The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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everything she could." Meanwhile, a Michigan offense that scored five or more runs in 20 of 22 contests leading up to the WCWS just couldn't push one across to keep hopes alive. Great expectations pro- duced great angst, upon Hutchins' crew falling short. "This is a tough group," Hutchins said. "We made them tough by what we do every day, and regardless of the final outcome here, they toughed through all those things, and it's not when you're winning 12-0 when you have to be tough … "We got through that Regional, we got through that Super Regional, and we got here, and we won a tough game the first night. You know, we were close to winning it last night without our best performance. This is a really tough group." Hutchins has kept Michigan as the dominant team in the Big Ten and an elite program near the top of the NCAA for so long that she can eas- ily afford to talk beyond wins and losses. She does so, without excuse or any effort to deflect the reality that her team wanted to walk out from Oklahoma City on top. She just knows that's not all there is. "You know, I say it all the time: I've been coaching longer than most people have been alive, and it's re- ally hard to get to the World Series," Hutchins pointed out. "It's really hard to win at the World Series. And honestly, I'm just proud of our kids for the season they've had. It doesn't always go your way. That's how life goes. It's not whether it goes right or wrong, it's just whether you perse- vere through it. "If this is the biggest adversity they ever have, you know they've had a heck of a great life." ❏ Michigan featured abundant suc- cess among its female varsity squads in 2015-16. Here are several more pro- grams that found themselves in the hunt to be the best on campus: 1. Water Polo — Coach Marcelo Leonardi's group actually came out on top in the Michigan athletic de- partment's awards for the best fe- male squad on campus. It certainly deserves a long look as 1A among the best offerings of the past year. The water-treading Wolverines made the NCAA semifinals while playing a schedule that would have sunk most teams. Michigan won no fewer than two dozen contests ver- sus ranked opponents, with six of them versus top-10 foes. Individual accomplishments included senior Ali Thomason setting a new standard for single-season goals, with 94. Sopho- more Caroline Anderson provided a boost to those numbers, snapping her own school record with 71 assists on the year. The Collegiate Water Polo Associa- tion champions featured the CWPA Player of the Year in Thomason, as well as the CWPA Rookie of the Year in Kim Johnson. They went 30-8 overall, in- cluding 7-0 in conference play. Michigan's Other Top Female Teams