The No. 14-ranked University of Michigan softball team (6-3) will kick off its annual spring break trip with a five-game appearance at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic this weekend (Fri-Sun., Feb. 24-26) at the Big League Dreams Complex in Palm Springs, California.



WHEN TO WATCH: Friday, Feb. 24 (10:30 AM vs New Mexico State), Saturday, Feb. 25 (12:30 PM vs Texas A&M, 3:00 PM vs Bethune Cookman), Sunday, Feb. 26 (2:00 PM vs Florida State, 4:30 PM vs Arizona State)

What You Should Know About Michigan

• ​The Wolverines carry a 6-3 record into the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic after posting a 3-1 record at last weekend's ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Michigan closed out the weekend tournament with a decisive 9-2 win against Notre Dame, avenging its only loss of the weekend.
• Michigan batted .398 at the ACC/Big Ten Challenge -- an 84-point improvement on its opening weekend -- with an impressive .686 slugging percentage and .486 on-base percentage. U-M, which only hit one home run in its first five games, recorded 10 at the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, including five in the tournament opener against host North Carolina State.
• Senior centerfielder Kelly Christner was named Big Ten Player of the week after registering a .667 average, .765 on-base percentage and 1.417 slugging percentage over the Wolverines' four-game weekend. She also accumulated nine runs scored, nine RBI, three stolen bases and an outfield assist to excel in every facet of the game.
• Christner tied a Michigan school record with three homers, including her second career grand slam, and posted career bests with four runs and seven RBI, in the tournament opener against N.C. State. She became the fourth Wolverine player to tally three homers and the first since Dorian Shaw did so in 2009, while her seven RBI was the most by a Wolverine since Amanda Chidester posted seven in 2012.

• Senior shortstop Abby Ramirez and sophomore rightfielder Natalie Peters, who hit back-to-back in the Wolverine lineup as either No. 1/No. 2 or No. 9/No. 1, also batted above .500 on the weekend, with averages of .571 and .563, respectively. Peters boasted three multi-hit games, including back-to-back three-hit efforts to open the weekend, while Ramirez matched a career best with a four-hit performance in the tournament finale vs. Notre Dame.
• Christner currently owns a seven-game hitting streak -- just two games shy of her career long -- while sophomore second baseman Faith Canfield, who tallied a pair of long balls at the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, including a game-ending grand slam in the second N.C. State slate, has hit in each of the last six games, tying her career-long hit streak.
• Michigan posted a 1.75 ERA, 31 strikeouts and an opposing .202 average over four games at the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, including a pair of shutout wins against the host Wolfpack.
• Senior RHP Megan Betsa upped her career strikeout tally to 836 with her weekend effort and pulled within just six strikeouts of the fourth spot among U-M's all-time leaders in the category -- a position held by three-time All-American and current director of softball operations Nikki Nemitz (842, 2007-10).
• Betsa currently ranks 14th nationally with 47 total strikeouts and lists ninth with 11.8 strikeouts per seven innings. She ranked third nationally in strikeouts per game in each of the last two seasons, posting 11 in 2015 and 10.5 in 2016.
• Junior RHP Tera Blanco posted a 2-0 record at the ACC/Big Ten Challenge with a stellar 0.58 ERA, nine strikeouts and a complete-game shutout. After only limited innings pitched in her first two seasons, Blanco is only 1.1 innings shy of her 2016 total and, with a 4-1 record on the year, has already doubled her previous best win total.

Tour Alumni Field with Tera Blanco and Lindsay Montemarano


Information provided courtesy of Michigan softball

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