Busy weekend for IU

After securing its first win in 10 tries, the Hoosier softball team will try to add to the momentum with two double-headers this weekend. The Hoosiers will start out the weekend at home against the Ball State Cardinals Saturday and will return to Big Ten play with a match-up against the No. 24 Iowa Hawkeyes Sunday.\nThe Cardinals are coming into Saturday's contest with a 9-19-1 record. Senior Katie Shea stands as BSU's offensive leader with a .419 batting average along with 13 runs batted in and three home runs. While Shea leads the team in batting average, senior Ruth Hjelmeland has the most home runs for Ball State with five and has 21 RBIs and a .317 average. Freshman Quincy Duran is the Cardinal's top pitcher with a 3.36 earned run average and a 5-11 record. \nWhile Ball State is coming into the game with less-than-spectacular credentials, coach Sara Hayes is confident the Hoosiers can add to their win total, but they are certainly not going to simply look past them.\n"Ball State is going to allow us to loosen up. Hopefully we can get a couple of wins from them," Hayes said. "They play in a good conference, so they're going to be weathered and they will go for it, just like Kentucky did."\nAfter the Cardinal homestand, the Hoosiers will be heading to Iowa City, Iowa, to face the Hawkeyes. Iowa is coming into the weekend with an impressive 29-9 record paired with a 7-2 record in the Big Ten, good for second place in the conference. Senior Kristin Johnson is the Hawkeyes' offensive leader with a .376 batting average and a team-leading 20 stolen bases. Four players are currently in a tie for the Hawkeye home run lead with five.\nOne of the Hawkeyes' strongest accolades is base running as they have already stolen 53 bases this season. While Iowa's baserunning is formidable, IU has tweaked their defense for the occasion.\n"(The Hawkeyes) have quick runners, they're very aggressive on the bases, and we have been practicing for that," senior Heather Suca said. "We've been working on not giving up extra bases and being ready for their runners."\nThe Hoosiers are coming into the weekend with a game that belies their sub-.500 record. Four of IU's last six losses have been by two runs or less and have had five contests go into extra innings. \nSenior Stormy Hanson is the Hoosier offensive mainstay with a .400 batting average, nine home runs, 26 RBIs and a .744 slugging percentage. Freshman Lauren Hines has been consistently following up Hanson's efforts with a .306 batting average, 19 RBIs, and hit her third home run of the year in Wednesday's match-up against Kentucky.\nJunior Heather Stillians has paced the IU pitcher's mound throughout the season with a 2.72 ERA, a 7-12 record and has amassed 72 strike outs to date. Sophomore Katie Witham backs up Stillians in the Hoosier bullpen and is fresh off a win in the second game against Kentucky. Witham holds a 3.13 ERA and has taken 46 strike outs of her own.\nWhile playing a top 25 in-conference rival on their own turf is going to be a hard task, the Hoosier softball team is simply looking at this weekend as simply what it is: just another set of games.\n"It's going to be the same as every other weekend," junior Kristine Dugan said. "We're just going to improve upon our game and try to get a couple of wins"