Indiana clinched the weekend series against Rutgers on Saturday, combining a convincing 6-1 win with the previous day’s 12-2 rout. The Big Ten foes will face off once more on Sunday, but Indiana will be the series victor regardless of what transpires in the third game in part because of the complementary softball it displayed in the first two.
Indiana’s win on Saturday wasn’t quite as incontestable as its Friday win, but it contained the same stern pitching, quality defense and explosive offense. It took seven innings to oust the Scarlet Knights, contrary to Friday’s five-inning affair, but it was seven innings of Indiana establishing a clear advantage over its adversary.
Rutgers began with the upper hand, though, when junior Sam Rohwer crushed a leadoff home run to left field against Indiana’s starting pitcher, sophomore Ella Troutt. Six days prior, Rutgers led off with a home run in the final installment of a road weekend series against Maryland and left with a 9-3 win.
In Bloomington, Indiana told a different story, in part through the unwavering confidence of Troutt in the circle. In response to the home run, Troutt threw nine strikeouts, the most of her career so far. In large part due to Troutt’s terrific pitching, the Rutgers offense was rarely in prime position to score and never succeeded beyond the very first at-bat.
After the game, Troutt spoke on the home run and her response.
“It’s honestly kind of motivating to really lock in…” Troutt said. “I think that was really motivating.”
Troutt relinquished her spot in the circle to start the seventh inning, allowing junior Brooke Mannon to complete the winning effort. She let two batters reach base base, but certainly pitched well enough to prevent the five run lead from collapsing.
Ultimately, Indiana won with complementary success. Although Rutgers opened the action with a home run and an early score, the first inning concluded with a 3-1 Indiana lead. From that point on, the Indiana pitching staff never stepped into the circle without the assistance of ample run insurance.
The first inning entailed many similarities to what was present at the end of Friday’s run-rule result. Junior Aly VanBrandt earned a leadoff double, exactly as she did on Friday. Junior Alex Cooper walked, and then senior Avery Parker hit her second home run of the weekend, scoring three runs in the process. Rutgers threw the first punch, but Indiana punched back with much more force.
The rest of the scoring occurred in the third inning, with a Madalyn Strader double and an Alli Gavin sacrifice fly that combined to match the offensive output unleashed by Parker. Six runs was certainly enough to win on Saturday, especially because Rutgers failed to add another tally to the scoreboard.
Troutt settled in and pitched well as the starter, Mannon pitched well in relief and the lineup returned to its potent and explosive ways once again. The other aspect of the team’s complementary success was its fielding.
In seven innings, the Indiana defense fielded with 96.6% accuracy. The infield recorded two critical double plays and the outfield made its fair share of captivating catches, including senior Cassidy Kettleman’s leaping snag in left field for the final out of the contest.
After the game, Indiana head coach Shonda Stanton raved about Kettleman’s catch.
“To not give up on that ball,” Stanton said, “she made that look kind of easy. Tremendous catch, that was unbelievable.”
Across the board, each section of the Indiana roster went above and beyond in its efforts to support the group as a whole. Troutt posted nine strikeouts, the defense fielded with incredible accuracy to support the pitchers if they were to falter and the lineup provided plenty of run insurance as well.
Indiana has shown glimpses of its ability to contend in the Big Ten this season, and if it's going to do so, it will require the complementary efforts it executed to near perfection on Saturday. The next opportunity to showcase that complementary softball comes on Sunday, at a revised first pitch time of 11 a.m. for the weekend’s third and final test against Rutgers.
