Michigan softball out to 'prove people wrong' after squeezing in NCAAs
The Michigan softball team has made the NCAA Tournament for a third straight season, but this time, the Wolverines had to sweat it out a bit before hearing their name called during the selection show. Bonnie Tholl, in her fourth season as head coach, and her team won the Big Ten Tournament each of the last two years, so the Wolverines earned automatic berths to the NCAA Tournament. But this year, they had to rely on an at-large bid, and as a team on the bubble, there certainly were no assurances.
Michigan finished the season 34-20, including 11-13 Big Ten, but had a solid strength of schedule, ranked No. 40. The Wolverines are traveling to Norman, Oklahoma, for a double-elimination regional hosted by No.
2 Oklahoma, which has won six national championships in the last decade. They will open with Kansas (35-19), in the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2015, on Friday at 6 p. m.
Michigan defeated Kansas on Feb. 8 in Tampa, 4-2. Oklahoma (48-8) opens with Binghamton (20-25).
“I like to be in control of our own destiny as probably every coach you talk to will say that,” Tholl told reporters during a video conference this week, about having to wait for the at-large bid. “There are lessons learned throughout the season of how you play with a sense of urgency but without a sense of worry. You want to play true to who you are.
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