Entering the weekend on a program-record 22-game win streak, No. 19 Indiana softball went on the road, looking poised to win its third Big Ten weekend series. However, defensive mishaps led to blown leads on Saturday and Sunday as the Hoosiers dropped the final two games of the series by scores of 6-5 and 8-5, respectively.
In the 38 games that were played prior to the weekend set against Minnesota, Indiana averaged 1.13 errors per game. In the three games in Minneapolis, the Hoosiers averaged 1.6 errors per game, eventually leading to Indiana’s first Big Ten series loss this season.
“We knew yesterday’s game and today, we kind of gave it away with the mishaps defensively,” head coach Shonda Stanton said after Sunday’s defeat. “We got to be sharper on defense and I felt we had some innings where whether it’s throwing the ball to first base or fielder something cleanly, that’s the difference in the ballgame.”
Indiana’s offense totaled 19 runs on 25 hits, but errors and clutch hitting from Minnesota led to the Golden Gophers taking two of three games at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium. Tied in the fifth inning on Saturday and in the sixth inning on Sunday, the Hoosiers were unable to get runners across the plate late in the game.
Stanton explained Sunday what she said to her team after the losses. “It’s about taking your best swing,” she said. “Sometimes the shots don’t fall and that’s what we saw today offensively.”
With the fast start to Big Ten play, Stanton told her team that with the sweeps against Ohio State and Maryland alongside sweeping the doubleheader against Purdue, they can afford to have a rough spot or two.
“That gives us an opportunity where it’s like you just trade them out right, cause then it’s just like you’re 1-2 on a weekend when you do that,” Stanton said. “We have one more weekend we can slip up, but we don’t want to do that right?”
Although Indiana’s program record win streak ended with Saturday’s loss, the Hoosiers still stand at 9-2 in Big Ten play, just a half-game behind No. 20 Northwestern. Even with dropping a series, Stanton is remaining optimistic about where her team sits just before the halfway mark of conference play.
“Up and down the lineup I’m proud of this group. You got to (give) hats off to Minnesota, they’re a good ballclub and we know they’re going to climb in the standings,” Stanton said. “I feel pretty good as a coach where we sit right now.”
Coming off its first losses in Big Ten play, Indiana will return this week with a couple of non-conference matchups, starting with a clash against the University of Louisville at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Andy Mohr Field.
