UM softball blanks Illinois-Chicago to stay alive in NCAAs

Freshman ace Meghan Beaubien bounced back from a rough outing and the Michigan softball team kept its season alive with a 6-0 win over Illinois-Chicago on Saturday in the Lexington, Kentucky Regional at John Cropp Stadium.

Beaubien and fellow freshman Sarah Schaefer combined for 11 strikeouts, one walk and one hit in the elimination game. The duo carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning before Illinois-Chicago's Kayla Wedl broke it up with a one-out single.

BOX SCORE: Michigan 6, Illinois-Chicago 0

Unlike the NCAA Tournament opener against Notre Dame, Beaubien received plenty of support. Natalie Peters scored on a throwing error in the first and Tera Blanco hit a two-run homer to left in the third to stake Michigan to a 3-0 lead.

Katie Alexander added an RBI single in the fourth before the Wolverines tacked on two more runs in the fifth as Nikki Wald scored on a wild pitch and Lou Allan was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Blanco and Alexander each finished with two hits for Michigan (44-12), which had to wait out another lengthy delay due to inclement weather.

The Wolverines will face Notre Dame in an elimination game at noon Sunday, with the winner moving on to face host Kentucky in the championship game.

LEXINGTON REGIONAL

Friday

Game 1: No. 3 Notre Dame 4, No. 2 Michigan 1

Game 2: No. 1 Kentucky vs. No. 4 Illinois-Chicago (postponed)

Saturday

Game 2: Kentucky 10, Illinois-Chicago 1

Game 3: Michigan 6, Illinois-Chicago 0

Game 4: Kentucky 10, Notre Dame 0

Sunday

Game 5: Michigan vs. Notre Dame, noon

Game 6: Kentucky vs. Game 5 winner, 2:30 p.m.

Monday

Game 7 (if necessary): Game 6 winner vs. Game 6 loser