ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan softball team (38-16) will open postseason play at the Big Ten Tournament this weekend in Iowa City, Iowa. With the No. 2 seed, the Wolverines earned a first-round bye and will open play in the quarterfinal round at 4:30 p.m. CDT on Thursday (May 9) against the winner of the Maryland-Penn State first-round contest. All games will be held on Bob Pearl Field and broadcast live on Big Ten Network.

Notes

• Michigan is in search of its 11th Big Ten Tournament title and has won the league tournament 10 of the 24 times it has been contested, posting a program record of 46-19 at the event. U-M last won in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the event for two years and again reached the championship game in 2022, falling to Nebraska 3-1 in eight innings.

• Michigan finished second in the Big Ten standings with an 18-4 record, just a game and a half behind first-place Northwestern (19-3). The Wolverines opened conference play with six straight wins, the program's best Big Ten start since going 11-0 to kick off the 2019 Big Ten schedule. Michigan has swept five of its seven weekend series this season as well as its home-and-home series against in-state rival Michigan State.

• The Wolverines will face the winner of the Maryland-Penn State first-round matchup. Michigan swept PSU just two weeks ago (April 26-28), earning wins of 2-0, 14-3 (6 inn.) and 3-2 (9 inn.) in State College. Michigan is 78-9 all-time against the Nittany Lions. U-M has not faced Maryland since 2022 when it went 3-1 against the Terrapins, including a 7-0 victory in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals. Michigan is 30-4 in the all-time series against Maryland.

• Sophomore third baseman Maddie Erickson owns a career high with a .362 batting average -- a 127-point improvement on her average last season -- and a .616 slugging percentage (15 doubles, 10 home runs) and a team-best 64 hits and 43 RBI. She posted three hits, including two doubles, in U-M's series opener against Ohio State last weekend.

• Junior outfielder Ellie Sieler ranks second on the team with a .356 batting average -- a 65-point improvement over her previous career high (.287). She already owns career highs in runs (43), hits (58) and RBI (19) from the leadoff spot. She has reached base 10 of the 16 times she led off an inning over the last 10 games, including a 7-for-7 effort in the Nebraska series.

• With 56 total homers on the season, Michigan already owns its most since similarly belting 56 in 2019. Ten different Wolverine players have homered this season, most notably senior first baseman Keke Tholl, who leads the team with a career-best 14 long balls, including three at Michigan State (April 9) to tie U-M's single-game record.

• Freshman outfielder Ella Stephenson was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week in four of the last six weeks. Over those six weeks, a stretch of 22 games dating back to the Indiana series (March 29-31), Stephenson boasts a team-best .400 batting average (30-for-75) with 15 extra-base hits -- 10 doubles, three triples and two homers -- and 26 RBI. Stephenson opened her rookie campaign with a .167 average (9-for-54) over the first 22 games of the season.

• Junior right-handed pitcher Lauren Derkowski has been solid of late, with a 3-1 record, 1.45 earned-run average and 29 strikeouts over 29 innings in the Wolverines' weekend series against Penn State and Ohio State. She was named both the D1Softball National and Big Ten Conference Pitcher of the Week after posting a 2-0 record last week with a 0.88 ERA, 21 strikeouts and just eight hits allowed over 16 innings pitched against Penn State. She tossed a three-hit shutout in the series opener with nine strikeouts and closed the weekend with a season-high 12 strikeouts and five hits allowed over a complete-game, nine-inning win in the series finale.

• Graduate student RHP Hannah George has earned wins in six of the Wolverines' last 14 games -- the first of her Michigan career and all in relief. She claimed two wins apiece in U-M's home series against Iowa and Nebraska and picked up her first save in the series opener against OSU. Over the last 14 games and in addition to her six wins, George boasts a 2.04 ERA and 10 strikeouts over 24 innings.