Hoosiers look to build off weekday win

After splitting a mid-week doubleheader Wednesday with Michigan State, the IU softball team (11-27-1, 3-8) will play Penn State (10-22, 3-6) at home for a weekend series.

IU Coach Michelle Gardner was impressed with the team’s late comeback attempt in the first game of that series, which IU lost 5-3.

“We came up too little too late,” Gardner said. “The good thing is that we came back and did the things in the series that we needed to do to be successful.”

IU senior pitcher Meaghan Murphy said she is encouraged by what the team has been doing during the past week.

“The team is coming together,” Murphy said. “We are putting all three aspects of the game together — hitting, pitching and defense. We are peaking at the right time.”

She is coming off of a strong performance against the Spartans. She struck out 13 batters, the most by an IU player since the 2011 season.

Murphy said she has been trying to improve in every game this season.

“I’ve made pretty big strides since preseason,” she said. “All that I can ask of myself is to continue to improve my game in all aspects.”

Gardner thinks Murphy’s previous work against Michigan State will be key this weekend.

“Meaghan’s performance will be huge moving forward,” Gardner said.

Murphy and the IU pitching staff will face the Penn State offense that doesn’t strike out often.

Through 32 games, Penn State batters have been struck out just 134 times, the lowest in the Big Ten.

Although they have shown good plate discipline, the Nittany Lions have the fourth-lowest batting average in the conference and have also registered the third-lowest amount of hits.

They will match up with an IU pitching staff that has given up the most runs and hits in the Big Ten.

Despite the team’s struggles on offense, Penn State has one of the statistically best hitters in the conference.

Sophomore outfielder Lexi Knief currently leads the conference with four triples, and her .392 batting average is the ninth highest that the conference has to offer. She has also scored 30 runs.

Defensively, errors continue to be an issue for the Hoosiers. They lead the conference in the category with 58 errors, including four errors in two games against Michigan State.

Despite 33 steal attempts, the Hoosiers have allowed just 23 stolen bases. Only four teams in the conference have allowed fewer steals than IU.

Offensively, IU will be opposed by a Penn State pitching rotation that has the highest earned run average, 5.91, in the conference.

IU senior left fielder Jenna Abraham has been crucial to the team’s offensive attack all season. Abraham hit her third home run of the year against Michigan State — her second in five games — and also has the fourth-highest on-base percentage of the team at .382.

In order for the team to replicate the recent success, Abraham said she thinks the team needs to be patient and relaxed at the plate.

“We have some good players on this team, and sometimes we try too hard to do well,” Abraham said. “We need to do what we do best. Not press so much, and be relaxed at the plate. We need to score first, compete and win.”