Weather Alters Schedule for Weekend Series Against Purdue

SCHEDULE UPDATE (3/20/24): Due to forecasted inclement weather, the Wolverines' weekend series against Purdue has been shifted back a day. Saturday (March 23, 2 p.m.) and Sunday's (March 24, 1 p.m.) games currently remain unchanged, while Friday's originally-scheduled game will now be played at 4 p.m. on Monday (March 25).

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan softball team (16-11, 0-0 Big Ten) will kick off the home portion of its schedule with four games this weekend at the Wilpon Complex, home of Alumni Field at Carol Hutchins Stadium. U-M will host Oakland (9-8) in a rescheduled home opener at 4 p.m. on Tuesday (March 19) before welcoming Purdue (11-14, 0-0 Big Ten) to open Big Ten Conference play with a three-game weekend series. The Wolverines and Boilermakers will square off at 5 p.m. on Friday (March 22), 2 p.m. on Saturday (March 23) and 1 p.m. on Sunday (March 24).

Notes

• Michigan boasts a stellar 615-151-1 home record at Alumni Field since its 1982 construction. Last season, U-M went 9-6 at Alumni Field.

• U-M has claimed 22 Big Ten regular-season championships -- the most in conference history -- since 1992 with three of the last four titles and 12 of the last 15. No other team has a stretch of more than two in a row (Northwestern, 1984-85). Michigan posted a 10-13 league record last season.

• Freshman Jenissa Conway was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week after leading the Wolverines with a .400 batting average at the Cardinal Classic over the weekend (March 16-17), boasting a 1.300 slugging percentage and .500 on-base percentage. She posted a pair of home runs and four RBI against host Louisville, drove in a run on an RBI double against Dartmouth and tallied her second career triple in the tournament finale against Illinois. She shares the team lead with four homers this season. It is Conway's first weekly award.

• Sophomore/freshman Lilly Vallimont delivered her second walk-off hit of the season as U-M scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh to rally past South Dakota, 4-3, in its Cardinal Classic opener. Senior Keke Tholl tied the game with a two-run single before Vallimont looped the game-winning single into shallow centerfield. Vallimont also posted a game-winning single in the seventh inning against Oregon State at the USF-Rawlings Tournament (Feb. 11).

• Sophomore third baseman Maddie Erickson leads the Wolverines with a .349 average -- currently a 111-point improvement from her rookie-year average -- along with a .566 slugging percentage and .372 on-base percentage. She owns four homers and 13 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 in the sixth inning against Sacramento State (Feb. 24).

• Junior RHP Lauren Derkowski earned the win and a save on the final day of the Cardinal Classic, totaling 14 strikeouts while allowing two runs on five hits over 9.2 innings pitched. She tossed a season-high 10 strikeouts against Dartmouth before throwing the final 2.2 innings against Illinois, adding four strikeouts while allowing no base runners. She led U-M with a 1.34 ERA over the weekend.

• Oakland is 9-8 on the season and claimed two of three games at Northern Kentucky last weekend (March 16-17), including a 3-0 decision in the Sunday rubber game. The Golden Grizzlies carry a .248 team average with a .337 slugging percentage and .334 on-base percentage, while the pitching staff has a combined 3.81 earned-run average. Michigan is 9-0 in the all-time series against Oakland.

• Purdue carries an 11-14 record and, like Michigan, will kick off Big Ten play this weekend. Last weekend, the Boilermakers dropped all three games of a home series (March 14-16) against Nebraska Omaha -- 4-3, 2-0, 6-5. Purdue is hitting .282 as a team with a .387 slugging percentage and .372 on-base percentage and owns a 5.10 team ERA. Michigan is 50-4 all-time against Purdue and has claimed eight of the last nine matchups, including a pair of no-hit victories last season in West Lafayette.