Hoosiers can’t overcome late home run

After a 4-4 tie for several innings, the Louisville Cardinals gained the upper hand following a late home run for a 6-4 Indiana loss.

Going into the third inning, the teams were neck and neck. After retiring the side in the top of the first, sophomore infielder and pitcher Meaghan Murphy began a game that would be one of her best so far.

Leading off the bottom of the first, sophomore outfielder Jenna Abraham was hit by a pitch from Big East standout Tori Collins. Left fielder Kelsey Brannon then moved Abraham to scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. However, Collins finished the inning with back-to-back outs.

In the top of the second, Murphy and the Hoosier defense went to work again retiring the side in order.

“We obviously had a scouting report on them,” Murphy said. “We knew that they’re ranked ninth in the nation for a reason. They were a good team all around, obviously they’ve got some power and it did play into my week earlier. I knew what to throw to certain people and tried to keep the ball low in the corners.”

Sophomore shortstop Shelby Gogreve began her game during the series with the first two assists on the first two outs. Gogreve eventually had six assists and recorded one putout herself, picking up a line drive that would’ve reached the gap.

Collins retired the bottom of the order in the bottom of the second and the Cardinals were the first to strike in the top of the third.

Murphy started the inning well, forcing a pop fly out to right field from Kayla Soles.
Then Maggie Ruckenbrod recorded the first hit, a double down left center that touched the fence and Whitney Arion scored on a fielder choice attempt at catching Ruckenbrod at third. Jennifer Esteban picked up a single in right field, scoring the two base runners.

Louisville’s Kristen Austin finished the scoring for the inning with a triple that was hit over Brannon’s head in left field. Gogreve came to the rescue again, ending the inning with her third assist to first base.

After struggling to end the inning, Murphy led off the bottom of the third with a stand-up double. Abraham followed with a two-run homerun to shorten the deficit to two.  

Following a Brannon line drive right at the pitcher, freshman infielder Shannon Cawley reached first on a throwing error. Power hitting junior infielder Amanda Wagner wasted no time in the box, swinging on the first pitch and knocking a game tying two-run home run deep over the right field wall.

“We responded, we gave four runs and came back and scored four runs,” IU Coach Michelle Gardner said. “I think what was most important was the fact that we stayed focused on what we were doing.”

However, this would be the last hit the Hoosiers would earn for the rest of the game.

Changing pitchers after Wagner’s home run, Louisville’s Caralisa Connell finished the game with four strikeouts, one walk and allowing no hits in 4.2 innings of play.

The Cardinals scored the go-ahead runs with a two-run home run from Austin that hit the scoreboard for a final score of 6-4. Despite the two home runs, the Hoosiers were unable to overcome the errors from the third inning.

“Errors are going to happen regardless of who are or what your ranked,” Murphy said. “Responding in a positive way because whatever happens, happens. You can’t dwell on what happens, you just have to move on and hopefully get better from it.”

The Hoosiers return to action in a three-game series at Big Ten rival Iowa on Saturday and Sunday.