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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

sports softball

Hoosiers win three of four in tournament

With three games already under its belt and 12 innings into another, IU was rewarded Saturday for its composure on offense and defense.

Senior catcher Kelsey Dotson hit a walk-off home run to give the Hoosiers a 3-1 record at the Panther Invitational in Miami.

Dotson’s three-run shot in the bottom of the 12th inning gave IU a 4-1 win against Holy Cross.

Freshman pitcher Tara Trainer worked with sophomore Emily Kirk to shut out Delaware earlier in the day in of 5-0 win.

In the marathon game against Holy Cross, freshman pitcher Josie Wood threw a complete game and struck out 10 batters to earn her third win of the young season.

Wood allowed just three earned runs and struck out 16 in 20.2 innings during the tournament at Florida International.

“All three of the pitchers did a good job,” IU Coach Michelle Gardner said. “We just have to continue getting better. Wood was in a couple tough spots, and she threw her way out of it.”

On the first day of the tournament, IU won its opening game against Delaware 5-2 behind the first of Wood’s two complete games in the tournament.

The Hoosiers fell to host FIU in the nightcap when they blew a one-run lead in the 5th inning and lost 5-2.

For the second weekend in a row, the IU offense failed to produce large run totals, scoring only 16 runs in four games.

But they left 32 runners on base during the tournament.

Senior outfielder Shannon Cawley was a consistent performer throughout the weekend.

She compiled three extra base hits and notched a hit in each game. The Illinois native has scored a hit in every game to begin the season, giving her a nine-game hitting streak to open the year.

“I’ve had a completely different perspective this season than any other,” Cawley said. “I feel like I’ve been seeing the ball really well, and I’m feeling good out there.”

The key to the Hoosiers’ success in the tournament was the dominance of the young pitching staff. Wood’s 12 pitched innings Saturday afternoon were the most thrown in a single game by an IU player since 2010.

She now owns a 2.60 ERA this season, with her counterpart Trainer sporting a 2.96 ERA.

Wood said it was tiring to throw so many innings Saturday, but she thought she did a good job of mixing things up as the game continued.

“It kind of goes both ways,” Wood said. “Obviously the longer I’m in the more they’ll face me. But as the game went on we were able to switch things up well enough.”

IU now sits at 5-4 through two tournaments this season, an improvement over the two wins they secured their first nine games last year.

The Hoosiers will travel to College Station, Texas, next weekend to take on three different schools from the Longhorn State.

Gardner said she has been impressed with what the team has shown it can do thus far and remains optimistic of its potential.

“They really battled in the extra-inning game, and I was really happy with that,” Gardner said. “There’s going to be some growing pains, but in a couple of weeks we’ll be there.”

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