The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1465168
MAY 2022 THE WOLVERINE 11 INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS FIVE YEARS AGO, 2017: Megan Betsa fired a 13-strikeout no-hitter against Fresno State in a 4-0 white- wash on May 20, 2017. The overpower- ing performance sent Michigan soft- ball to the NCAA Regional final game in Seattle. Betsa owned Fresno State start to fin- ish in the elimination game at Husky Softball Stadium. She walked two bat- ters, the only blips keeping her from a perfect game in tossing her third no-hitter of the season. The no-no marked the second in Michigan softball history during the NCAA Tournament, following Jennie Ritter's 2006 blanking of Youngstown State. Aidan Falk delivered all the runs Betsa required in the very first in- ning, bombing a two-run homer. Kelly Christner added an RBI single in the second and Falk drove in Michigan's fi- nal run with an RBI double in the third. "She's a bulldog on the mound, and she finds ways to get corners," Fresno State coach Linda Garza offered. "She throws hard, and I tip my hat. Three hundred fifty athletes have struck out against her. She's doing something right. This isn't us not making adjust- ments; she's that good." 10 YEARS AGO, 2012: Michigan softball won the NCAA Regional in Louisville on May 20, 2012, by shut- ting out No. 9 Louisville. U-M freshman lefty Haylie Wagner scattered six hits in boosting the Wolverines to an NCAA Super Regional. Wagner didn't strike out a single hitter, but kept the Cardinals off the scoreboard through some savvy situ- ational pitching. She also got all the support she needed early on. Ashley Lane drove one off the wall at Ulmer Stadium with the bases jammed in the opening inning. That scored two runs, and Sara Driesenga singled home another run in the second. Michigan added the final run in the fourth on a single by Amanda Chidester, and Wagner — along with her fielders — did the rest. "I thought we had just a fantastic weekend," Michigan head coach Carol Hutchins said. "We were excited to come here, and we really had our hands full, but our kids were brilliant in one particular area and it was one-pitch softball. We harped on that all day. "We told them before the game, don't worry about whether we get it in one, just worry about one pitch. You have to stay on them because they can get ahead of themselves; they are kids. I thought they did a great job. It's a tough game and it's a tough team." 25 YEARS AGO, 1997: Spring football had ended for Lloyd Carr's Michigan football team by May 1997. Critics of the third-year Michigan head coach and his team were circling like buzzards, following four-loss U-M sea- sons in 1995 and '96. Carr's first two years extended to four the number of four-loss seasons the Wolverines experienced since winning five consecutive Big Ten titles from 1988-92. Those pointing out Michi- gan's dip in results, post-Bo Schem- bechler, weren't holding back. The cover of The Sporting News col- lege football preview demanded to know "What's Wrong With Michigan?" It contained a feature that included the taunt, "the M stands for mediocre." But a month earlier, in a team meet- ing, eventual Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson ended a goal-ses- sion team meeting by declaring, "Just win." Michigan was about to do so, in a big way. Even Schembechler declared to The Wolverine in May that a schedule in- cluding Ohio State, Penn State, Michi- gan State, Iowa, Wisconsin in Big Ten play and Colorado and Notre Dame in the non-conference was "just too tough to coach." The '97 crew thought otherwise. — John Borton THIS MONTH IN MICHIGAN ATHLETICS HISTORY Megan Betsa recorded the second no-hitter in the NCAA Tournament in school history on May 20, 2017, striking out 13 while blanking Fresno State 4-0 in an elimination game. PHOTO BY LARRY BLANKENSHIP