Team heads to Lexington for 5 games

Another weekend means another tournament on the road for the softball squad. This time the Hoosiers travel to Kentucky for five games in three days.\nAlthough the Hoosiers fell to host Southern Illinois in the championship game of the Southern Classic last weekend, they carry momentum heading into the weekend. The Hoosiers are winners of four of their last five.\n"I think last weekend was a good step forward for our team," sophomore third baseman Stormy Hanson said. "For the most part we played great; hopefully it'll carry over to this weekend."\nIU (6-8) will play a doubleheader today, starting against Southeast Missouri State (0-5), followed by Kent (3-3).\nSaturday, the Hoosiers play the host team Wildcats (8-10), followed by Louisville (9-5), before rapping up play Sunday against Akron (3-2).\nJunior co-captain Brooke Monroe said the key for the Hoosiers this weekend is to get things going on offense, something the team worked on in practice this week.\n"We need to cut down on strikeouts and work on being more aggressive at the plate," Monroe said.\nAlthough the team is batting .219, Monroe is one of the Hoosiers not struggling at the plate. The power-hitting catcher is hitting .333, while leading the team in home runs (2) and RBIs (10).\nIU looks to use the rigorous pre-season schedule to prepare their young team for the Big Ten schedule. As the season progresses, the team has seen some of its freshman players start to come around and contribute. \nFreshman designated hitter Dawn Ramynke led the team in hitting at .409.\nThe team would like to continue its improvement at the plate, where last weekend the Hoosiers had their best effort offensively, culminating in a season-high 11 runs in a win against Northern Illinois.\n"We played really well last weekend," Monroe said. "We made some changes (heading into Kentucky), but we need to keep being aggressive and keep it going this weekend"