The Gophers softball team steamrolled this year to the program's first Big Ten regular-season championship since 1991 but did so without having to play perennial conference power Michigan.
The Wolverines had won the previous nine regular-season conference titles and finished Big Ten play at 20-3, two games behind the 21-1 Gophers.
Now, those two teams are on a collision course at the Big Ten tournament in Ann Arbor, Mich., where the Wolverines are 17-0 this season.
The top-seeded Gophers open the tournament Friday against Northwestern in the quarterfinals and could face second-seeded Michigan in Saturday night's championship.
It would be a rematch of last year's Big Ten tournament final, which the Gophers won 4-3 in 10 innings. Sara Groenewegen pitched that entire game — after going seven innings earlier that day and hitting a three-run homer to beat Northwestern. That was one day after she tossed a one-hit shutout to beat Illinois.
"We were just so gritty that whole entire tournament," Groenewegen said. "… We had a lot of things going against us, but we found a way to prevail."
Michigan was ranked No. 2 nationally heading into last year's Big Ten tournament and eventually reached the College World Series for the 12th time under coach Carol Hutchins. The Wolverines featured shortstop Sierra Romero, the national player of the year, who has since graduated.
Now it's the Gophers who sit No. 2 nationally, at 51-3 overall, with a 22-game winning streak.
"They've been the class of our conference," Hutchins said.
Michigan (41-10-1) has a nine-game winning streak of its own and is ranked No. 17 in the latest coaches poll.
The Wolverines have Megan Betsa, who won Big Ten Pitcher of the Year honors in 2015 and 2016 before Groenewegen, the 2014 winner, grabbed the award back this season.
Betsa is 23-7 with a 1.18 ERA, compared to 27-2, 0.60 for Groenewegen.
This time, Groenewegen could be better rested for the championship game. Amber Fiser has gone 13-0 with a 1.55 ERA as the team's No. 2 starter, and fellow freshman Carlie Brandt has posted a 0.65 ERA in 32 ⅓ relief innings.
So after using Groenewegen for all 24 innings at last year's tournament, coach Jessica Allister has strong options this time. Groenewegen typically pitched Game 1 and Game 3 of each Big Ten series this season.
"I'm not sure what our rotation's going to look like, but you're going to see a fresh staff," Allister said.Allister had little interest in talking about the semifinals, let alone the finals — not with the quarterfinals looming. She referenced 2015, when the Gophers were ranked No. 12 in the nation and got upset in the Big Ten quarters by Iowa.
"You asked earlier about playing in Ann Arbor, but it's a long way before we get to play Michigan," she said. "So we've got to start with our first game. It's not easy."