IU falls to Michigan State

The IU softball team went 0-3 against Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich., this weekend. Michigan State is the first team to sweep IU in a conference series since 2010.

“Of course we would have liked to see a different outcome on the weekend, but I thought we finished with a lot of energy, and our team showed a lot of fight, especially in the last game,” IU Coach Michelle Gardner said. “Despite a few miscues on the
weekend, we really battled at the plate and continued to answer when we were down.
That’s definitely something positive that we can take out of this weekend.”

The Hoosiers struggled Friday in their first game of the weekend, falling 5-0 to the Spartans. Michigan State took the lead early, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first and tacking on two more in the bottom of the third to give them a total of five runs for the afternoon.

Junior infielder Shelby Gogreve led the IU offense with two hits, while junior pitcher Meaghan Murphy and freshman infielder Lexi Reese each posted one hit. Murphy was dealt the loss after allowing nine hits and two earned runs in the matchup.

“I had a bit more success at the plate, and I think it’s largely due to what we’ve been working on in practice,” Gogreve said. “It felt good to have individual success, but it would have felt even better to have more team success.”

The Hoosiers dropped their second game to Michigan State on Saturday, 10-7. IU scored early, posting two runs in the top of the first inning, and held onto the lead until the Spartans plated five runs in the bottom of the second to bring the score to 6-3.

The Hoosiers would never regain the lead, despite scoring in all but two innings of the matchup. Junior outfielder Jenna Abraham led the offense with two runs on the afternoon while freshmen catcher and first baseman Kassi Farmer, sophomore utility player Shannon Cawley, senior infielder Amanda Wagner, sophomore infielder Brianna Meyer and Gogreve each brought in one run for the Hoosiers.

Freshman pitcher Brooke Boetjer was dealt the loss, falling to 1-2 on the season.
“I feel like I’m getting better every at bat,” Abraham said. “I’ve been focusing on the team aspect more than the individual aspect, and it’s actually helping me get a lot better.”

On Sunday, IU lost their final game of the series 2-1 in extra innings, with Michigan State taking home all three wins on the weekend. Both teams posted one run in the fourth inning, with neither team scoring again until the Spartans scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Wagner posted the lone run of the game for the Hoosiers while Meyer and Murphy posted the only hits of the afternoon. Murphy was dealt her second loss of the weekend, falling to 9-11 on the season despite striking out seven batters and allowing just one earned run on six hits.

“The extra innings loss was rough because we were in it the entire game, but our energy was up, our fight was there,” Gardner said. “We just needed that one key hit or that one key play, and the game could have had a completely different outcome.”

The Hoosiers are now 1-5 in Big Ten play and 16-19 overall in their 2013 campaign.
“Losing is never easy, so all of the losses were difficult, but one thing I liked from this team was that they never quit,” Gardner said. “They came out each day and fought.”