Grace Chelemen made a sprint for home. Leaving second, the freshman pinch runner safely crossed third — running off an Alex Sobczak single down middle — before seeing Michigan softball coach Carol Hutchins urging her to go home.
Hits were scarce for the Wolverines against James Madison. Runs, even more so. So the importance of capitalizing on this scoring opportunity in a then one-run winner-take-all game could not have been more stressed.
She fell short, got tagged and was ultimately ruled out to end the inning.
The play embodied Michigan’s day against the Dukes. It struggled on offense, came close to scoring numerous times but wasted opportunities and eventually lost two games against James Madison, 3-0 and 2-1, to end its season at the NCAA regionals held in Ann Arbor.