Melloh, Olson lead IU to first Big Ten win

The IU softball team split a weekend two-game series with Minnesota to open the Big Ten season and improve to 19-13 on the season.  

Senior pitcher Morgan Melloh continued to lead the Hoosiers on the mound, striking out 24 Badgers in 14 innings in the two contests. The Hoosiers improved to 7-1 at home this season and will welcome Indiana State to Bloomington on Wednesday before continuing Big Ten play this weekend in Michigan.

IU coach Michelle Gardner said the victory was a huge momentum boost after Saturday’s 2-0 shutout defeat in which the Hoosiers struck out 15 times and only managed three hits against Badgers pitcher Sara Moulton.

“We got beat yesterday on one pitch, which cost us two runs, but the bottom line was we just kept competing and doing the things we had to do and we made adjustments at the plate today that we didn’t make yesterday,” Gardner said.

For the second consecutive day the Hoosiers fell behind 2-0 after the top of the first. This time, they countered with two runs of their own with back-to-back RBI hits from seniors Sara Olson and Morgan Melloh. Olson said Sunday’s victory was important not only going forward but also to prevent falling to 0-2 in the Big Ten.

“There’s a lot of momentum going into Michigan next weekend, and it’s exciting that we know we can win. We know that we can come out and beat these teams, and that’s what we did today,” Olson said.