Indiana softball wins 6-3 over Nevada on Saturday at Farrington Stadium, in the Littlewood Invitational. The Hoosiers improve to 7-2 on the season and continue to look comfortable in the Arizona sunshine.
Indiana wasted little time to apply pressure. After a scoreless first inning, the Hoosiers broke through in the top of the second. Hannah Haberstroh drew a walk and was replaced on the bases by Jada Ellison. Ellie Goins reached on a fielder’s choice to second, allowing Ellison to race home from second for the game’s first run to put the Hoosiers up one.
The Hoosiers blew the game open in the third. Aly VanBrandt sparked the inning with a double to right center, her fourth double in the last four games. Alex Cooper followed with a walk. That all but set the stage for Avery Parker.
Parker crushed a three-run home run over the right field wall to extend the lead to 4-0. The blast was Parker’s fifth of the season. The blast brought juice to the Indiana dugout and capped a 2-for-4 day at the plate for the senior utility, her third multi-hit performance of the year.
Parker is the only Hoosier with a slugging percentage of over 1.000, with two or more plate appearances a game. The senior is hitting at a 0.478 batting average, slugging 1.174, and has an on-base percentage of 0.625. Parker has hit a home run in three straight games, with four homers in her last five games.
Indiana continued to be aggressive on the basepaths in the fourth, showcased by Brooke Mannon stealing home to push the lead to 5-0. The Indiana pressure never seemed to let up.
Through nine games on the year, Indiana has successfully stolen 34 times, highlighted by the eight stolen bags against Stonehill last weekend. The Hoosiers are stealing 3.8 bags a game so far this season, up from last year’s 1.67 steals per game. Stanton’s base running style has always been aggressive but the dividends are paying extremely well early into this season.
In the circle, Taylor Hess delivered a steady performance. She worked four and two-thirds innings, allowing just one run, and navigating out of traffic in the fifth. Nevada loaded the bases in the bottom half of that inning and managed a single run on a walk, trimming the deficit to 5-1 before Ella Troutt entered in relief and recorded a key strikeout to end the threat. Hess earned her second win of the season and improved to 2-0.
Indiana answered immediately in the sixth when Goins doubled to center, Peyton Drummond followed with a single down the left field line to send Goins home and stretch the lead to 6-1, and picked up her third RBI of the season.
Nevada mounted one final push in the bottom of the seventh, using a leadoff double and a pair of RBI plays to close the gap to 6-3. In the end, the Hoosiers stayed composed, turning a game-ending double play to seal the win and secure their third victory of the weekend.
Six different Hoosiers crossed the plate in the brazen offensive effort. Indiana will wrap up play in the Littlewood Invitational on Sunday, with another matchup against Nevada at noon ET.
