IU falls to Ace pitching

Aces were wild on the softball field yesterday. Unfortunately for IU, the Hoosiers were not.\nThe Evansville Purple Aces came into Bloomington and beat the Hoosiers 9-4.\nAfter a weekend in which IU went 3-1 against Big Ten competition, the team was overwhelmingly disappointed with its loss to the Missouri Valley foe.\n"We had high expectations and we didn't meet those today," said sophomore catcher Janetta Deaven. "But we will come back. Sometimes you can learn a lot from losing."\nThe game started out with a quick pace. IU pitcher Christy Wahl surrendered three runs in the first inning, after two walks and a home run.\nIU came right back and tied the game with a home run by Lauren Hines, who has four home runs in her last five games. Unfortunately for the Hoosiers, their bats would cool down while the Aces' kept heating up.\nEvansville scored one run in the second and two in the third after knocking out Wahl.\nThroughout the next few innings, the bats cooled down significantly, with only one run scored by the Hoosiers, an RBI single by Kim Richards. \nThe Hoosiers were only two runs away heading into the seventh and final inning, but another Evansville home run would prove to be the final blow for IU.\n"I definitely think today the team suffered a letdown," said sophomore infielder Anna Olson. "I do think we need to put it behind us though and come out this weekend to get some wins."\nAfter a tough opening weekend of Big Ten conference, the team had trouble at the plate against a freshman pitcher for the Aces. \n"This pitcher was very hittable today," Hines said. "Our team just needed to go out and make some adjustments and for some reason, we just choose not to."\nThe team will look to rebound this weekend with its first road contests of the Big Ten season, when it travels to Michigan and Michigan State.