Michigan to Square Off With UCF in Austin Regional Opener

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan softball team (38-19) will travel to Austin, Texas, to kick off NCAA Tournament play this weekend (Fri-Sun., May 16-18) at Texas' Red and Charlie McCombs Field. The Wolverines will open play against UCF (33-22-1) at 1 p.m. CT on Friday (May 16), live on ESPN2.

Notes

• Michigan is making its 31st NCAA Tournament appearance (1992-93, '95-2019, '21-22, '24-25) and returns this season for the second straight year. The Wolverines are 90-25 all-time in the NCAA Regional round and have won 18 regional titles.

• The winner of the Austin Regional will move on to a super regional against the winner of the regional being hosted by Clemson. That regional consists of No. 11 overall seed Clemson, Kentucky, Northwestern and USC Upstate.

• UCF has been a familiar foe for the Wolverines over the last several years, with six meetings since 2020. The Knights have gone 4-2 in those games and hosted Michigan for the 2022 NCAA Regional, winning 3-2 in 11 innings in the winner's bracket game -- when U-M was one out away from a win in the seventh -- and 9-4 in the regional championship. Michigan claimed the most recent meeting, a 2-0 shutout at the 2023 Judi Garman Classic.

• Michigan captured its second straight Big Ten Tournament title with a 4-0 record and as the No. 8 seed -- tied for the lowest seed to win the title in conference history. The Wolverines avenged two regular-season sweeps and shut out a pair of top-10 opponents with a 5-0 win against No. 4-ranked Oregon in the quarterfinals and a 2-0 win over No. 9 UCLA in the championship game.

• Senior right-handed pitcher Lauren Derkowski was named the tournament's most outstanding player for the second year in a row, posting a 3-0 record with a 1.11 earned-run average, 12 strikeouts and a .216 average against over 19 innings pitched. She was backed up by sophomore Erin Hoehn, who entered three games in relief and went 1-0 with two saves, a 0.00 ERA, six strikeouts and a .167 average against over nine innings. Hoehn was also named to the All-Tournament Team.

• Michigan tied for eighth place in the Big Ten standings with an 11-11 record. U-M earned series wins against Maryland, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Rutgers and Minnesota. Of its 11 losses in Big Ten play, Michigan sacrificed leads in eight and was leading or tied after the fifth inning of seven of them.

• Michigan belted three home runs over the Big Ten Tournament to up its season total to 64 -- with at least one from 12 different players -- and surpass its 2024 total (63), which was the most in a season since 2016 (86). Conway leads U-M with a career-high 17 homers and boasts three multi-homer games; freshman designated player Lauren Putz also owns three multi-homer games and 13 total.

• Conway was a unanimous selection to the All-Big Ten first team after boasting a .432 batting average in Big Ten play with a .932 slugging percentage -- on seven doubles and 10 homers -- and a .481 on-base percentage. Her overall season batting average is .376, a 140-point improvement over her rookie-season average (.236).

• Langford, also named to the All-Big Ten first team, leads the Wolverines with a career-high .409 batting average, an 80-point jump from her 2023 average (.329) when she earned All-Big Ten second-team honors. Langford has batted leadoff over the last 43 games and owns a team-best .481 on-base percentage.

• Putz, who was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team and top 25 list for the 2025 NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year, ranks second on the team with a .381 batting average and .462 on-base percentage. She ranks top 15 among the nation's freshmen leaders in several offensive categories, including runs per game (.88), total hits (64) and doubles (14) -- of which she leads all Big Ten freshmen -- and slugging percentage (.708).

• Michigan ranks second in the Big Ten and ninth nationally with 15 shutout wins. Derkowski closed out the regular season with back-to-back complete-game shutouts at Minnesota to up her total to six, ranking second in the conference and 11th in the country, and has combined for six more, including the two against Oregon and UCLA in the Big Ten Tournament.

• Derkowski earned 12 strikeouts over the conference tournament to up her total to 648 over four seasons. She recently surpassed Sara Griffin (602, 1995-98) to move into the ninth spot among U-M's all-time leaders in the category and is 66 shy of the eighth spot, currently held by Lorilyn Wilson (714, 2004-07). Jordan Taylor (2008-11) holds Michigan's program record with 1,220 strikeouts.