Hoosiers welcome Spartans to open Big Ten Season

The IU women's softball team saw it all this past Wednesday. \nAfter snapping the 11 game win streak of the University of Illinois-Chicago in the first game of a double header, the Hoosiers suffered their worst loss of the season in the second.\nDespite playing with energy and momentum en route to a 5-2 Hoosier victory in the first game, a lack of depth on the pitching staff led to the 3-14 defeat in the second game.\nThough the score reflects an uneven game, IU coach Stacey Phillips is not concerned by the second game against UIC and says her team is ready for Big Ten play.\n"We're ready to go," Phillips said. "Our hitting is there, we are playing great defense and we are absolutely ready for the Big Ten."\nThe team's play in the first game echoed Phillips' sentiment, when the Hoosiers combined for nine hits, five runs and no errors.\n"There isn't really anything we need to improve," said sophomore fielder Kim Richards. "We just need to put everything together and get pumped up for this weekend."\nThe Hoosiers will face a Michigan State team, which has struggled this season but has faced a very tough non-conference schedule.\nAmong the teams the Spartans have faced this year are the No. 3 University of California Golden Bears, the No. 8 University of Oklahoma Sooners, the No. 9 Texas A&M University Aggies and the No. 14 University of Florida Gators. Michigan State played the majority of these teams closely and managed to knock off the Gators 9-8.\nThe game will be important for both teams as they look to jump to fast starts in a conference race that could become extremely tight. Of the 11 teams in the Big Ten, eight won 15 or more games in pre-conference play.\nDespite the last loss, the Hoosiers insist their focus is now on Michigan State and the Big Ten season. They said will be ready to play come Friday.\n"We are going to come out fired up," said junior pitcher Megan Roark. "Our confidence is still there, we aren't going to let one game decide the rest of our season."\nAlso this weekend, the Hoosiers will honor former pitcher Amy Unterbrink-Poljan before Saturday's game against the Spartans. Unterbrink-Poljan holds the IU record for wins/losses at 96-45-2. She also tops the Hoosier record books for most innings pitched in a season (332 in the 1986 season) and in a career with 1101.\nFriday's game will start at 3 p.m. and Saturday's game gets underway at 1 p.m. Both games will be played at the IU Softball Field located just off Fee Lane behind Foster Quad.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Kevin Dwire at kdwire@indiana.edu.