On Friday night, in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament’s Knoxville Regional, Indiana fought No. 7 seed Virginia for the right to play No. 2 seed Tennessee in the upper bracket final. The battle between the regional’s middle seeds was very even, so much so that it required an eighth inning to crown a victor. Indiana ultimately lost by a score of 8-7.
Neither offense established a true sense of rhythm, but both lineups still scored a considerable amount of runs. The two teams combined for 13 hits, six of which went over the wall. Neither offense threaded very much production together, but both possessed enough power to put runs on the board nonetheless. Each team hit three home runs apiece, but in the end, Virginia claimed victory with an RBI single that stayed inside the fence.
The Hoosiers struck first with three runs in the first inning, headlined by senior Avery Parker’s two-run homer. Later in the same frame, Madalyn Strader stole one base but reached the other three via Virginia errors, granting Indiana a 3-0 lead.
The early lead didn’t last long, with Virginia’s Jade Hylton hitting a three-run homer of her own to tie the score. The pattern of Indiana striding into the lead and Virginia promptly responding became a theme throughout the night. Indiana’s Ellie Goins hit a home run in the third inning, only for Hylton and Madison Greene to tie the score again in the fourth frame with a pair of solo shots.
Twice, Indiana hit an emphatic home run, with Virginia matching the tally not long afterwards. The response to Indiana’s final long ball, though, packed a more painful punch.
Goins created a 7-5 lead and swung the advantage back to the Indiana dugout with her second home run of the game in the fifth frame. Virginia patched together a pair of pivotal runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, again evening up the tally.
With the score tied at 7-7 at the outset of the seventh inning, the pressure on both lineups to produce intensified to the maximum possible degree. Indiana appeared to be poised to meet the moment when the Hoosiers loaded the bases with two outs, but Cassidy Kettleman struck out as the bottom of the order sputtered out to a scoreless final frame.
Two runners stood on base for Virginia with two outs on the board, but rather than striking out, Jaiden Griffith hit a single hard up the middle. Goins rushed to launch the softball towards home plate, where Parker applied the necessary tag to force extra innings.
Once again, Indiana seemed to be in prime position to take significant strides towards a triumph, with the top of the order approaching the batter’s box in the eighth inning. However, Virginia’s Taylor Smith struck out two batters and didn’t allow any to reach base in her third scoreless inning of work in the circle.
As Indiana scrambled to locate the most trustworthy arm in the bullpen to carry the contest into a ninth inning, Hylton walked and advanced to scoring position on a ground out. Then, redshirt freshman Reagan Hickey beamed a ball to right center field.
Goins raced for it, but she made contact with the wall while the ball made contact with the ground. Hickey’s hit became the RBI single that confirmed the Cavalier victory.
Notably, Virginia’s constantly threatening lineup forced five pitching changes, effectively decimating the Indiana pitching staff in the process. Freshman Aubree Hooks started the contest in the circle and returned twice, facing a total of 25 batters in over five innings of work. Taylor Hess, Ella Troutt and Brooke Mannon faced the other 15 batters.
Virginia ravaged Indiana’s pitching staff, exhausted its lineup and left the Hoosiers with a devastating loss to rebound from less than 24 hours removed from their next game. At 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Indiana challenges Northern Kentucky in the elimination bracket with the tournament lives of both teams on the line.
Northern Kentucky courageously competed with Tennessee for a full seven innings, narrowly losing 3-1 when the hosts surged into the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. Despite the loss, the Norse proved that they are deserving of respect in the Knoxville Regional, and are likely to be a tough out for the Hoosiers.
After a crushing loss in the opening round, the Hoosiers look to take care of business in the elimination bracket and work back to an opportunity to topple the top teams in the regional. If Indiana does survive and advance, it will return to action almost immediately, at 8 p.m. on Saturday against either Tennessee or Virginia.
In the elimination bracket, teams fight to survive rather than strive to advance. Time, as well as seven more innings of softball, will tell whether or not the Hoosiers can pick up their first postseason win of the season in Knoxville.
