Michigan and South Dakota State meet in the Orlando Regional of the NCAA tournament on Friday, May 20.
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The game (3:30 p.m. ET start time) isn’t on regular TV anywhere, but you can watch Michigan vs South Dakota State live on ESPN+:
ESPN+ will have exclusive coverage of every non-televised game at the 2022 NCAA Softball Tournament (around 60 games total). It also includes other live sports, every 30-for-30 documentary and additional original content (both video and written) for $6.99 per month (or $20.97 for a bundle of all three of ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu).
Once signed up for ESPN+, you can watch Michigan vs South Dakota State live on the ESPN app on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4 or 5, Xbox One or Series X/S, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), Samsung Smart TV, Oculus Go, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
You can also watch on your computer via ESPN.com.
Michigan vs SDSU Softball Preview
South Dakota State (40-11) looks make noise at the NCAA tournament, starting with Michigan (36-16) on Friday. Wolverines head coach Carol Hutchins expects it to be the first many tough games at the tournament.
“I think this is the deepest field, the toughest field I’ve ever seen,” Hutchins said via MLive.com’s Ryan Zuke. “There’s so many good teams. I don’t really think anybody can even get their arms around how many good teams are out there and how they [selection committee] are trying to balance so many things. I think our sport’s never been better.”
SDSU won the Summit League title last weekend and returned to the NCAA tournament for a second-straight season. The Jackrabbits notably beat Stanford in last year’s regionals.
“It takes a lot of pressure off knowing that we’ve been there and we can do it and especially since we won our first game last year,” SDSU pitcher Tori Kniesche said via Dakota News Now. “So I know we can do it. We just have to go in their with confidence and do our best.”
The Jacks have tough pitching with a 1.81 team ERA. Kniesche and Grace Glanzer have been a dangerous 1-2 punch for the Jacks all season according to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader’s Matt Zimmer.
“Since we’re so different it makes it really hard for other teams to prepare for us,” Glanzer said per Zimmer. “They don’t know if they need to prepare for speed up in the zone from TK or off-speed and curves from me.”
Michigan, making its 27th-consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, has benefitted from transfers. North Carolina transfer Kristina Burkhardt leads the Wolverines in batting with a .372 average. Penn State transfer Melina Livingston has the second-best RBI total on the team with 27.
“Their maturity has been awesome,” Hutchins said via Zuke. “They’re seasoned veterans. They both had a lot of playing time coming in. They’ve contributed to us and they contribute in the clubhouse. They’re great teammates; they’re great members of Team 45. I feel like they’ve been here their whole time. They’re not add-ons. They are part of Michigan softball; they are Michigan women. I’m just really impressed by how they carry themselves every day.”
The winner between the Jackrabbits and Wolverines will take on Villanova (32-22) or host and No. 16 seed Central Florida (46-12). The SDSU-Michigan loser will face the Villanova-UCF loser i the first elimination game on Saturday.
Orlando Regional
Friday Games
- Game 1: South Dakota St. (40-11) vs. Michigan (36-16), 3:30 p.m.
- Game 2: Villanova (32-22) vs. No. 16 seed UCF (46-12), 6 p.m.
Saturday Games
- Game 3 — 11 a.m. (Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner)
- Game 4 — 1:30 p.m. (Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser)
- Game 5 — 4 p.m. (Game 4 winner vs. Game 3 loser)
Sunday Games
- Game 6 — 2 p.m. (Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner)
- Game 7 — 4:30 p.m. (if necessary)
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