IU drops in-state road matchup with Ball State

IU had been successful against Ball State in the past, but Wednesday’s 8-0 loss was no indication of the Hoosier’s recent performances. \nThe loss to the Cardinals was the first in the last four meetings against Ball State and might have come as a result of poor offense.\nAssistant coach Tarrah Beyster said earlier that IU would have to handle the ball in its game against Ball State. \nBut the real issue turned out to be the offense that cooled against the Cardinals. \nThe Hoosiers (17-13) only managed one hit against the Cardinals in six innings of play, after a recent hot streak.\nAn indication of the difference in this outing against the Cardinals came in the performance of junior Jennilee Huddleston who was held hitless after hitting a grand slam against Ball State on March 4. \nThe loss caused some frustration among some of the players, and senior infielder Rachel Terry took it a step past just having a bad game when she said how her team performed.\n“They came out ready to play and we didn’t,” Terry said. “We just played like crap and made errors.”\nJunior pitcher Jennifer Moore (4-6) gave up six earned runs to the Cardinals, but also didn’t have any run support. She said she was a little affected by the lack of offense, but that her team is still talented.\n“Today just wasn’t our day,” Moore said. “We weren’t ready to play but we are definitely better than we were today.”\nThe Hoosiers faced Ball State on March 4 and came out with a 6-2 win in that game. \nJunior infielder Kari Bettenbrock said that the difference in the two games wasn’t the pitchers fault or the defense, but that effort and offense was the deciding factor in the game.\n“They wanted it more than us,” Bettenbrock said. “We just didn’t hit when we needed to get runs.”\nAfter the nine-game winning streak that IU amassed during spring break, they are 5-3. Yesterday’s defeat moves the Hoosiers to 17-13 on the season. Despite the loss, Moore said, she still thinks her team is the best in the state. The team will open Big Ten play this weekend against Iowa.