Gophers softball team gets props from Wolverines coach

Michigan softball coach Carol Hutchins is the winningest coach in NCAA Division I history and has taken 12 teams to the College World Series.

"As hard as it is to get there," Hutchins said, "it's harder to win it."

The Wolverines are the only team from outside the Sun Belt or West Coast to win an NCAA Division I softball championship. The Wolverines won the title in 2005.

"[That] was our eighth time at the World Series," said Hutchins, who just finished her 35th season as the Wolverines coach. "In our first seven trips, we went 2-14. Going into the 2005 tournament, we got hammered by everyone, the media, saying we didn't [belong]."

Even though Michigan's 2019 season ended in disappointment — the Wolverines were the only one of the 16 first-round hosts that didn't advance to a super regional — Hutchins was quick to congratulate the Gophers on social media after they won their super regional last Saturday.

The Gophers are the first Big Ten team to reach the World Series since the Wolverines in 2016.

"The conference softball coaches have made a conscious effort to work together," said Hutchins. "We've asked how can we make the conference more competitive? This year, we had three teams [Michigan, Northwestern and the Gophers] in the top 12 of the RPI. We had six teams make the NCAA field, more than the Pac-12 did."

"The super regional format has been the best thing for college softball," said Hutchins. "It has really created interest and by the time a team gets [to the College World Series], they've been battle-tested. There are no cupcakes in Oklahoma City. The Gophers played the toughest nonconference schedule in the country."

Michigan, which defeated the Gophers 3-2 in the Big Ten tournament championship on May 11 in the teams' only meeting this season, defeated UCLA — the Gophers' first-round opponent Thursday — on March 1. The Wolverines won 3-1 — one of only six losses in 57 games for the Bruins.

Four of the teams in this year's eight-team field (Oklahoma, Florida, Washington and UCLA) are making at least their third consecutive tournament appearance.