On a beautiful Wednesday night at Andy Mohr Field, Indiana Softball didn’t need late game drama, it didn't need a comeback, a tense finish, or a seventh-inning rally. Instead the Hoosiers leaned on timely hitting, sound defense, and another dominant outing in the circle to capitalize and roll past Butler 9-0 in six innings for the midweek run-rule victory.
It was a huge day for a pair of Indiana hitters. Hannah Haberstroh blasted a solo home run in the second and cleared the bases with a three-RBI double in the third. Then came a record-tying walk-off homer from Avery Parker to end it.
For Parker, that swing meant more than just sealing another dominant out of conference victory.
Right as she made contact, there wasn’t a person in the park who thought the ball had any chance of staying inside the fence. With the blast, Parker ties Indiana’s all-time career home run record, with the 45th long ball of her career.
“It’s a weight off the chest,” Parker said. “I knew going into this season that I was close, and I’d watched Taylor Minnick and Bri Copeland break it the year before. So when you set your goals for the year, that was at the top of the list. Super grateful for the people around me to help me get there.”
For the first inning and a half, this looked like a game that was going to stay quiet.
Indiana’s starter, Aubree Hooks, retired Butler in order in the first. She got help from her shortstop, Alex Cooper, who handled a pair of put outs herself. Hooks looked sharp from the jump, pounding the zone and never letting Butler get comfortable in the box.
Indiana had the chance to strike first in the opening frame with Parker, Josie Bird and Madalyn Strader all drawing walks, the Hoosiers had the bases loaded with two outs. Except Butler escaped. Ellie Goins almost went deep, but the swing only had warning track power and the bases were left loaded, the scoreboard was left empty.
That changed in the bottom of the second when Hannah Haberstroh stepped up in the box. In the half inning prior, she made a fully stretched out diving play in right field that drew one of the loudest reactions of the night.
Leading off the second, the right-fielder crushed a solo home run to left-center for her second homer of the season, giving Indiana a 1-0 lead.
Haberstroh's biggest swing was yet to come.
After Hooks worked her way through traffic in the third and stranded a Bulldog runner at second, Indiana’s offense was able to break the game open in the bottom half.
Avery Parker led with a single, Bird reached on a fielder's choice, then Strader punched a hard hit single through the left side of the infield. Goins followed with a ground ball that was too tough to handle for the Butler shortstop, loading the bases for Haberstroh, and Parker scored.
Haberstroh wasted no time picking up right where she left off.
Hannah ripped a line drive double to the right-center wall that cleared the bases, and was able to advance to third on an errant throw from the cut off. Just like that, Indiana’s slim lead ballooned into a four-run cushion. Alli Gavin followed right after with an RBI single to plate Haberstroh and stretch the lead to 5 after 3.
At that point the Hoosiers were in complete control.
“Hannah was an all-star today, at one point collecting all of the RBIs,” head coach Shonda Stanton said.
Haberstroh finished with four RBIs and made her presence felt in both the batter's box, and the field.
“Just got to deal with it,” Haberstroh said about battling the sun in right field. “We practice it all week. We get enough sun balls in, so just sticking it out.”
Hooks handled the rest.
The right-hander allowed just three hits across four scoreless innings, working efficiently and attacking Butler’s lineup on the outer half of the plate, using her velocity to keep the Bulldogs off balance.
“We saw that if our pitchers pounded the outside corner the way they know how to, we can either fool them or make them feed ground balls to our defense,” Parker said. “So our defense got to work.”
Taylor Hess took over in relief and was just as sharp, retiring all six batters she faced over the final two innings to preserve the shutout.
In the sixth, Indiana was finally able to hammer the final nail into the coffin of this game.
Peyton Drummond started the inning with a bloop double and Brooke Mannon wasted no time in her pinch-hit opportunity, lining the first pitch she saw right back up the middle. The hit brought in Drummond from second, making it 6-0 Indiana. Then VanBrandt reached with a single.
That set the stage for Parker.
Parker stepped up and launched a no-doubt three-run bomb to center field and walked the game off. Sending every Hoosier into celebration and streaming out of the dugout to meet their teammate, that just affected the record books.
“There's something special about being in the record books and leaving your mark and your legacy,” Stanton said. “She’s stayed, she’s an Indiana homegrown kid. At any point in time, she could have left and she stayed loyal to the Hoosiers. She’s well deserving of that honor.”
For Indiana, Wednesday wasn’t just a clean midweek win, it was a sign of the confidence built during last weekend’s competitive series with No. 9 UCLA. The team has confidence that they can hang with the best, and that confidence is carrying over to the rest of their games.
Now, the Hoosiers turn their attention to a rivalry series with Purdue this weekend as they will return to Andy Mohr Field with the first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. ET on Friday. A chance for Avery Parker to pull away and stand alone in Indiana home run history.
