Indiana Clinches Series over Softball

Friday, March 24

Bloomington, Ind.

3:00 PM

Rutgers University

7-20, 0

Indiana

15-14, 0

Rutgers

Indiana

Mar 24 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

March 24, 2017

Final Stats

BLOOMINGTON, IND. - The Rutgers softball team opened Big Ten play with a doubleheader at Indiana on Friday afternoon, suffering a pair of setbacks to the Hoosiers. IU (16-14, 2-0 Big Ten) claimed the first contest, 9-2, before registering a 23-2 victory over RU (7-21, 0-2 Big Ten).

Rutgers' second contest of the day was televised live on Big Ten Network, marking RU's first appearance of the season.

GAME ONE
In the first game of the day, Rutgers fell to Indiana in its conference opener.

Freshman Hailey Hoklotubbe led the Scarlet Knights with two hits. Junior Rebecca Hall added the second triple of her career, along with a run and an RBI in the contest. Senior Shayla Sweeney (6-6) suffered the loss in her sixth complete game of the season.

CaraMia Tsirigos guided the Hoosiers with three hits, including a home run and four RBIs. Tara Trainer (7-7) picked up the win in the circle

As the RU offense got off to a slow start, IU moved to a 3-0 lead with a run in the first inning and two in the second.

Sweeney registered a scoreless frame in the bottom of the third, retiring three of four batters and sending the final batter down swinging. However, RU would strand its fourth runner at that point of the game on base in the top of the fourth.

In the bottom half of the fourth, the Hoosiers tacked on two more runs on three hits to extend their lead to 5-0.

The Rutgers bats found momentum in the top of the sixth, sending in two runs on three hits. After a base hit for freshman Nicole Bowman, Hall notched a triple to send in the Scarlet Knights' first run. Sophomore Nicolette Anico added in an RBI single of her own to cut into the deficit, 5-2.

IU responded with four runs on three hits, including a three-run homer for Tsirigos, and an RU error for what would be the final margin at 9-2.

GAME TWO
Indiana scored early and often to claim its second win of the day over Rutgers.

Freshmen Taryn Atlee and Nicole Bowman led RU with two hits and one RBI each. Sophomroe Whitney Jones (1-7) took the loss in the circle.

Indiana was led by Rebecca Blitz and Rachel O'Malley with three hits apiece. O'Malley also added in four RBIs, while Tsirigos notched four RBIs of her own. Trainer (8-7) claimed her second win of the day in the circle.

In the bottom of the first, Indiana rallied six runs on five hits, including a four-run home run for Tsirigos and a two-run homer for O'Malley.

As the RU bats remained quiet, IU tacked on four more runs on four hits in the bottom of the second.

With two outs in the top of the third, Meaghan Wells kept RU's inning alive with a double to center field. Atlee followed with a double of her own to send Wells home and cut into the deficit 10-1. Although the Scarlet Knights would load the bases, no further runs would cross.

The Hoosiers then extended its lead with 13 more runs across the third and fourth frames.

Although an RBI-double for Bowman in the top of the fifth, the margin was too large for RU to close in on.

UP NEXT
Rutgers and Indiana conclude the three-game series with a meeting at 1 p.m.ET on Saturday.

KNIGHT NOTES
-Rutgers made its sixth overall appearance on the Big Ten Network.
-Indiana clinched its first series over Rutgers since the Scarlet Knights joined the league. RU claimed two of the three games in the first series in 2015 before sweeping IU in 2016. The losses snapped a four-game win streak for RU in the all-time series.
-Rutgers is currently on a 34-game road swing to open the 2017 season, marking its 27^th and 28^th contests on the road thus far.

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