Indiana softball led from the first inning onward during the Hoosiers’ 8-0 run-rule victory over the University of Evansville in six innings Wednesday. Crucial to silencing the Purple Aces’ offense were redshirt junior starting pitcher Taylor Hess and Indiana’s pitching rotation en route to the win.
Hess pitched five innings and gave up just three hits. She did not surrender a single run, earned or unearned, and struck out two batters. She effectively kept traffic off the basepaths and didn’t let Evansville’s batters find consistent rhythm at the plate.
The offense helped out the pitching rotation. Junior utility player Aly VanBrandt got the scoring started with a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning. Senior catcher Avery Parker added a two-run home run later in the frame to increase the Hoosiers’ lead to 3-0.
Junior utility player Brooke Mannon reached first on a throwing error by the Purple Aces and brought home sophomore infielder Madalyn Strader, raising Indiana’s margin to 4-0 in the opening frame.
Errors continued to haunt Evansville. Strader scored on an error by Evansville sophomore catcher Eliza Piggott to put Indiana up 5-0 in the bottom of the third inning.
Senior outfielder Ellie Goins connected on an RBI double into center field that brought home Strader as the Hoosiers added another run to their total.
Sophomore pitcher Ella Troutt entered the game in the sixth inning and collected three outs to send Indiana into the bottom of the inning leading 6-0.
Strader then hit an RBI sacrifice fly into center field that brought home sophomore outfielder Peyton Drummond and made the score 7-0.
Finally, Goins hit an RBI single to bring home another run and officially seal the run-rule victory in six innings.
Ninth-year Indiana head coach Shonda Stanton praised both the Hoosiers’ offense and pitching rotation for their consistency.
“Great midweek tune-up, got the job done,” Stanton said. “[Madalyn] Strader hit the ball well, [Taylor] Hess came in and gave us another great start, Ella [Troutt] coming in and finishing, defensively, playing great…it was great to see. Great midweek tune-up heading into a very important series with Illinois this weekend.”
Hess emphasized the need for short memory as a pitcher and the role it has played in her recent success.
“You know what, I’m just trying to say, ‘next pitch speed,” Hess said. “I’m locked in every single pitch and not focused on the previous pitch or the next pitch or the pitch that’s coming, I’m just pitching pitch to pitch.”
Strader talked about taking the season one game at a time and expanding on the team’s success throughout the season.
“We’re just focused on the task at hand,” Strader said. “And we’re going out, so, we want to compete…focusing on ourselves.”
With the win, Indiana improved to 38-13 overall while Evansville fell to 21-25. The Hoosiers will be back in action with their final series of the regular season as they host Illinois in a three-game series this weekend, starting at 6 p.m. Friday at Andy Mohr Field in Bloomington. The second game of the series will be at 2 p.m. Saturday while the final game of the set will be at 1 p.m. Sunday. All three games will be streamed on Big Ten+.
Follow reporters Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) and Joe Elms (@JoeElms1 and @jpelms@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana softball season.
