IU will travel to Lexington, Kentucky, to play No. 17 Kentucky on Wednesday. The Hoosiers will look to finally topple a ranked opponent in their first non-tournament game of the season.
In a season where IU (11-7) has already suffered four losses to ranked teams by a total of eight runs, the Hoosiers think they can break through Kentucky (18-3).
“It’s not like we’re losing to teams we shouldn’t be losing to,” IU Coach Michelle Gardner said. “Kentucky is another good team, another top 25 team, but we’re going to find a way to beat these teams eventually.”
It will be important for IU’s offense to get in a groove as the Hoosiers play their first games at home in the coming weeks and then begin Big Ten play.
Last year, IU scored more than five runs a game and batted .288 as a team. This year, however, the Hoosiers have managed only 3.7 runs per game and a .246 batting average.
The two leading forces in the lineup this season have been sophomore leadoff batter Rebecca Blitz and junior CaraMia Tsirigos. Blitz leads the team with a .386 batting average, 22 hits and nine stolen bases. Tsirigos is also leading the team with two home runs and 11 RBIs.
In the most recent tournament in Auburn, Alabama, Tsirigos delivered against No. 3 Auburn with a grand slam in the first inning. Though IU failed to hold on to the lead before ultimately falling 8-7 in extra innings, Tsirigos said the game showed the team what it’s capable of.
“I really think we’re going to play well from here, that Auburn game will teach us to get out to that big early lead and not take it for granted,” Tsirigos said.
Freshmen pitchers Josie Wood and Tara Trainer have put together outstanding first seasons, as both sport a sub-3.00 ERA and both have taken home a Big Ten Freshman of the Week award.
Trainer’s 2.47 ERA and Wood’s 2.50 mark, in addition to 11 innings of work from redshirt freshman Emily Kirk, have combined to hold opponents to less than three runs per game.
In the Kentucky game, both freshman figure to pitch, as Gardner hasn’t hesitated to bring one in for relief.
The first midweek game of the year for IU brings a new challenge, but Gardner said she doesn’t view it any differently from a weekend tournament or series.
“It’s a tough turnaround, but we need to be able to get back up and go,” Gardner said. “We’re just going to go play one game and try to win it.”
