Melloh records 3 shutouts as team rebounds at home

The IU softball team got off to a strong start in its first home games of the year in the Hoosier Classic.

The Hoosiers started 4-0 at home with wins against Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan,  Loyola and Wright State, improving to 15-12 on the season. This comes after IU fell back to .500 when it lost four of six games in the Oklahoma Spring Festival.

IU coach Michelle Gardner said it was important to get off to a good start  at home.

“I thought we really played well this weekend, which was great to see, especially in front of our fans in our first home games,” Gardner said. “Morgan (Melloh)was tremendous in the circle, only allowing four hits over our first three games, and our bats were able to get enough hits to put runs on the board and allow us to get the wins.”

All three wins in the Hoosier Classic were shutouts by senior pitcher Morgan Melloh, who improved to 11-11. Melloh allowed four hits in the 20 innings she pitched.

Gardner said she was impressed by the total team effort made by the Hoosiers.

“The first three games truly were team wins,” Gardner said. “The defense behind Morgan was strong, and that allowed her to be confident in the circle and really attack the hitters. And offensively, it was a different player stepping up in different situations to help the team, so that was great to see.”