Team hopes to rebound at home

The IU softball team returns home to host IU-Purdue University Indianapolis today at 2:30 p.m. at the IU Softball Field. Both the Hoosiers and Jaguars enter today's match-up with four-game losing streaks.\nIU (11-25-1) comes into the game after getting swept in a pair of Big Ten conference doubleheaders over the weekend at Illinois and Purdue. IUPUI (6-26) dropped all four of its contests against Oakland this past weekend.\nHistorically, the Hoosiers and Jaguars have only met two previous times in softball competition. Today's game will mark the first time since 1984 the two programs will meet. IU won the contest in 1983 by a score of 4-0 and also defeated the Jaguars 7-0 in 1984.\nThe Hoosiers will look to ride the hot bat of senior captain Brooke Monroe who went 6 for 13 in IU's weekend games with two home runs and four runs scored. Monroe's output propelled her into second on the Hoosier squad in batting average as she is hitting .318 for the year. Monroe also has a team high seven home runs on the year, just one behind her total of eight last year. Her 24 career home runs are fourth best all-time for a Hoosier and Monroe needs just two more homers to catch Meg Montgomery for third all-time.\nJunior third baseman/catcher Stormy Hanson still leads the Hoosiers with a .364 batting average and 11 doubles on the year. Hanson also is tied for the team lead with seven stolen bases. Freshman hurler Katie Witham leads the Hoosiers with a 3.25 earned run average on the mound.\nIUPUI will look to junior outfielder Brandy Moser for their offense. Moser leads the Jaguars with a .366 batting average and 14 doubles for the season. Freshman pitcher Julia Hartnell leads the IUPUI pitching staff with a 3.39 earned run average.\nIU's team total of 24 home runs on the season is currently third for a Hoosier team in a single season, only trailing the 32 hit by the 1994 squad and the 30 knocked out by the 1997 team. With 13 games still scheduled on the year, the Hoosiers are still slightly ahead of pace to break the school record for home runs in a season.\nIn contrast to the Hoosiers slugging prowess on the year, IUPUI has just one team home run for the season. Moser hit that home run April 9 in the Jaguars last win at the hands of IU-Purdue University Fort Wayne.\nDefensive miscues have returned to haunt the Hoosiers in late innings of their previous games as they relinquished to late inning leads in losses to Illinois and Purdue. On the weekend, IU committed 14 errors which led to 11 unearned runs for the Illini and Boilermakers in the four games. For the season, the Hoosiers have committed 89 errors, while their opponents have had just 42 errors in games against IU. Hoosier opponents have benefited by scoring 72 unearned runs in IU's 37 games, while the Hoosiers have only scored 19 unearned runs on the year.