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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

sports

IU plays Rutgers in first home series of the season

The Hoosiers softball team will look to begin their first regular season series this weekend at home as they welcome the Scarlet Knights to Andy Mohr Field.

Last weekend in Bloomington, the Hoosiers won their 1,000th career game in the history of the program.

“It’s something really cool to be a part of,” senior Lora Olson said. “To think of how many Indiana softball games I’ve watched and played in, it’s cool to be part of such an amazing milestone.”

Despite losing their last two games, the Hoosiers have still won five of their past eight games and have been playing their best softball of the season.

“We just kept focusing on the little things,” junior Kelsey Dotson said. “We want to score the first run and get the momentum and just play a better well-rounded game and we have been able to do that.”

IU is 4-2 all-time against the Scarlet Knights, but have only played them twice since 1978, dropping both games. Rutgers is 10-7 going into its first series in the Big Ten.

The Hoosiers are custom to seeing multiple teams on multiple days, but with seeing Rutgers on three consecutive days, the Hooisers believe that will give them an advantage.

“I think seeing the same team makes it easier for us,” Dotson said. “From a betters standpoint, you get to see a pitchers tendencies and their struggles after a few times batting.”

The Hoosiers have been figuring out pitchers tendencies quickly and efficiently lately, recording a lot of hits and scoring a lot more runs than the beginning of the season. Rachel O’Malley and Mena Fulton are two freshmen that had amazing at-bats at the plate last weekend, hitting a combined .430 with nine hits, six runs and five RBI’s.

“Each of these freshman bring their own thing to the table,” IU Head Coach Michelle Gardner said. “They play some pretty good teams and battle, so it has been an absolute pleasure to coach them.”

The Hoosiers have also been efficient on the mound, even holding No. 13 Kentucky to only four runs. Olson and senior Miranda Tamayo also picked up a pair of wins each in lasts weekends Indiana Classic.

IU will look to keep their hot streak alive starting on Friday, first pitch coming at 6:00 p.m.

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