“We had four days before we had to turnaround for this tournament,” IU Coach Michelle Gardner said. “Not enough to recover.”
Play at the Mary Nutter Classic began Thursday against No. 8 Georgia. IU lost in five innings.
IU senior Miranda Tamayo picked up her fifth loss of the season (1-5), giving up seven runs on seven hits in just two innings. Freshman Rebecca Blitz scored the lone run for the Hoosiers due to a hit by pitch an error.
Despite giving up an earned run, Georgia pitcher Brittany Gray threw a no-hitter for the Bulldogs, who won 9-1.
Later that night, IU played against another ranked team, No. 12 UCLA.
Freshman Taylor Uden had a big game for the Hoosiers going 2-for-2, including her first home run.
“The best part was that it was against UCLA, and I knew a girl on that team,” Uden said. “Coach said that my face was priceless as I was coming around third.”
However, Uden’s efforts were not enough to beat the Bruins as they won 7-4.
The Classic continued Friday as IU took on Loyola Marymount for the first part of a doubleheader.
The Lions threatened to win for most of the game, having scored eight runs in the first three innings.
LMU would eventually win 13-5.
In the second game IU played Cal Poly.
It was a low-scoring affair as the score was 1-0 Mustangs after five innings of play, but Cal Poly would eventually win 4-0.
The Hoosiers only collected three hits and suffered a season-high 12 strikeouts.
“We have to limit the mistakes,“ Uden said. “Really comes down to just one ?inning at a time.”
The Mary Nutter finale put the Hoosiers up against BYU.
The Cougars jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two ?innings.
IU capitalized on an error and a bases loaded walk to make the score 4-2.
Uden led off the final inning with a double, which was followed by a Blitz single. But IU made three straight outs and lost 5-3.
“We are in most of these games,” Gardner said. “We are just trying to put the pieces together and find a way to get over that hump.”
