U-M 1, Florida 0: Wagner, softball force decisive game

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – With the season on the line, Michigan coach Carol Hutchins made one significant move Tuesday.

For the first time in two weeks, she started senior Haylie Wagner in the circle, and that made all the difference in Game 2 of the Women's College World Series.

Pitching to extend her career, Wagner painted a masterpiece, handing No. 1 Florida its first shutout of the season in the 1-0 win and forcing tonight's winner-take-the-title Game 3 at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium.

GAME BOX

U-M (60-7) struggled to find juice in Game 1, but Wagner had it in Game 2 from the start, with her desperation inciting her team to follow.

"How could I not have energy?" Wagner said. "I'm in OKC and I get to play for Michigan one more time. That's what has my energy, that I'm here and I get to be here for my team."

Five games into the WCWS, Wagner (25-2) is the tournament's story.

She pushed her scoreless innings streak to 20 after the seven on Tuesday and shook off every threat Florida mounted.

They pushed her in the second, getting runners to the corners. The Gators (59-7) got two on in the fourth, a baserunner in the fifth and had one reach second base in the sixth with the last hope.

This was the night that would stamp her career and she knew it, sitting on 99 wins, opposing USA Softball player of the year Lauren Haeger and understanding the softball world was watching.

While Haeger matched her nearly pitch for pitch – the Wolverines only produced four hits, two fewer than Florida – it was a sixth-inning showdown with Haeger batting that decided the game.

Called the Babe Ruth of softball for her pitching/hitting prowess, Haeger stepped in owning U-M's two pitchers in the series finals -- four hits in five at-bats over two days, two singles, a double and a home run.

But with a runner on second, she meekly popped back to Wagner and the U-M fan base exhaled.

"I was going to find a way to get her out," Wagner said. "I was going to jam her up, I was going throw my change-up, I was going to go outside, I was going to do whatever I can. And when I got her, I was pumped and I was excited. That wasn't going to stop me for the rest of the game."

Pitching with a one-run lead is challenging enough but doing it for six innings, in the most important game of your life? Nerves of steel.

That's why Hutchins made that move, putting the season in Wagner's experienced hands with her teammates fully endorsing the decision to pitch her over the struggling Megan Betsa.

"When she stepped on that mound today, there was no doubt in my mind she was there to get the job done," U-M star second baseman Sierra Romero said. "Playing behind someone who's up there, ready to attack every batter is awesome. Knowing that they're not going to give up, that helps your defense so much, because they have confidence in you and we just assure her every inning that we have her back."

They all showed it with the leather on Tuesday, from Romero chasing down flies behind first base to shortstop Abby Ramirez snagging a fifth-inning liner to double off Florida's Aubree Munro in the fifth.

Michigan's offense is still concerning, the eight-run-per-game juggernaut that suddenly is stymied. Three runs combined in the past two games has them waiting for a breakout.

Yet Tuesday, Michigan attacked much quicker than in Game 1, with Sierra Lawrence and Sierra Romero both reaching base to start the first and Kelsey Susalla's single to center bringing home Lawrence for the 1-0 lead.

It was U-M's first run in the first inning since the WCWS opener against Alabama and it was enough.

"We didn't get very many runs, but you only have to get one more," Hutchins said. "We played outstanding defense."

She saw one of her coaching friends from early in her career and mentioned that it was "old-school softball," a low-scoring game where every pitch was critical.

"It was all about the defense and defense starts on the mound," Hutchins said. "Haylie Wagner was one-pitch focused."

Contact Mark Snyder at msnyder@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @mark__snyder.