The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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APRIL 2026 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 15 ❱ INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS FIVE YEARS AGO, 2021: Michigan softball pitcher Alex Storako fired a 4-hit shutout over Northwestern on April 25, 2021, to move to 15-2 on the season and keep the Wolverines on track to capture a Big Ten championship. Storako blanked the Wildcats to secure a third win in a four-game series against Northwestern. She got all the sup- port she needed on a 2-run homer by Taylor Bump in the bottom of the third inning. Storako handled the rest, striking out 10 Wildcats while walking only one. Bump's sixth home run in 10 games boosted the Wolverines to 24-5, all in Big Ten games. U-M's Natalia Rodriguez singled to left in the third, setting up Bump to unload on Northwest- ern's Morgan Newport with the one swing that made all the difference. 10 YEARS AGO, 2016: Freshman infielder Ako Thomas came through with an RBI single scoring the game-win- ning run in the 11th inning, giving Michigan baseball a 4-3 win over Michigan State in Ann Arbor on April 29, 2016. Drew Lugbauer singled in the 11th and eventually scored on Thomas' clutch hit, ending the extra-innings affair. The Wolverines moved to 29-10 on the season, 9-3 in the Big Ten. MSU came away 28-11, 8-5. Michigan scored single runs in each of the first two innings to open up a 2-0 lead. The Spartans got one back in the fourth and another in the fifth inning to knot things up. Michigan scored in the seventh to take a 3-2 lead, but the Spartans forced extra innings with a run in the top of the ninth. Ryan Nutof (5-1) came on to become the beneficiary of Thomas' heroics, wrapping things up on the mound. 25 YEARS AGO, 2001: Michigan softball knocked off Ohio State in Columbus in a 2-1 nail-biter on April 21, 2001. Marissa Young scattered 4 hits and earned her 10th straight pitching win and drove in what turned out to be the game- winning run in the sixth inning. The game stayed scoreless through five innings, Young battling with OSU starter Wendy Allen. Then in the sixth, Rebecca Tune and Young each delivered RBI singles, giving the Wolverines their 2-0 advantage. The Buckeyes scored a single run in the bottom of the sixth, but Michigan's Marie Barda nailed down the save to give Young a 15-6 record on the season. — John Borton THIS MONTH IN MICHIGAN ATHLETICS HISTORY Michigan men's basketball won its first outright Big Ten champion- ship since 2021, clinching it by beat- ing Illinois, 84-70, Feb. 27 with two regular-season games to spare. This is the program's 16th-ever regular-season conference crown and fourth this cen- tury, joining the 2012, 2014 and 2021 seasons. Now, attention is turned to the postseason and what kind of run the Wolverines can make in the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago and the NCAA Tournament over the next three weeks. U-M has won 12 Big Ten regular-season champion- ships since the NCAA Tour- nament began in 1939 and four conference tournament titles since the inaugural event in 1998, including last season's special run in India- napolis. The Wolverines have had immense NCAA Tourna- ment success throughout history, with a significant amount of that coming after winning conference titles. The Maize and Blue have made it to the Sweet 16 or better nine of 15 times following Big Ten championships, in- cluding one national title game ap- pearance, one Final Four, four Elite Eights and three Sweet 16s. Just four times have they failed to make it out of the tournament's first weekend while the tour- nament had a 64-plus- tea m f i e l d , i n c l u d i n g only one first-round exit (2012). C a p t u r i n g B i g Te n regular-season or tour- nament championships isn't a prerequisite for th e Wolveri nes goi ng on a long run in March. Just look at the national championship game ap- pearances in 1976, 1992, 1993, 2013 and 2018, or the program's lone title in 1989. However, hav- ing a team good enough to raise Big Ten banners usually means they can compete nationally, too. — Clayton Sayfie What Does Big Ten Success Mean For NCAA Tournament Hopes? Season Big Ten Championship NCAA Tournament Result 2025-26 Regular season TBD 2024-25 Tournament Sweet 16 2020-21 Regular season Elite Eight 2017-18 Tournament National Title Game 2016-17 Tournament Sweet 16 2013-14 Regular season Elite Eight 2011-12 Regular season Round Of 64 1997-98 Tournament Round Of 32 1985-86 Regular season Round Of 32 1984-85 Regular season Round Of 32 1976-77 Regular season Elite Eight 1973-74 Regular season Elite Eight 1965-66 Regular season Elite Eight 1964-65 Regular season Sweet 16 1963-64 Regular season Final Four 1947-48 Regular season Regional Third Place* *At the time, the NCAA Tournament involved eight schools playing in two regions. U-M lost in the first round but won the extra "third place game" in the East Region.