Bloomington, IN. – The 24th-ranked Indiana Hoosiers softball team swept Ohio State over the weekend to achieve their longest winning streak in team history with 22 wins and counting. The Friday game was cut short due to lightning strikes in the area and then excessive rain.
Ohio State trailed 5-4 Friday at the time of a weather suspension with the game in the bottom of the third inning and then fell behind 7-4 when play resumed on Saturday with 40-degree weather and gusty 45 mph wind conditions to contend with. The Buckeyes battled, though, scoring four runs in the top of the fourth inning to grab an 8-7 lead.
Indiana, however, scored three times in the home half of the fourth, four in the fifth, and three more in the sixth for the 17-9 win in a run-rule-ending game.
Kami Kortokrax finished the game with three hits and a career-high four RBI while Sam Hackenbracht (2-for-4, two doubles) and Destinee Noury (2-for-2, one RBI) each had multi-hit games for the Buckeyes.
For the Hoosiers Taylor Minnick went 3-for-3 with a batting avg. of .421 and hit two doubles and two free passes, earning two RBI. Junior Brook Benson hit her second home run of the season and scored two runs. First baseman Sarah Stone had two hits, one double, and a home run with four RBIs. Sophomore pitcher Heather Johnson picked up her 8th win of the season.
On Sunday the teams played a doubleheader starting at noon to continue their weekend slugfest. In game 1 the Hoosiers battled to a 6-5 victory. The Buckeyes started quickly as Indiana native Melina Wilkison blasted a homer over the centerfield wall to give the Buckeyes the early lead. Wilkison hit a big triple in the third inning when Sam Hackenbracht drove her home with a big hit to give the Buckeyes a 2-0 lead.
It was Wilkison’s 6th homer of the season and has 4 in the last 4 games for the sophomore from Greensburg.
In the bottom of the third Senior Cora Bassett got a hit and advanced on an error then a walk loaded the bases. Bassett would score on a passed ball and sophomore Brianna Copeland drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and freshman Avery Parker ripped a double to give the Hoosiers the lead.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Hoosiers would score 3 more runs. The Buckeyes would put up three runs in the top of the fifth to cut the lead but the Hoosier defense came up big and stood strong to get their record-setting 21st victory in a row with a 6-5 victory
In the second game, it was another run-scoring hitting slugfest. Taryn Kern and Taylor Minnick got things going in the bottom of the first with back-to-back home runs but the Buckeyes put up 3 runs in the second. Wilkison hit another triple and then was able to reach home on an error. Hackenbracht blasted a two-run homer to tie the game up at 3 apiece in the third.
With bases loaded in the bottom of the third pinch hitter Abby Meeks drove a double into left-center clearing the bases and giving the Hoosiers the lead again. But the Buckeyes came right back in the top of the fifth and scored two more runs to cut the Hoosier lead to 1.
In the bottom of the fifth Indiana extended its lead to 8-5 as they scored two more runs. The Buckeyes would cut the lead to one before Minnick and Copeland would each hit one out of the park to seal the deal for the Hoosiers with a hard-fought 10-7 victory.
The Hoosiers are the hottest team in softball right now with their school-record 22-game win streak and are the only team in the Big Ten Conference to remain undefeated in conference play.
The Buckeyes were led in offense by Wilkison, Hackenbracht, and Kami Kortokrax while the Hoosiers were fueled by Minnick, Bassett, and Kern.
The Buckeyes are 21-12 on the season (2-4 in conference) while the Hoosiers are 29-9 (8-0 in conference)
