Hot bats don't help as season begins

Neither cold weather nor University of Oklahoma pitching could cool down the Hoosier bats as the IU women's softball team opened its season at the OU/Nike Classic on Friday.\nIn two games, the Hoosiers combined for six home runs, out-hit the Sooners 30-21 and scored 19 runs. Despite the offensive outburst, the Hoosiers went 0-1-1 against No. 10 Oklahoma. Because of inclement weather, the weekend games against the University of Nevada were cancelled.\nDespite not getting the desired results, IU coach Stacey Phillips said she was pleased with the Hoosier effort.\n"It's always great to see your team be unfazed by big scoring innings and be able to bounce back," Phillips said. "It was good for our pitchers to know they could get support from the offense. That's something we haven't had in awhile."\nOklahoma came out swinging in the first game of the doubleheader, putting three runs on the scoreboard in the opening inning. The Hoosier offense responded with two home runs in the bottom of the first inning by senior pitcher Mariangee Bogado and sophomore infielder Jennilee Huddleston. The Sooners recorded two straight outs to end the Hoosier inning.\nOklahoma blew open the game with a seven-run fifth inning to take a 10-3 lead. The Hoosiers added five runs of their own to make the game 10-8. While the Hoosiers had chances in the remaining innings, the Sooners held on for a 10-8 victory. Phillips said she was happy to see her team perform well against such a quality opponent, but wished the Hoosiers could have closed the deal after playing well.\n"It gives them a taste of what's ahead," Phillips said. "Had we played better defense, we could have done better in the first game. We have to make sure we are solid on our defense. We need to attack more with our defense."\nIn the second game, the Hoosiers took an early 2-0 lead in the third inning from a single from freshman second baseman Sarah Padove. Oklahoma charged to an 11-8 lead entering the final inning of the contest. Trailing by three, senior outfielder Lauren Hines tied the game with a three-run homerun to send the game to extra innings. Because of poor weather, the game ended in a tie.\nThe offensive production was a good sign for the Hoosiers, who entered the season saying their offense was their weakness.\n"We have focused on fixing holes in our swing," Hines said. "We want to attack pitches and we've been doing a good job so far this season."\nProving it can hang with one of the best teams in the country was important for an IU team coming off a 13-41 season.\n"It gave us a lot of confidence," Hines said. "We played against one of the best teams in the nation and this will give us a lot of confidence going into next weekend."\nThe Hoosiers return to action next weekend in Tampa, Fla., looking to build on this weekend's performance and correct some of the mistakes made during the opening weekend of play.\n"Knowing that they had played nine games before us and we were able to give them tough games gives us confidence," junior infielder Rachel Terry said. "We still need to work on defense as a team"