Knotted at eight runs apiece in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Michigan softball team put two runners on base with no outs. Sophomore right fielder Ella Stephenson then stepped up to the plate, dropping the second pitch she saw into shallow center field.
And before anyone could look, sophomore center fielder Jenissa Conway, the Wolverines’ runner on second base, had already rounded third with her mind set on ending the contest. As the throw came in from the outfield Conway entered a slide, grazing home plate with her left hand before jumping up and screaming as her teammates mobbed her in celebration.
It was a fitting end to a game headlined by Conway’s valiant efforts to keep pace with Michigan State third baseman Kaelin Cash — who recorded three home runs and eight RBI in the contest — to nightcap an in-state doubleheader defined by both teams’ prowess at the plate.
The weekend may have ended in a shallow base hit, but the majority of the weekend’s scoring was done out deep. The Spartans tallied a total of 11 runs across the pair of games Saturday, 10 of which came off four home runs. The Wolverines also tallied their fair share, posting five home runs on the day and tallying 11 runs off them as well.
Michigan also made use of their small-ball game seen Friday, except this time it was able to capitalize on it, knocking in 11 RBIs off of singles, errors and sacrifice flies.
And while the first game involved a plethora of scoring strategies, the second half of the evening became nothing short of a slugfest.
Cash’s first homer of the day came down 2-0 to Michigan in the top of the second inning. Stepping into a swing with the bases loaded, she rocketed the ball far enough out in center field to hit to the scoreboard of the neighboring baseball field to put the Spartans ahead, 4-2.
But Conway was prepared with an answer. Feeling hot off her two home runs she kicked the day off with in game one, she sent a ball of her own ten rows up in the right field bleachers to score three and reclaim the lead. On the very next pitch, freshman designated hitter Lauren Putz sent a screamer down the right-field line, turning the play into an inside-the-park home run, making it four scored runs on two pitches.
“That was pretty cool (to go back-to-back),” Conway said. “I didn’t even have my helmet off yet.”
Cash promptly took some of the grandness out of the moment, tying things back up with a two-run home run her very next time at the plate.
But that didn’t bode well with Conway. Driving a ball to almost the exact same spot Cash had put it the inning prior, she once again gave the Wolverines a two-run advantage and capped her explosive day of batting.
“Jenissa takes a lot of extra cuts prior to games and even early in practice,” Michigan coach Bonnie Tholl said. “For her to be able to see the results of all of her hard work … you can’t help but smile for a kid like that.”
The game was almost brought to a close with a decisive Wolverine victory when, with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Cash stepped back into the batter’s box. Deciding against intentionally walking her and placing the two tying runs on base, Tholl decided to take her chances. A decision she quickly regretted, as Cash swung on a 1-2 pitch, hammering her improbable third home run of the outing and sending the game to extras.
“That was a stupid decision on my part,” Tholl said. “Sometimes you have to go against the basic philosophies of softball. … There’s always outlying situations, this was one, and I didn’t move on it.”
But after the moment of disaster, Michigan’s defense held strong, and so did their confidence at the plate. With the top of the order up to bat, nobody in the dugout was surprised when Stephenson sealed the game off by batting Conway home.
In a day defined by explosive back-and-forth, the Wolverines — with Conway as their catalyst — generated just enough offense to escape defeat at the hands of Cash’s scorching-hot bat.
The post Conway’s power hitting prevails over Cash’s in Michigan doubleheader versus Michigan State appeared first on The Michigan Daily.
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