Big Ten win a big relief

April 26, 2003. This is a date that will be burned into the minds of the Hoosier faithful as it was the date the softball team snapped a 33-game long winless streak in the Big Ten. \nJust 48 hours short of making the winless streak exactly two years old, sophomore Ashley Griffiths brought some power to the plate and sent a ball over the left field fence in the seventh to steal a 5-4 decision from the Michigan State Spartans, ending the streak and sending the team into elation.\n"It was like a Toyota commercial, we were jumping up and down," coach Sara Hayes said. "We celebrated with ice cream afterwards and we're still in the process of absorbing the emotion from the win."\nThe last Big Ten conference win was a much different situation from the unbelievable win last Saturday. On April 28, 2001, IU pummeled Illinois 5-0, only to lead to 728 consecutive days of pain for the Hoosiers. Fittingly, it was with the same amount of offensive production that the Hoosiers finally ended the winless slide. While a shut-out would have been a little more satisfying for the team, a 5-4 win was just as good. \nIf there was any way to end a two year losing streak, it was with a powerful home run, and that is exactly what Griffiths gave to her team and the IU fans. Facing Michigan State's junior hurler Jessica Beech, who came into the match-up with an impressive 21-7 record, Griffiths only took one pitch to decide to send it over the fence. \n"It was over the plate about waist high and as a first-pitch hitter I jumped on it," Griffiths said after the Spartans game. "I thought it was gone when it left the bat and saw it go over the fence when I was rounding first base."\nHowever, Griffiths' home run wasn't the only act of Hoosier heroics as the team managed to battle back from a 4-0 deficit in the top of the fifth inning. It did not take long for IU to take away the lead as the Hoosiers matched Michigan State's score in the bottom of same inning, and took the game with one out in the bottom of the seventh, breaking down to five runs of production in only three innings of action.\n"I just feel really good for (seniors) Katie Joy and Bubba (Heather Suca) and for the rest of the team," senior catcher Stormy Hanson said after the decision. "At least now we know we can win in the Big Ten."\nAfter coming within one pitch of snapping the streak against the Wisconsin Badgers just three weeks ago, the team said it was like a giant weight was lifted off of their chests. \n"It's amazing. It's a monkey off of our backs," Hayes said. "We're loose and enjoying it and trying to soak up every emotion."\nAfter taking the win against MSU, the Hoosiers went on to suffer 9-1 and 9-0 losses at the hands of the Michigan Wolverines. While the rest of the weekend proved to be not as lucrative for the Hoosiers, Hayes said she is simply looking at the win as a building block for the softball program's future, both coming into the last two games of the season against Purdue and into future years.\n"We're going to go get Purdue. The team has a lot of confidence now," she said. "They know the sense of urgency. It's our season in a weekend. We're going to bring our passion, and enthusiasm, and next year, we'll make it bigger"