Home runs lead Hoosiers to 3rd-place finish

Home runs were the theme in each of the Hoosiers’ four victories in this weekend’s IU Classic. \nSenior Kim Richards’ two-run shot and junior Jennilee Huddleston’s solo home run was all the offense the Hoosiers needed in their 3-1 victory against Eastern Michigan.\nJunior Tory Yamaguchi, who paced the heavy-hitting Hoosiers with three home runs in the tournament, provided just enough offense for IU as they avenged an earlier loss to Illinois-Chicago by defeating the Flames 2-1. Yamaguchi continued her strong hitting with a three-run home run en route to a 4-0 shutout of Buffalo. \nIn the third-place rematch versus Buffalo, Yamaguchi hammered a pitch over the center-field wall for her third home run of the tournament and her 10th of the season. \nYamaguchi now has 31 career home runs and owns second place on the all-time home-run list at IU.\nIU softball coach Stacey Phillips was happy with the barrage of home runs but said she wanted to see more variety in the Hoosiers’ offense. \n“We have a really strong hitting team,” Phillips said. “Home runs are great. There’s not one person in our sport that wouldn’t say they don’t like home runs. But they have to become a perk, not a necessity.”\nIU also got a stellar performance from an unlikely source in the Buffalo win. \nSenior Christy Wahl pitched her first career shutout, allowing only five hits and four walks. \n“It just felt really good,” Wahl said. “I felt more and more confident each inning. It just felt really great being out there, helping my team and working through some adversities through the years.”\nAlong with Wahl, the Hoosiers’ defense played a major role in their four tournament wins. Yamaguchi said the defense, not the home runs, was the key to IU’s victory.\n“I think our defense came out really strong,” Yamaguchi said. “We’re holding the other teams to fewer runs then they were (scoring) before. That’s what’s keeping us in the game right now. Even if our hitting is not always there, you can only hit a home run every so often.”\nThe Hoosiers’ lone loss of the tournament was to Eastern Michigan. The Hoosiers stranded nine runners on base in the 3-2 loss. \n“We were struggling a little bit to get that base hit to score a run,” Phillips said. “We were pressing a little too much. Eastern Michigan had done that the first time we played them. The difference was they had made their adjustment and they scored when they got on, and we weren’t able to do that.”\nIU captured third place with its fourth win of the tournament, a 10-2 pounding of Buffalo. \n“It’s never OK to lose,” Phillips said. “We’re not going to win them all, but we still have to remember that it’s not OK to lose. I do still like the adjustments we made from that loss to be able to come back and finish the weekend on a high note.”