Hoosiers fall to No. 21 Cardinals

Hanging with a top-25 team for seven innings and only giving up two runs might be pleasing to some teams. But the IU women's softball team knew it was a few plays from winning.\n"I guess it feels OK to say we hung with the No. 21 team in the country," IU coach Stacey Phillips said. "But I feel if we would have brought our game, we could have beat that team."\nThe team Phillips is talking about is Louisville, which beat the Hoosiers 2-0 yesterday in Bloomington.\nThe Cardinals came out early, scoring a run in the second inning off a frozen-rope single. However, starting pitcher Megan Roark settled down to get out of the inning with a strikeout and a fly out, stranding a runner at first.\nRoark moved effortlessly through the third but then ran into trouble again in the top of the fourth inning. A bloop single followed by an errant throw that hit the runner off a sacrifice bunt put runners on first and third. A strikeout and walk later loaded the bases, where a fielder's choice scored the second and final run for the Cardinals. Roark then struck out the last hitter to get out of the inning.\nIU had several chances to score with runners on second four out of the seven innings but couldn't get the clutch hit to bring in the run.\n"In clutch situations, we have to have the big hit," junior outfielder Kim Richards said. "We have to have the mentality of going up there and saying 'I want to get this hit.'"\nA definite positive for the Hoosiers was the relief pitching of Mariangee Bogado, who inherited the bases loaded with no outs in the top of the sixth. Bogado then went on to strike out the next three batters to prevent the game from potentially being blown wide open.\nThe pitching and defense as a whole was solid again for IU, as it has been pretty consistently all season.\n"The defense did a great job behind me today," Roarke said. "Also, (catcher) Janetta (Deaven) did an awesome job behind the plate."\nThe Hoosiers move to what they hope will be warmer weather at the Florida State Invitational Friday, where they take on Tulsa in the opening game.