Hoosiers searching for their ‘attack mentality’

As her team prepares for an upcoming tournament, IU softball coach Stacey Phillips wants her players to establish a certain mind-set.\nShe wants the Hoosiers to start playing with a purpose.\n“I want the team to come away with the mind-set we can attack and get after things,” Phillips said. “I don’t want our team to be tentative. I want them to be mean and kind of nasty. It’s a matter of playing with a purpose, not going through the motions.”\nThe Hoosiers will get the chance to put that attack mentality to use this weekend when they compete in the Kay Brechtelsbauer Southern Classic in Carbondale, Ill. IU will face Western Illinois on Friday, then Ball State and tournament host No. 20 Southern Illinois on Saturday.\nA pivotal part of the attack mentality is getting off to a quick start. To be successful, Phillips said, posting that first run on the scoreboard can be the difference between a win and a loss.\n“That’s where the attack mentality comes in,” Phillips said. “Generally the first team that scores is going to win the game. If you can nip that early one in the first or second inning, that’s often the big key of the game. We can be that attack team that’s able to do it.”\nThe Hoosiers struggled with their attack mentality in the opening tournament of the season. The Hoosiers committed one key throwing error and walked 25 batters en route to being outscored 19-5. \n“We have focused on those things in practice,” Phillips said. “Throwing errors are controllable. You can’t control an umpire’s call. But you can control your pitching, your throwing overhand. If we do walk someone, let’s not make an error on top of that.”\nIU will have the opportunity to avenge its earlier loss to Southern Illinois. The Salukis defeated the Hoosiers 6-2 on Feb. 16 at the Crowne Plaza Classic. In that game, one inning was the difference in what would have otherwise been a very close ballgame. In the second inning, Southern Illinois separated itself from IU with four runs on four hits.\n“First and foremost, I think we’re going to have a better pitching performance,” Phillips said. “That was the first day of games, and there were a bit of jitters. On top of that, we’ll continue that attack mentality. They just have to keep after it; they have that understanding.”\nWith the exception of Southern Illinois, the opponents for IU have a combined overall record of 5-9 heading into the tournament. Even though the Hoosiers appear to have the advantage on paper, they say they are ready for anything to happen. \n“We take every game one at a time,” junior infielder Jennilee Huddleston said. “Anyone can beat you at a given time, and we just try to work with what we know about that team at that particular time and try to keep the mentality of being aggressive.”\nThe Hoosiers’ game plan is simple: attack early and often.\n“We need to be more aggressive and go out there ready to swing the bat and jumping on every ball and hitting every pitch we can,” Huddleston said.\nIt all comes back to the aggressive mind-set Phillips is trying to instill in her team.\n“Knowing we can do it” is the necessary attitude in approaching the tournament, said junior pitcher Jennifer Moore. “It’s just that we have to believe in ourselves.”