Softball team drops four, wins one in South Florida tourney

Coming off of four straight losses in only two days, the Hoosier softball team had a big hill to climb for Sunday's game. Luckily the "hill" was the 0-5 Radford Highlanders. \nDespite their poor record, Radford came out firing by shooting out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. IU wasted no time in retaliating with a two-run stanza of their own to knot the score in the second. The score stood at 2-2 until senior Big Ten co-Player of the Week Stormy Hanson stepped up to the plate and handed the Highlanders a three-run homerun, setting the score at 5-2. Radford would not go out with a fight by tying the score at five apiece in the bottom of the seventh. The Hoosiers ignited in the extra inning and scored seven runs with five players leaving with RBIs. Senior Heather Suca and junior Valerie White both doubled for two RBIs apiece.\nHowever Friday and Saturday turned out to be a little less lucrative for the Hoosiers as they dropped four straight games.\nSaturday's games against Seton Hall and the hosting University of South Florida Bulls proved to be battles for the Hoosiers. IU sophomore Katie Whitham pitched for only 2.1 innings and was pulled after giving up three hits, one run and only one strike-out. The Pirates hit their stride in the middle innings by scoring in the third, fourth and fifth innings. Seton Hall's first run came off of a throwing error by IU junior Dawn Ramynke, allowing SHU's freshman Akoua Lonergan to reach home. Trailing 3-0 and looking at two outs in the fifth, senior Katie Joy singled, followed by a double by Suca placing two runners in scoring position. However the Hoosier rally was stinted when White was thrown out at first.\nComing into the game on an eight game tear, the USF Bulls were ready and quickly amassed two runs in the bottom of the first. The Bulls' run was cut short as IU prevented another score with junior Kristine Dugan throwing a USF runner out at the plate to end the first inning. The Bulls widened the gap to 5-0 before IU went on a tear of their own in the top of the fourth. White opened with a single, followed by Hanson who added a single of her own. Both White and Hanson were driven in with a double by freshman Lauren Hines. USF went on to add another run in the sixth to bring the final score to 6-2.\nFriday was a troubling showing for IU, with the Hoosiers first losing a 2-1 heartbreaker to Maryland, and then receiving an 11-2 blow-out from Hofstra.\nThe Hofstra Pride was truly on the prowl in IU's second Friday game, mauling the Hoosiers 11-2, amassing 11 hits and scoring in all but two innings. IU's first run came in the third inning due to a passed ball, allowing Dugan to reach the plate. The Hoosiers' other run came in the bottom of the seventh when Hines led off with a double and driven in with two straight singles by sophomore Ashley Griffiths and junior Abby Stark. Coach Sara Hayes was not happy with IU's performance after the game.\n"We played horribly," Hayes said in a press release. "We did not defend Indiana softball today. We did not show what we are capable of."\nIU's first game against Maryland proved to be much more defensive than the Hoosiers' other outings, with the Terrapins edging out IU 2-1. Maryland struck first with a sacrifice fly in the fourth, but IU answered with a RBI single in the fifth by Hanson. Maryland drove in the final run in the next inning with an RBI bunt by junior Casey Leiter. IU finished with six hits to Maryland's five.