A look back at 2019
The Wolverines finished the 2019 season with a 45-13 overall record, along with a 22-1 conference showing. The team went 17-2 at home, and won 75% of their true road games.
Ranked #19 in the nation to start the 2019 season, the Wolverines lost to a pair of top-10 teams, Arizona and Florida, on opening weekend. The Wolverines continued their subpar start throughout non-conference play, going 1-3 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and losing three out of five games on the road in Baton Rouge at the home of LSU. The Wolverines righted the ship and went on to record wins over UCLA and Washington at the Judi Garman Classic, but drew losses to James Madison and South Dakota near the end of the non-conference portion of the season.
In conference play, the Wolverines started 11-0 against conference foes, ultimately losing only once in twenty-three games. That single loss came at the hands of Ohio State, in an extra inning, walk-off affair in Columbus. The Wolverines’ squad posted five run-rule victories against Big Ten opponents, outgaining league foes by a combined score of 184-51.
After a 3-0 showing in the Big Ten tournament, with a 3-2 defeat of Minnesota in the conference title game, the Wolverines earned the #15 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, hosting a regional in Ann Arbor. After starting the regional round 2-0, including a 1-0 victory in twelve innings over James Madison, a rain-delayed regional final resulted in heartbreak for the Wolverines as the team lost back-to-back games to JMU and Megan Good, falling 3-0 and 2-1 to end 2019 as the only NCAA-seeded team to not survive the regional round.
Roster turnover
One of the largest senior classes in the nation – at least in terms of innings played – came out of Ann Arbor after the 2019 season, with five seniors departing the program, all of them starters. Most notable among the graduates: Catcher Katie Alexander; first baseman Alex Sobczak; and 2-time all-American second baseman Faith Canfield.
Maintaining incredible roster consistency, especially in the era of the transfer portal, is a high mark in Carol Hutchins’ favor. Fourteen of fifteen underclassmen from the 2019 roster return in 2020. The Wolverines did not add any transfers during the offseason, but did welcome in six freshmen.
Strengths and weaknesses
Strengths –Outfielder Lexie Blair was a unanimous All-Big Ten selection as a freshman a year ago, and was stellar at the plate. She’s a bright spot in the lineup. Pitching has always been a strength in Ann Arbor, and the Wolverines have put together an impressive 1-2 punch with Meghan Beaubien and Alex Storako, who combined for a 1.99 ERA and 419 strikeouts in ’19. The circle remains a major positive for the Wolverines.
Weaknesses – The loss of five starters all at once, even as graduating seniors, can be hard to make up for without losing some consistency in the batting order. Players will need to step up immediately, both defensively and at the plate, which can sometimes prove to be easier said than done. The conference schedule is also one of the team’s tougher slates in recent program history, with road series’ against Northwestern and Wisconsin and a three-game set at home against Minnesota (the teams’ first regular-season meeting since 2015).
2020 outlook
Pitching – Beaubien and Storako combine to form one of the nation’s most impressive pitching tandems, with 370 innings logged in the circle between the pair in 2019. A classic righty/lefty matchup, the duo can leave opposing offenses spinning. It was Beaubien who went the distance in the 12-inning victory over James Madison in the regional round, recording twelve strikeouts in the win.
Offense –There are undoubtedly a number of holes to be filled in the Wolverines’ batting order. Three of the team’s top four hitters a season ago have since graduated, as did four of the top five home run hitters from the 2019 campaign. That leaves some serious questions about what the UM offensive attack will look like in 2020. Lexie Blair – who led the team with a .406 batting average in her freshman year – does return for her sophomore season and will be a crucial piece in the lineup.
Coaching – Carol Hutchins has been, is, and will continue be one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game. Most teams that lose five starters at once, even on a known timeline, can go into a tailspin in trying to find replacements and make up for lost production. That’s not something to worry about when it comes to the Wolverines, and Hutchins is a huge part of why. Her coaching staff, now solidly into its third decade as a unit, is as much a mark of success as consistency.
Wrap-up
While it may seem odd to say it about a reigning conference champion that hosted a regional, the Wolverines will enter 2020 with a bit of a chip on their shoulder. After the stunning upset loss to JMU in the regional round, many wrote off the Wolverines and forgot about a number of impressive successes during the regular season and early postseason. Now with an opportunity to make some noise with a reinvented batting lineup, and while the pitching staff remains anchored with a pair of powerful hurlers, a solid schedule and some top-level matchups set the table for some surprises; don’t count the Wolverines out of anything.
