Michigan softball names stadium after retired coach Carol Hutchins

Ryan Ford, Detroit Free Press
·2 min read
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Carol Hutchins gave Michigan softball a name to remember over her 38 seasons in Ann Arbor. Now U-M is making sure her name is remembered, as well, as the Wolverines are naming their softball stadium after the legendary coach.

Michigan announced Thursday that its softball team will now play its games at Alumni Field at Carol Hutchins Stadium. The field opened as Varsity Diamond in 1982 and was renamed Alumni Field in 1992. It’s part of the Wilpon Baseball and Softball Complex.

"I cannot think of a better way to recognize Carol Hutchins' contributions to the University of Michigan community, to the game of softball and to women's athletics than to rename the venue that she put on the map," U-M AD Warde Manuel said in a release Thursday. "I appreciate the work of our University Naming Committee and the unwavering support from the Board of Regents and cannot wait for Hutch to watch her first game at a stadium named in her honor."

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Hutchins, who took over the program in 1985, retired after the 2021-22 season, in which the Wolverines were eliminated in the regional round of the NCAA tournament.

Hutchins, the NCAA’s winningest coach with 1,707 victories, led U-M to 22 Big Ten regular-season titles, 10 conference tournament titles, 29 NCAA appearances, 12 Women’s College World Series appearances and the program’s lone national title (2005). She was inducted into the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2006. Hutchins finished her coaching career with a winning percentage of .755 over 2,267 games.

A Lansing native, Hutchins attended Michigan State (where she is a member of the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame), playing basketball and softball, before becoming an assistant coach at Indiana. After coaching Ferris State in 1982, she was hired as an assistant at Michigan in 1983.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan softball names stadium after retired coach Carol Hutchins