IU Softball

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,957]

Indiana Softball has announced that pitcher Amber Linton has signed her National Letter of Intent to join the program.
 
From Head Coach Shonda Stanton:
"Amber is strengthening an already strong 2020 class.  She enhances a solid pitching staff with the ability to keep the ball down in the zone with great movement. As with our initial signees, we are proud that she hails from Indiana and is driven both academically and athletically to excel at the highest level."   
 
A right-handed pitcher from Franklin, Indiana, Linton will join the Hoosiers as part of the 2020 signing class. She is currently a senior at Roncalli High School. Linton posted a 1.47 ERA and 94 strikeouts during her junior season in 2019, a 1.60 ERA with 98 K's her sophomore season in 2018, and a 1.72 ERA with 104 strikeouts her freshman year in 2017. She has led Roncalli to the conference championship all three seasons of her high school career, and to a county title in 2018.  Linton was awarded Team MVP in 2017, and is currently All-Academic State in softball and cross country. She has made All-Conference and All-County every season (2017-19), and All-State in 2019.
 
In club ball, Linton pitched for the Indiana Magic Gold leading her squad to a third-place finish in PGF Nationals in 2019, being named to the All-PGF Tournament team in the process. She joins fellow class signee Grace Lorsung in the Flo Softball top 100 rankings at No. 87. 
 
Off the field, Linton is a member of the National Honor Society. A daughter of Eric and Shelly Linton, she has one brother Max, and two sisters Marisa and Ava. 
 
Amber Linton joins a strong 2020 class of Indiana natives that signed last month including Aaliyah Andrews, Brooker Benson, Grace Lorsung and Macy Montgomery. To see the other 2020 signees CLICK HERE. 
 

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,957]

First semester GPA for the team.  Now if they could only hit a riseball as well as they hit the books.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,957]

Pre-season poll from USA Softball released today and while our Hoosiers didn't make the top 25, we did receive 8 votes.  Top 3 teams are Alabama, Washington and Oklahoma.  Minnesota came in at #7; Michigan #14; Northwestern #15; Wisconsin #23.

https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Softball/College-Corner/2020-College-Corner/Top-25-Polls/Preseason

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Time to take a look at this year's team!

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Let's get this started!  The Hoosiers are taking part in the Black and Gold Tourney in Orlando (home team is UCF).

Thursday 6th vs UCF @ 6 pm 

Friday 7th vs Duke @ 3 pm

Friday 7th vs UCF @ 5:30 pm

Saturday 8th vs St. John's @ 9 am

Saturday 8th vs Clemson @ 11 am

 

All games can be heard at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/Indiana/

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,957]

Overall season preview and mention of returnees and newcomers.

https://iuhoosiers.com/news/2020/2/5/iu-softball-set-to-open-2020-season-in-orlando.aspx?fbclid=IwAR1cn3HYrOYNRM7xyZwUth-FLi_bTxHIgSbe03xrk_YEVPAnYqIiGm4IJQM

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,957]

PLAY BALL!

Opening Day!! #IUSoftball gets the 2020 season underway this evening at UCF at 6PM to start the Black & Gold Tournament.

Live Stats

Audio

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,957]

Starting lineup for our season opener.   That's freshman Tatum Hayes getting the start in left field.

IND Line Up

Spot	Pos	# Player	Bats		Avg
1	rf	23 Jenkins	L
2	ss	26 Radcliffe	R
3	3b	10 Davis, H.	L
4	2b	22 Lacefield	L
5	1b	3 Baez	R
6	c	42 Norton	R
7	lf	0 Hayes	L
8	dp	24 Lambert	L
9	cf	45 Hart	L
10	p	30 Goodin	R

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,957]

Hoosiers lose their opener to UCF 8-0.   Emily Goodin started and gave up runs in the 1st and 2nd then settled down until giving up another run in the 5th.  Josie Wood took the mound to start the 6th and gave up 5 runs on 4 hits and didn’t get an out before freshman Kate Rehberg relieved her and got us out of the inning.  For the game we only had 4 hits and committed 2 errors.    We’ll try again tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 against Duke.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,957]

We're playing 2 today.  Duke at 3:00 and a re-match with UCF at 5:30 as a part of the Black and Gold Tournament.  Emily Goodin on the mound to face Duke.

Audio - Both Games

Live Stats

Story on Yesterday's Loss

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IU up 1-0 bottom of 3rd

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2-0

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.....and it's 8-2 Duke

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,957]

I know it's only game 3, but I'm concerned that we have a very weak pitching staff.  I wasn't impressed that much with Goodin when she pitched last year and she's not shown anything in 2 games.  Same applies for Josie Wood who was even less impressive to me last year than was Goodin.  Sophomore Taylor Askland only appeared in a single inning last season so no idea what she can offer.  In our 3 games this season, freshman Kate Rehberg has gotten in all 3 games and struggled but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt being a freshman for now.  In the earlier game today, she faced 10 batters; gave up 2 extra base hits; allowed 2 runs and didn't strike out anyone.  She started today's second game and only lasted long enough to get 1 out.  She faced 8 batters, gave up 2 BB; 3 hits and 5 runs before replaced by Goodin.  

In the second game against UCF we trail 5-0 after one completed inning.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,957]

0-3 on the season as we get beat 11-2.  After Goodin replaced Rehberg, she pitched 2 innings and faced 11 batters giving up 5 hits and 3 more runs.  Wood came on and pitched 2.1 innings allowing another 3 runs for UCF.  

Play again tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. vs St. John's and again at 11:00 a.m.  vs Clemson.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,957]

Story on yesterday's 2 losses:  https://iuhoosiers.com/news/2020/2/7/indiana-softball-drops-two-games-in-second-day-of-black-gold-tournament.aspx

In today's first game against St. John's, they're in the top of the 5th with IU leading 9-0.

 

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,957]

Hoosiers get into the win column with a 10-2 victory over St. John's.  Goodin started and pitched 4 innings allowing just 3 hits; no BB and no runs.  Wood pitched the 5th; gave up 2 hits, a walk and 2 runs but we scored in the bottom of the 5th to end the game.  Women banged out 10 hits with 4 players getting 2 apiece.   

Immediately play again against Clemson before returning to Bloomington.

[Class of '66 Old Fart 80,957]

Women will return to Bloomington with a 2-3 record for the weekend as they hang on to defeat Clemson 5-4.  Goodin goes the distance allowing 4 runs on 5 hits; 2 BB; 2 WP.   We only had 6 hits but made them count scoring 5 runs.  Our defense needs to tighten up as we committed 4 errors and errors were a problem in our other games this weekend.

I expressed my concerns about Goodin in an earlier post and I'm not trying to beat a dead horse.  But Goodin had a habit last year of giving up early runs and that same issue was evident again this weekend forcing us to play from behind.  

Next weekend they'll be in Durham, NC for the B1G/ACC Challenge playing 2 against Duke and 2 against Syracuse.

[OliviaPope40 6,296]

Thank you everybody I have been swamped at work. 

[OliviaPope40 6,296]

Indiana Softball earned a two-game sweep in the final day of competition in the UCF Black & Gold Tournament on Saturday (Feb. 8). The Hoosiers defeated the Red Storm of St. John's in run-rule walk off fashion by a final of 10-2 in the morning before battling back to win their first ever program meeting with Clemson University 5-4.
 
Game One: Indiana 10, St. John's 2 
KEY MOMENTS

• For the second day in a row, Annika Baez opened the scoring for IU as she knocked an RBI single in the bottom of the first that brought home Gabbi Jenkins from second base.
• Indiana put together a huge inning in the second bringing four runs home. Taylor Lambert legged out a triple followed by Tete Hartreaching on a fielding error at first base that brought home Tatum Hayes. Grayson Radcliffe then reached on a SAC bunt, bringing home Hart. Gabbi Jenkins then singled to right center bringing in Radcliffe before Annika Baez followed her up with a single to center field, allowing her to score.
• Desiree Dufek helped the IU infield get out of the bases loaded jam in the third inning with a throw out at third base. She followed it up with a towering leadoff home run to start the bottom of the frame to extend the Hoosier lead to 6-0.
• Hannah Davis would bring two more home for Indiana with a 2 RBI single! Brittany Ford followed up a walk to bring home another making in 9-0.
• St. John's brought two across in the top of the fifth inning to stay alive. The Hoosiers responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the fifth to finish off the Red Storm via run-rule off the bat of Desiree Dufek.

 
 INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Desiree Dufek hit her first career home run with the Cream and Crimson to leadoff the bottom of the third inning. She followed it up with an RBI single to end the ball game in the fifth inning.
• Gabbi Jenkins recorded two hits, two runs and an RBI in the first game of the day. She has four hits so far this season.
• Hannah Davis batted in her first two RBI's for Indiana going two for three against St. John's
• Grayson Radcliffe and Tete Hart both reached base twice coming around to score both times. They also each picked up a stolen bag.
• Senior right-hander Emily Goodin tossed 4.0 scoreless innings on the way to her first of two wins on the day. She only allowed three hits and got two K's

 
Game Two: Indiana 5, Clemson 4
KEY MOMENTS 

• Indiana kept the hits coming to start the second game against Clemson as an E6 allowed Grayson Radcliffe to stride home in the first. Clemson was able to strand the remaining base runners keeping it 1-0.
• Clemson got two in response in the bottom of the first as Hannah Goodwin doubled to left field to bring in two and take the lead. The Tigers got one more on a home run to extend the lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the third inning.
• Annika Baez took the throw from Dufek making the tag on base at first to record the second out in the bottom of the fourth. Emily Goodinfollowed it up with her seventh strikeout of the game to keep the score.  
• Indiana battled back to tie it up in the top of the fifth as Tete Hart reached on an error by the Clemson infield allowing Desiree Dufek to score. Gabbi Jenkins then grounded out to second bringing in Hart tying the game 3-3.
• IU took the lead in the sixth as Clemson misplayed a pop up from Bella Norton to bring home Annika Baez. Caraline Woodall was able to reach home extending Indiana's lead to 5-3.
• The Hoosier defense held strong down the stretch behind Emily Goodin only allowing one run for Clemson in the bottom of the seventh. IU hung on to win the ballgame 5-4.

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE 

• Emily Goodin tossed another gem of a performance against Clemson pitching all 7.0 innings only allowing 1 earned run and recording 9 K's over 118 pitches. This was her second win of the day. She is 2-2 after this weekend.
• Taylor Lambert went 2 for 3 against Clemson connecting for three hits on the entire day.
• Annika Baez continued her strong day with eight put-outs against Clemson. She had zero errors of the course of the weekend.

 
 HEAD COACH SHONDA STANTON
"It's a humbling game and you've got to be resilient. I think we saw that all weekend. I really felt the one thing we would do is play clean defense this weekend, and unfortunately that failed us. It was probably one of the worst weekend I've really ever seen, I've been coaching twenty years, of a defensive performance. – All these kids are making great adjustments, and we knew there'd be some limitations.
 
What I'm most proud of is what happened in the circle with Goodin right there in that game. All the mistakes that we made. Both teams were trying to give it away, and for her to stay strong and focused and to pick her team up. That's what its about, you have to pick your team up."

UP NEXT
Indiana Softball continues play early in 2020 next weekend when they travel to Durham, North Carolina for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The Hoosiers will play two more against Duke, and two against Syracuse.

https://iuhoosiers.com/news/2020/2/8/indiana-softball-sweeps-final-day-of-opening-weekend.aspx