IU softball had a sweet senior weekend as the team honored 8 members who have graduated from IU Bloomington. This year, seven seniors and one graduate student were honored for their time as Hoosiers.
The center of the field was painted with the seniors’ numbers, and they took photos with their framed jerseys before the first game Saturday. The team then took care of business and swept Penn State in the final softball series played in Bloomington at Andy Mohr Field for the season.
The Hoosiers had yet another schedule change as they played in two double-headers. The first two games were played on Friday. The first game was a 2-1 IU victory thanks to a home run from senior left fielder Gabbi Jenkins and an RBI from senior catcher Bella Norton.
The second game was a bit more competitive, as the Hoosiers had to comeback from a 7-4 deficit during the bottom of the seventh inning.
The rally started with a one-run RBI from senior third baseman Grayson Radcliffe, which sent senior center fielder Taylor Lambert home and Jenkins to third base before freshman catcher Grace Lorsung hit a two-run RBI to tie the game.
The winning run came from Norton, who raced to home plate on a sacrifice fly from senior first baseman Annika Baez. The Hoosiers won the second game of the series 8-7.
The third game was a solid 4-1 victory with half of the runs coming from Norton RBIs. Norton’s first hit was a groundout to the sophomore shortstop Kaitlyn Morrison, allowing Jenkins to score during the bottom of the first. Then, Norton hit a one-run RBI double to center field, getting Radcliffe home.
The last game was dominance from the Hoosiers offense. Emily Goodin threw a shutout against the Nittany Lions team, while IU scored a grand total of 17 runs to end the game in five innings. This is the most amount of runs for a single IU game since March 24th, 2017, where the Hoosiers scored 23 on Rutgers.
IU heads to College Park to take on Maryland for the final series of the season this weekend starting at 5 p.m. on May 14, at Maryland Softball Stadium in College Park, Maryland.
