The Indiana Hoosiers softball team will be headed to Secchia Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan this weekend for a big series against the Spartans. The Hoosiers enter the games with a 23-12 record while the Spartans are 13-19 overall, and 1-5 in Big Ten Conference play.
Michigan State has played some tough non-conference foes and played close with some tough teams, including nearly defeating No. 15 Arkansas, No. 24 Boston, and FAU, losing those three games by a combined four runs. Hannah Hawley is Michigan State’s top hitter, posting a .368 batting average on 35 hits, nine doubles, eight home runs, and 18 RBI. In the circle, Liv Grey is the Spartans go-to arm as she leads the team with a 2.29 earned run average (era) and 116 strikeouts and a 9-9 record.
The Hoosiers are coming off a tough series with the Michigan Wolverines and are looking to get their first conference victories this weekend. The Hoosiers lead the Big Ten Conference with 40 home runs, 8 by Cora Bassett, 7 from Avery Parker. Seven of the nine routine starters for Indiana are hitting at or above a . 300 batting average. Five Hoosiers have charted 20 or more RBI, including junior Taylor Minnick who leads the team with 36.
Freshman Aly VanBrandt leads the team in batting average, posting a mark of .370. The true freshman was Michigan Miss Softball in 2023 and returns to her home state this weekend. VanBrandt is an Ottawa Lake native which is under two hours away from East Lansing.
On the mound for the Hoosiers, they are led by Junior ace Brianna Copeland who has 12 victories and a 2.48 era with 4 complete games so far this season. She also has 103 strikeouts this season. Sophie Kleiman has 7 victories and 2 saves for the Hoosiers who played one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the NCAA.
Indiana leads the all-time series 77-59 and has swept the last series last season in Bloomington.
Game time Friday, April 5th is at 5 P.M. and the weather is predictied to be in the 40’s and low 50’s for the weekend series.
