The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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MAY 2025 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 15 ❱ INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS FIVE YEARS AGO, 2020: May 2020 represented another stone-silent month in the history of Michigan Ath- letics. COVID wiped out every single event in which the Wolverines were to participate. On March 12, the Big Ten canceled all winter and spring sports schedules that remained. The NCAA Tournaments in basketball and a host of other sports were also scrubbed off the board. Michigan's spring football game, scheduled for April 18, found it- self shelved as well. So, Wolverines from all sports found themselves on their own, training for competitions down the road, or simply filling the empty hours in ways very dif- ferent than those to which they were ac- customed. The COVID concerns would eventually linger into the fall, with the football season opener pushed all the way back to Oct. 24 at Minnesota. A statement by Michigan athletics director Warde Manuel on the pro- longed delay read, in part: "This lat- est decision was reached after careful consideration and the grim knowledge that this pandemic continues to af- fect our country adversely. I am deeply saddened for our student-athletes and remain committed to our ongoing promise to provide them with a world- class education. We remain grateful to our global Michigan family for their unwavering support." 10 YEARS AGO, 2015: Michigan softball handled No. 5 Alabama easily in the opener of the Women's College World Series, shutting out the Crimson Tide, 5-0, on May 28 at Oklahoma City's ASA Hall of Fame Stadium. Sophomore pitcher Megan Betsa moved her record to 31-4 with a 4-hit shutout, recording her 11th complete game shutout of the season. Kelly Christner delivered the only run Betsa needed in the opening inning, drilling a home run to stake the Wolverines to a 1-0 lead. Christner's 2-out, 2-strike home run came amid Alabama All- America pitcher Alex Osorio striking out five of the first seven hitters she faced. But Michigan got to her again, making Betsa's shutout icing on the opening-game cake. Senior catcher Lauren Sweet de- livered in the clutch, working an 0-2 count to 3-2 with the bases loaded in the fourth. She then blasted her sec- ond grand slam home run of the year, clearing both the right-field wall and the bases for a 5-0 Michigan lead. Betsa made it hold up, and the Wol- verines advanced in the competition. Sweet struck out her first time up, but made certain her second trip to the plate counted. "My adjustment was to go up there and use my timing swing and really see a lot of pitches," she said afterward. "I think that even though I got down in the count, I was able to come back and really see the ball and really see it down, so my game plan worked out." 25 YEARS AGO, 2000: Michigan softball made four third-inning runs stand up to beat No. 9 Stanford and win, 5-4, in an NCAA Regional contest played in Ann Arbor on May 19. Marissa Young posted her 17th win of the season, earn- ing the victory with a complete game. Pam Kosanke's ground ball in the first inning gave the Wolverines a 1-0 lead in the contest, and then both teams broke through in the third. Michigan scored 4 runs in the top of the inning, a rally highlighted by Stefanie Volpe's run- scoring double, Volpe later scoring on a double steal. Stanford struck back against Young for 4 runs in the bottom of the inning, including a 3-run homer by Pac-10 Player of the Year Jessica Mendoza. Young then settled down, getting out of the inning on a strikeout with run- ners stranded on second and third. After that, she pitched shutout ball the rest of the way. Young recorded 4 strikeouts overall, including fanning Mendoza in the seventh. "I thought it was a pretty gutsy per- formance by Marissa," Michigan coach Carol Hutchins observed. "We had a great rebound by my kids, we really came out to play the second game. The first game [an 8-0 loss to DePaul] could have been the death of us, and I thought our kids really responded. We were both — us and Stanford — fighting for our lives, and we came out and got some key hits. They have a great team, and it was a great win for us." — John Borton THIS MONTH IN MICHIGAN ATHLETICS HISTORY Sophomore pitcher Megan Betsa moved her record to 31-4 with a 4-hit shutout to lead the Wolverines past No. 5 Alabama, 5-0, in the opener of the 2015 Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETICS