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The Indiana Hoosiers Softball team has finally forced national media to pay attention. They finally were able to force their way into the ESPN/USA Today polls, clocking in a no. 24. The ridiculous part of them just now jumping into the top 25? They had to win 14 straight games (the streak is still running) to get anyone to pay attention to them. The Lady Hoosiers are absolutely owning the Big Ten softball regular season and have only four games to go. They have two games this weekend at Northwestern and two more next week at home versus Purdue.
A large portion of the credit for the Softball team going on a tear can be attributed to Senior pitcher Morgan Melloh. She has been on an absolute tear this season. Melloh set a school record for most strikeouts in a season a few weeks ago when there was still 30% of the season left to play. She has only increased her pace since then and is currently sitting at 441 strikeouts on the season and counting.
Melloh, was recently named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week for the fourth time this season and boy did she earn it. Last week Melloh went 4-0 with two victories apiece over Illinois and Iowa. In 27.0 innings pitched she struck out 44 batters and only allowed 7 hits. Let me get out my calculator….. that is 1.6 batters an inning. When someone is striking out half the batters every inning, then you can put money on them being pretty damn good. She has put up 185 Ks in conference play which has her leading the way nationally in strikeouts with 441.
However, a pitcher does need some offense if they are going to get those wins and the hits have been coming from all over the lineup. Jenna Abraham, Amanda Wagner and Sara Olson are all killing the ball over the 14 game win streak. Abraham is rocking a .424 average throughout the streak and setting the table for those in the lineup behind her. Wagner has a .488 on-base-percentage in the streak which is pretty ridiculous in its own right. Both of these girls have been extremely beneficial to Sara Olson by getting on base. Because of Wagner and Abraham getting on base, Sara Olson is now sixth all-time in IU softball history with her 94 career RBIs. She has hit .500 over the 14 game win streak with three home runs and 14 RBIs.
Overall it looks like IU Softball has the potential to close out the regular season with an 18 game win streak. They travel this weekend to play a sub .500 Northwestern team and then come back home to take on Purdue to close out the season. As we all know, anytime we play Purdue, odds and favorites go out the window. However, if one were to put money down on the winner of the 2 game set, Vegas would be calling for the Crimson and Cream.