Softball tries to snap 11-game skid

With one weekend left of play before the Big Ten Tournament starts, the IU softball team will travel to Minnesota trying to snap its 11-game losing streak and gain some momentum in its final three regular season games.

IU Coach Michelle Gardner said despite the losing streak, she has been encouraged by her team’s play of late.

IU (19-31, 3-16) lost its last two games to Wisconsin 3-0 and 5-2. Gardner liked the team’s defense and pitching in those outings.

“We competed very well last weekend against Wisconsin, who is a very tough team,” Gardner said. “We just have to continue to do that and build on the things that are working. We’re playing relatively good defense and we’re finding a way to score some runs. We just have to continue to do that. We had a couple of really good pitching performances. Those are the keys.”

For IU senior infielder Amanda Wagner, this weekend is especially important. She believes if the team can snap the streak this weekend, they will have more confidence going into the Big Ten Tournament Thursday in Lincoln, Neb. She does not want to end her career on a losing streak.

“It’s really important,” she said. “I think it’s also going to set us up confidence-wise for the Big Ten Tournament next weekend. No one really wants to end their career on a losing skid.”

Minnesota will most likely throw junior pticher Sara Moulton in the series. She has made 39 appearances for the Golden Gophers this season, including 36 starts and has a 1.61 earned run average. Opponents are batting just .203 against her this season, and she has struck out 244 batters.

“We have to be patient and make sure we’re swinging at strikes and pitches we can drive,” Gardner said. “She’s been lights out most of the season. We have to be disciplined and take advantage of any mistakes she might make. We really need to work on getting up there and driving the ball.”

Wagner, who leads the Hoosiers in batting average this season at .432, agreed, saying it is important to make the defense work and have confidence in the box.

Defensively, the Hoosiers have to worry about two main threats from the Golden Gophers. Kaitlyn Richardson and Tyler Walker both bat above .400, but the next highest average on the team is Kayla Wenner’s .254.

“We have to take care of our business and not allow those two kids to hurt us,” Gardner said. “Those are their weapons. You still have to be able to get the other kids out so they’re not able to come up and do damage by scoring runs or whatever when they come up in that situation.”

Gardner echoed Wagner’s sentiment about this being important for the team’s confidence. She said the biggest goal for the team heading into the Big Ten Tournament will be to continue to grow as a team.

Wagner sees the losing skid ending this weekend, as long as the team continues to have good pitching, play good defense and score runs.

“If we have all three components of the game going for us, we’ll eventually get over the hump and come out on the winning side,” Wagner said.