BTN.com staff, May 11, 2012

The Big Ten softball regular season comes to a close this weekend and Michigan is one of six Big Ten softball teams playing part of BTN's softball triple-header tonight: Ohio State at Penn State, 4 p.m. ET; Purdue at Michigan, 6 p.m.; Iowa at Minnesota, 8 p.m. Full TV schedule here. Here's a fun video from our colleagues at MGoBlue.com.  So this week Michigan coach Carol Hutchins wanted to take a bit of pressure off her team by throwing batting practice using fruits and vegetables. It's smash time!

No. 22 Michigan holds a game-and-a-half lead over Iowa and a two game lead over the Boilermakers in the Big Ten race and the Wolverines are gunning for their fifth consecutive Big Ten Title (latest standings in this post and at BigTen.org.).

Big Ten Overall
Team Record Pct. Record Pct.
Michigan 15-5 .750 36-15 .706
Iowa 14-7 .667 25-25 .500
Purdue 13-7 .650 31-19 .620
Wisconsin 12-8 .600 33-17 .660
Nebraska 12-8 .600 31-21 .596
Indiana 11-10 .524 27-25 .519
Northwestern 11-10 .524 24-27 .471
Illinois 10-11 .476 27-23 .540
Minnesota 9-12 .429 30-20 .600
Ohio State 8-12 .400 29-22 .569
Penn State 8-13 .381 17-30 .362
Michigan State 0-20 .000 11-39 .220