Softball look to regroup against dominant Michigan team Tuesday


b2-softballpreview
Chuck Miller/Staff Photographer Junior infielder Brittney Horan hits the ball during Saturdays game against Toledo at Margo Jonker Stadium. Horan went 2 for 3 in the game with an RBI as the Chippewas beat Toledo 3-0 to for their seventh straight victory.

Following an extra-innings loss to Toledo, the softball team is looking to get back to its winning ways when it heads to Ann Arbor to play nationally ranked Michigan on Tuesday.

The Wolverines won't go down without putting up a fight. The Wolverines are riding a 19-game winning streak and are 39-7 on the season with an undefeated home record in Ann Arbor.

CMU has been playing well as of late, going 8-2 in its last 10 games, but they surrendered a loss to the Rockets Sunday in what was a poor outing for the Chippewas.

"At the moment, I'm pretty upset that we gave up that game," head coach Margo Jonker said. "I thought that was a team we should have beaten. But, we need to come back and be stronger. I can be upset now, but tomorrow is another day, and, tomorrow, we're going after it again."

Overall, the team was not as efficient on the bases as one has come to expect and several times found itself in unlucky double plays from balls hit to the wrong spots.

There were also missed opportunities in picked-off runners who could not get back in time and a lack of stolen bases, which is something that has been uncharacteristic of Jonker; stolen bases are a large part of the offensive strategy used by Jonker this season.

"What we need to do is be more aggressive in going at it," Jonker said. "We need to go back and play the kind of Chippewa-style softball that we're used to in the last couple of days."

This detour stopped a seven-game winning streak in which the team decimated opponents 39-15 in the Mid-American Conference. The Chippewas are 25-13 on the year with a solid 11-3 conference record. They sit in second place in the MAC West behind 12-1 Ball State.

CMU will meet Ball State at home on Friday in a doubleheader at Margo Jonker Stadium in what will be a battle for first in MAC West and the conference overall. The key until then is to get over a shaky weekend and come back tough against a dominant Michigan softball team.

Share: