Hoosiers head to South Florida tourney

Let the improvement begin.\nHeading into the season, coach Diane Stephenson said the Hoosiers would approach each opponent with the same mindset -- wanting to win every game. While they fell short of that goal last weekend at North Carolina State, the young squad displayed potential, while notching a 2-3 record.\nAs the Hoosiers prepare to travel to South Florida for the Gladstones Tournament, the team's credo is simple: keep on improving. Considering the team lost three one-run games, finding a way to get the job done in the crunch time has become a priority.\n"I don't think anyone was happy with (finishing the tournament) 2-3," junior pitcher Alison Cooke said. "The only thing that can come out of the weekend is that it was our first weekend and we showed potential. So I think this weekend we need to produce more in the crunch time."\nOne key area where emphasis will be placed is at the bottom of the batting order, where the Hoosiers struggled last weekend. Batters hitting in the fifth-through-ninth spots managed only eight hits in five games. Considering many of those players were freshmen who have been hitting well in practice, the lack of production could be chalked up to inexperience, sophomore pitcher Lisa Mattke said.\n"I think the bottom half, just looking at their faces (last weekend at North Carolina State), they looked nervous and they shouldn't be," Mattke said. "They've done a great job in practice. I think getting more experience is going to help. They are going to start to feel more comfortable. I guess there's just a lot of nerves for them that hopefully will go away."\nWhile the bottom of the line-up showed room for improvement, the pitching staff enjoyed an outstanding weekend. Cooke, the ace, pitched 22 innings and allowed only three earned runs. Despite her efforts, Cooke, who expects to pitch as many as three games this weekend, walked away with a 1-2 record.\n"I'll probably end up pitching every other game," Cooke said. "My goal every weekend is just to go out there and do my best. My job is to limit the hits and limit the runs scored, and let the rest of the team go out and get runs."\n Two players who had never taken the mound before in college also pitched for the Hoosiers. Freshman Heather Stillians picked up a win over Radford, while Mattke, who played but didn't pitch last season, suffered a tough loss to Elon, despite going nine innings with nine strikeouts.\n"Of course it was frustrating to lose," Mattke said. "But considering it was my first official game, I was personally pleased with how I pitched."\nThe Hoosiers will open up play with an evening doubleheader today. First, the Hoosiers play tournament-host South Florida. Directly after their game against the 6-9 Bulls, the Hoosiers will do battle with Hofstra. The Pride feature senior All-American Lisa Ciavardini.\nSaturday, the Hoosiers are scheduled for another doubleheader against Florida International (12-4) and Georgia State (5-2).\nTournament play wraps up Sunday, with IU facing Pittsburgh, who will be seeing their first action of the season.\nMeeting the challenge of the demanding schedule means bouncing back from last weekend's somewhat disappointing tournament, Cooke said.\n"I look forward to game time," Cooke said of the upcoming schedule. "I think we did a good job of bouncing back from the losses in a row last weekend (to Elon and Long Island), but we need to do a better job this weekend"