U-M Set for Long Beach State Midweek, Five-Game Slate at Judi Garman Classic

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan softball team (10-4) will play six games in four days to wrap up its spring-break trip in California. U-M will play a midweek slate at Long Beach State (1-13) at 6 p.m. PST on Wednesday (Feb. 28) at the LSBU Softball Complex in Long Beach, Calif., before traveling to Fullerton, Calif., for a five-game slate at the Judi Garman Classic.

Making their 18th appearance at the annual Garman tournament, the Wolverines will open play Thursday (Feb. 29) against No. 17 Texas A&M (14-1) at 9:30 a.m. PST and host CSU Fullerton (9-6) at noon PST, continue with games Friday (March 1) against Oregon State (6-10) at 9:30 a.m. PST and No. 18 UCLA (7-5) at noon and wrap up against No. 13 Florida (15-2) at 9:30 a.m. PST on Saturday (March 2). Michigan will play on Anderson Family Field.

Notes

• The Wolverines will make their 18th appearance at the Judi Garman Classic, formerly the Kia Classic. As a regular participant since 2005, missing only 2021 and 2022 due to COVID-19 related restrictions, Michigan has accumulated a 58-24 record over the stretch. U-M has posted perfect records only four times, going 6-0 in its 2005 appearance -- a feat that propelled the Wolverines to their first No. 1 ranking -- before going 5-0 in 2016 and 2018 and 3-0 in a weather-shortened appearance in 2019. Last season, Michigan went 3-2 at the Judi Garman, earning wins against UCF (2-0), host CSU Fullerton (2-1, 8 inn.) and Seattle (3-2).

• Michigan will play a pair of rematches from the first weekend of the season when it takes on Oregon State and Florida at the Judi Garman. U-M earned dramatic wins over both teams at the USF-Rawlings Tournament (Feb. 9-11), edging Florida 2-1 in a 10-inning marathon before using a seventh-inning comeback to walk-off Oregon State 2-1 in its tournament finale.

• Michigan has struggled with consistency at the plate but has improved its average each week of the season to date, posting a near 100-point jump from week one to three, and owns a .230 team average on the season with a 3.57 runs-per-game average. Four Wolverines hit .300 or better at last weekend's UC Santa Barbara Tournament, notably sophomore Maddie Erickson with a team-best .533 average with three extra-base hits and four RBI and sophomore/freshman Lilly Vallimont with a .429 average, two homers and four RBI.

• Michigan belted seven home runs at the UC Santa Barbara Tournament after entering the weekend with just two on the season. U-M posted two multi-homer games, including three in its second slate against Sacramento State, while three Wolverines tallied their first collegiate home runs -- Vallimont, sophomore Avery Fantucci and freshman Ella Stephenson. Senior Keke Tholl recorded a pair of late-inning home runs, including a go-ahead grand slam in the sixth against Northern Colorado.

• Erickson leads the Wolverines with a .395 average -- currently a 160-point improvement from her rookie-year average -- along with a .658 slugging percentage and .439 on-base percentage. She owns to homers and eight RBI and delivered several clutch hits for U-M already this spring, with the game-tying homer in the seventh inning against Oregon State (Feb. 11) and the game-winning homer against in the sixth inning against Sacramento State.

• Vallimont boasted a big breakthrough weekend at the UC Santa Barbara Tournament with her .429 (6-for-14) weekend average. Vallimont, who missed all last season due to injury, posted three multi-hit games and knocked out a pair of two-run homers over a three-game stretch against Northern Colorado and Sacramento State. She also delivered Michigan's walk-off RBI single -- which would have been a double had it not ended the game -- against Oregon State -- for her first collegiate hit.

• Michigan scored 18 of its 24 runs at the UC Santa Barbara Tournament in the fifth inning or later, including Tholl's go-ahead grand slam in the sixth inning against Northern Colorado. Previously, U-M rallied from initial deficits in three of its five games at the season-opening USF Tournament, including a dramatic two-run seventh en route to a 2-1 walk-off win against Oregon State in the finale. U-M also scored five runs over the sixth and seventh innings against Illinois State (5-3) and posted the go-ahead run in the sixth against Bethune-Cookman (2-1). Michigan scored 10 of its 12 opening-weekend runs in the sixth inning or later.

• Michigan's pitching staff ranks eighth nationally with a stout 1.27 earned-run average to date this season, owns a pair of shutouts, 87 combined strikeouts and a .200 average against through 14 games. Junior right-handed pitcher Lauren Derkowski leads the Wolverines with a 1.05 ERA. She pitched a complete-game, 10-inning win against No. 17 Florida on her 21st birthday after allowing just one run -- and none earned -- off six hits and three walks while striking out four Gators.

• Freshman RHP Erin Hoehn owns a 4-0 record in her young collegiate career after adding two wins at the UC Santa Barbara Tournament last weekend. She tossed a complete-game one-hitter -- a solo homer the only blemish in an otherwise perfect game -- in five innings in the weekend opener against Northern Colorado and won in relief the next day against Sacramento State, allowing one run on two hits over the final 2.2 innings. Hoehn leads the Wolverines with a 3.98 hits-per-game average and.167 batting average against.

• Senior RHP Jessica LeBeau earned her 500th career strikeout as part of a four-strikeout effort against Sacramento State. LeBeau has 29 strikeouts through 28 innings this season and leads U-M with a 7.25 strikeouts-per-game average. She now has 501 career strikeouts, including 128 over her last two seasons at Michigan.