. CDT on Friday (May 7), continues with a 1:30 p.m. CDT doubleheader on Saturday (May 8) and wraps at 2 p.m. CDT on Sunday (May 9). All four games will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network.
• Michigan leads the nation with a 1.04 team earned-run average. Individually, junior right-handed pitcher Alex Storako also leads the nation with a 0.59 ERA, while senior left-handed pitcher Meghan Beaubien is 30th with a 1.36 ERA. The Wolverines have earned shutouts in 14 of their 34 games this season. U-M previously led the nation in 2008 when All-Americans Nikki Nemitz and Jordan Taylor combined for a 0.88 ERA.
• Storako and Beaubien also rank among the nation's top strikeout pitchers. Storako ranks second nationally with a 12.9 strikeouts-per-seven-innings average, while Beaubien is 24th with a 10.1 average.
• Storako established a new Michigan program record with 22 strikeouts in a two-hit complete-game shutout in U-M's 1-0, nine-inning decision at Michigan State (May 5). She struck out the side in the second, third and fourth frames as part of a streak of 13 consecutive strikeouts and then again in the eighth. Storako previously tied U-M's single-game record (19) in a seven-inning win against Nebraska on March 11, while Beaubien similarly struck out 19 in U-M's season opener against Purdue. Wolverine great Jennie Ritter held the school record for 15 years, dating back to her 19-strikeout performance in a 1-0, nine-inning win against Oklahoma in the 2006 NCAA Regional semifinals.
• Junior outfielder Lexie Blair knocked out a leadoff solo homer in the ninth inning to drive in the lone run in U-M's win at Michigan State. Blair matched her career best with four hits against the Spartans. She has recorded a hit in 31 of 34 games this season and leads the Wolverines with a career-best .427 batting average.
• Michigan's offense has made significant strides since its first couple weeks of the season. After hitting .279 as a team over the two Florida weekends -- a 12-game stretch -- the Wolverines have collectively batted .321 over the 22 games since. Nobody is hotter of late than senior first baseman Lou Allan and senior third baseman Taylor Bump, who are batting .472 and .452, respectively, over the last 10 games.
• Allan leads the Wolverines with career highs in home runs (eight) and RBI (34). Allan, who missed large portions of two seasons with injury, also owns a career-best .362 batting average -- a 101-point improvement in her previous best (.263, 2019). She is on an eight-game hit streak, including multiple hits in six of the last seven, and tallied multiple RBI in all four games of the Penn State series. Allan also knocked out a three-run, walk-off homer to seal U-M's come-from-behind win in the Saturday nightcap against Northwestern the previous weekend.
• Taylor Bump shares the team lead with eight home runs this season -- all of which she recorded over the last 15 games. She homered in both games of Saturday's doubleheader at PSU and saw her 11-game hit streak halted in the series finale on Sunday.
• Michigan is playing a conference-only schedule in 2021 and, for the first time under the current 14-team field, will face every Big Ten team this season. Until the start of this season, U-M had not played a conference opponent since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which prematurely ended last season after just 23 games. As such, Michigan remains the reigning Big Ten and conference tournament champion. In sweeping the 2019 titles, the Wolverines earned their second straight outright championship -- and 21st overall -- with a near-perfect 22-1 regular-season record and added its first Big Ten Tournament title since similarly sweeping the conference crowns in 2015.
• Head coach Carol Hutchins is in her 37th season at the helm of the Wolverines. She has compiled a 1,660-530-5 record over her 38 overall seasons as an NCAA head coach. Hutchins currently ranks as the second-winningest coach in NCAA softball behind Arizona's Mike Candrea (1,666-430-2). She previously became NCAA softball's all-time coaching wins leader when she earned her 1,458th with an 8-0, five-inning win at Indiana on April 2, 2016, and, more recently, became the first to reach 1,600 wins with a 6-2 decision at Ohio State on April 13, 2019.
Up Next
Fri-Sun., May 14-16 -- vs. Rutgers (Wilpon Complex)
