Hoosiers defeat in-state rival Mastadons

The IU softball team broke its three-game losing streak with a win against IU-Purdue University Fort Wayne, although it was not exactly how they wanted to do it.\nThe Hoosiers beat the Mastodons 11-3 in a game that was called after six innings because of the mercy rule. However, the game featured nine errors, three of which IU committed. But the Hoosiers will use the momentum from the win to build the confidence they seem to have been lacking.\n"It helped to beat a team like this to help get our confidence back," said sophomore Kari Bettenbrock. "We would have liked to do it by a little more and a little earlier, but any win helps."\nIU came out swinging right from the start as senior Megan Roark pitched a hitless first inning and then the offense put a six-spot up on the board. Lauren Hines, Jennilee Huddleston and Anna Olson, who all had RBI's during the onslaught, led the offensive charge. The team also ended up batting around in the inning.\nBoth teams bats stayed relatively quiet in the middle innings, with only two runs scored in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings. Roark kept up her solid effort in the circle, with her final run including six innings pitched, nine strikeouts and three runs on five hits.\n"Everyone can always improve with their pitching," Roark said of her performance. "This was a good place for me to start again to get ready for the Big Ten games coming up."\nWith the score at 7-1 in favor of the Hoosiers, the team entered the top of the sixth inning. IPFW's bats showed some signs of life, as the team scored two runs on two hits and three errors by the Hoosiers in the inning.\nIU would not let the runs get to them as they came right back in the bottom of the sixth inning to score four runs and evoke the mercy rule to end the game. In the inning, Bettenbrock and Rachel Terry each had an RBI in the inning while Hines had a two-RBI single. Hines, the Hoosiers offensive star for the day, finished the game with three hits, three RBI's and one run scored.\nThe offense, which has been a weak point for IU all season, seemed to show some signs of coming around against the Mastodons' pitching.\n"To score 11 runs on a lot of base hits felt nice," said coach Stacey Phillips. "To not have to rely on the long ball was a good thing."\nIU will be back on the road today to take on the Ohio University Bobcats in Athens, Ohio, at 4 p.m. before heading back to Bloomington to take on Wisconsin and Iowa this weekend.