Michigan softball stays alive in NCAA tournament with walk-off win

Saturday is going to be a long day for the Michigan softball team. The Wolverines needed a win over Northern Colorado to stay alive in the NCAA tournament and they got it, in walk-off fashion.

Michigan was the No. 3 seed in the Stillwater Regional. Northern Colorado, the champion of the Big Sky conference, was the No. 4.

It was a back-and-forth battle. The losing team was going to be eliminated. The score was tied 2-2 going into the bottom of the seventh inning. Michigan softball lost in walk-off fashion on Friday but won in the same manner on Saturday as Maddie Erickson blasted a two-run homer to give the Wolverines a 4-2 win.

Lauren Derkowski went six innings for Michigan softball and allowed just three hits and two earned runs while striking out eight. For the first time this postseason, Michigan brought in a relief pitcher and George Hannah did the job throwing a scoreless inning in the top of the seventh.

From there, the offense did the rest of the work. Erickson had two hits on the day and three RBI as Michigan stayed alive for at least one more game. Indiana Langford, Vallimont Lilly, and Ella McVey also had hits in the win for U-M.

The Wolverines are playing Kentucky now and currently lead 4-2. If they win, they will advance to the regional final against Oklahoma State. However, Michigan would need to win twice, so they are three wins away from the super regional as of this moment.