Indiana softball entered the 2023 season with an encouraging roster composed of mostly underclasswomen who many thought would need at least another season to grow and develop before making some noise in the competitive Big Ten conference.
Despite Indiana returning the majority of its talent from 2022, which finished 10th in the Big Ten last season, D1Softball projected the Hoosiers to finish in that same position in 2023.
Projections are never perfect, but this one was far off from what transpired on the diamond. Of the 14 schools, the publication only got two right –– Northwestern winning the Big Ten No. 1 and Purdue finishing 13th.
Indiana was D1Softball’s biggest miss. The Hoosiers finished second in the Big Ten with their best season in nearly three decades, winning 44 games overall. They smashed program and individual records, as Indiana made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 12 seasons.
There was a ton of success in 2023, which was Shonda Stanton’s sixth season at the helm, but the squad still went through its ups and downs. The rollercoaster ride began in Clearwater, Florida, during the season’s first two weekends. The first tournament was more successful than the second, as the Hoosiers went 3-1 at the NFCA Leadoff Classic before getting mauled by five of the best teams in the country in the ESPN Clearwater Invitational.
The highest point of the season came as the conference slate commenced. Then, the first of many program records were broken. The Hoosiers rattled off 23 consecutive victories, sneaking into the top-25 in the process while raising eyebrows from those who doubted their capabilities. Sweeps over Maryland, Purdue and Ohio State led Team 50 to a perfect 10-0 start in conference play.
Not only was the team putting the rest of the conference on watch, but there was also one specific player who was making a name for herself: freshman Taryn Kern. While she was crushing home runs and leading a high-powered offense to win after win, she was also making ridiculous plays in the field which caught the eye of softball fans across the country.
Kern was steady the entire season, culminating in a plethora of awards, including Big Ten Player and Freshman of the Year. Kern broke four single-season program records, including home runs. The freshman was a mainstay in a Hoosier lineup that shattered records in many offensive categories and was statistically the Big Ten’s best offense.
Once the winning streak ended, Indiana hit a rough patch, losing six of seven games. The Hoosiers lost a series to Minnesota, were defeated by the University of Notre Dame in a midweek contest, then got swept by Nebraska at home.
Questions were starting to be raised about the validity of the young Hoosiers. Could they overcome adversity for the first time in several months and push toward its first postseason berth in over a decade?
The critics were silenced quickly and there were positive answers to those queries. Indiana went on a nine-game winning streak to end the regular season, sweeping Rutgers, Michigan and Michigan State. Indiana had all the momentum going into the postseason, beginning with the Big Ten Tournament in Champagne, Illinois.
The single-elimination tournament would prove to be no easy task, as the No. 2-seeded Hoosiers faced adversity in their first game against Penn State. Down by a pair of runs in extra-innings and down to their final two outs, the Hoosiers fought back, tied it and won 5-4 via a walk-off home run in the ninth inning to survive and advance.
Team 50 would find itself in the Big Ten championship game after a hard-fought win against Minnesota in the semifinals. Indiana then met the Big Ten regular-season champion Northwestern. The Wildcats were in the Women’s College World Series the previous year and were back-to-back regular season champs.
Indiana led 1-0 and was just three outs away from the hardware, but this time was on the wrong side of a walk-off. The Wildcats won 2-1, breaking the hearts of Hoosier fans, but proving how competitive Team 50 could be against an experienced team like Northwestern.
The Cream and Crimson were revealed as the No. 2 seed in the Knoxville Regional in the NCAA Tournament, where they again endured ups and downs. Indiana defeated the University of Louisville in the opening game, 4-3, before experiencing a setback against the University of Tennessee, getting run-ruled by the Lady Vols, 9-1.
Now in the losers’ bracket, Indiana again faced off against the Cardinals and again were down to its final three outs. But, just like the Big Ten Tournament, Team 50 defied all odds and came-from-behind with their backs against the wall to win 3-2 and eliminate the Cardinals.
There wasn’t a lot of time to celebrate. Indiana returned to the field later that day to play the Lady Vols, needing to beat them twice in a row to advance to the super regionals. The No. 1 seed and host of the regional took care of business against Indiana, 7-3.
While the season ended in disappointing fashion, heads were held high and smiles were seen across many faces, as Team 50 did all season, honoring the student-athletes who came before them and setting a great example to future Hoosiers.
The core of Indiana’s team will return in 2024, where expectations and pre-season predictions in Bloomington will be much higher. Team 50 could go down as one that set the tone and benchmark for the Indiana softball program moving forward.
If one thing is for certain: Indiana will not be picked 10th in the Big Ten preseason poll next January.
