IU still winless in Big Ten play

Still winless in the Big Ten after six conference tries, with four of those losses coming by two runs or less, the Hoosiers were desperate to finally get a conference win after nearly two years of trying.\nUnfortunately, IU could not come through and dropped four more against Northwestern and Illinois this weekend. Yet again three of these games came by two runs or less adding to the team's frustration and leaving it tired after so many close losses.\n"Emotionally, we're drained because we've left our full heart out on the field," coach Sara Hayes said. "Everybody's into the games, and we're playing hard and excited about it, and we're doing great, great things for Indiana softball."\nIn the second game of Sunday's double-header against Illinois, senior Stormy Hanson was ready from the beginning when she sent a solo home run with two out over the left fielder's head to place the score at 1-0 IU. Unfortunately, the Hoosiers could not extend their lead in the top of the first.\nIU displayed great defense at just the right time, as Illinois managed to load the bases in each of the first, second, and sixth innings, but the Illini were unable to convert in each of these opportunities.\nDespite shutting down three great scoring opportunities, the Illini managed to strike in the third. With one out and a runner on first, an Illini hitter sent a ground ball straight to sophomore second baseman Ashley Griffiths. Griffiths looked poised to turn a double play to end the inning but dropped the ball while tagging out an Illinois runner, placing runners on first and second. Junior Sarah Baumgartner amassed a RBI single and advanced to second on the throw to home. With both runners in scoring position, junior second baseman Katie O'Connell sent the ball over the left field fence to place the score at 4-1 Illinois.\nIn the top of the fourth, senior Heather Suca began the inning by reaching first on an error and advanced to second when Hanson was hit by a pitch. Junior Abby Stark then hit a strong single that would have loaded the bases, but Suca stopped at third while Hanson thought she could get another base out of the hit, allowing Hanson to be tagged out at second. With runners at the corners, Stark tried to steal second but was caught. While Suca managed to score, the fifth inning could have been much more lucrative for the Hoosiers, but Illinois kept the IU rally at only one run.\nWith the game hanging in the balance, Griffiths led off the final inning with a double and junior Kristine Dugan reached first on a fielding error to place two runners on the bases with no outs. Junior Valerie White bunted and reached first but was unable to advance Hoosier runners. Hanson then struck out to end the game and gave Illinois the 4-2 win.\nIn the first game of the doubleheader, Illinois managed to add another close one to the Hoosier loss column with a final score of 3-1. IU's only run came in the fifth inning after freshman Lauren Hines led off with a triple and scored with a successful squeeze play by junior Heather Stillians.\nThe team said that with one or two innings taken out of every game this weekend, they are playing very well.\n"We're right there, we just need that one key hit or something to go our way," Suca said. "We're playing well with the exception of a couple of bad innings this weekend."\nAfter such a high scoring 6-0 match-up Friday, IU decided to step up its defensive, limiting the Northwestern Wildcats to only two runs. However, two runs was all Northwestern would need to overtake the Hoosiers. With the bases loaded and no outs in the sixth inning, IU looked like it was finally going to get a win, but the Wildcats managed to work out of the jam and take the game 2-1. \nThe first game of the weekend against Northwestern was a different story than the Illini match-ups because the Wildcats jumped out to a 6-0 lead after only two and a third innings. IU then put the clamps down and prevented Northwestern from adding any more runs, but came up short with only three runs of its own to come up a 6-3 loss.\nCompared to being out-scored 24-8 against Northwestern and Illinois last year, this weekend's losses can be looked upon with a positive light.\n"I think it was a great weekend, very frustrating, but we get better and better every single day," Stillians said. "We just have to keep fighting. It's going to come"