On May 7, 2025, Indiana softball opened the Big Ten Tournament with a matchup against Washington. The Hoosiers defeated the Huskies 2-0 before falling to UCLA in the quarterfinal.
Exactly one year later, the Cream and Crimson will face the Huskies again in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal. First pitch is set for 11 a.m. Thursday at Maryland Softball Stadium in College Park, Maryland. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
The top four teams in the Big Ten standings received a first-round bye. Indiana enters the matchup as the No. 4 seed in the tournament after finishing with a 17-7 conference record. Meanwhile, Washington finished 16-8 in Big Ten play, claiming the No. 5 seed in its second year in the conference. The two teams did not play each other in the regular season.
Prior to their last three series of the season, the Huskies dominated in Big Ten competition. They held a 15-0 conference record before April 17. But series losses to Oregon and UCLA dropped them to the No. 4 seed heading into the last weekend of the regular season.
Washington went 1-2 in its final series against Ohio State, while Indiana swept Illinois last weekend to clinch a first-round bye.
In Wednesday’s first-round game, Washington trailed Minnesota 2-1 after three innings. But the Huskies scored three unanswered runs to secure a 4-2 victory over the Golden Gophers.
Washington is led by head coach Heather Tarr, who is in her 22nd season at the helm. Since being named head coach in 2004, Tarr’s 882 wins have made her the winningest coach of any sport in the school’s history.
Offensively, the Huskies are powered by sophomore infielder Alexis DeBoer and junior infielder Giselle Alvarez. DeBoer leads the team with 18 home runs and a .495 on-base percentage. Alvarez ranks first on the team with a .384 batting average, 68 hits and 53 RBIs.
DeBoer earned multiple conference honors in 2025, including Big Ten Freshman of the Year and First Team All-Big Ten. Alvarez took a step forward in 2026 after batting .286 with 40 hits last season.
Washington has largely relied on sophomore pitcher Morgan Reimer and senior pitcher Sophia Ramuno in the circle. The duo has combined for 265.1 of the Huskies’ 340.2 total innings pitched. Of Washington’s four pitchers with at least 20 innings pitched this season, Reimer owns a team-best 2.78 ERA across 166.1 innings. Ramuno ranks second with a 3.11 ERA through 99 frames.
Reimer was named D1 Softball’s Pitcher of the Week on March 24 after allowing four earned runs across 16 innings against the University of North Dakota and Michigan. Ramuno earned the Big Ten’s Co-Pitcher of the Week recognition March 30, leading the Huskies to a shutout win over Loyola University Chicago and a combined no-hitter against Iowa.
Washington will be challenged with one of the most productive offenses in the nation Thursday. The Hoosiers rank fourth in the country with 439 total runs scored and have plated at least seven runs in each of its last eight games.
Senior catcher Avery Parker enters the Big Ten Tournament on a hot streak. She hit seven home runs over the Hoosiers’ final eight games and ties for 32nd nationally with 19. Junior utility player Aly VanBrandt, Indiana’s most efficient batter this season, holds a team-high .404 batting average.
With a win Thursday, the Cream and Crimson would advance to the semifinals to face the winner of No. 1 Nebraska and No. 9 Michigan on Friday.
Follow reporters Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) and Joe Elms (@JoeElms1 and @jpelms@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana softball season.
