Indiana University Athletics
‘Hometown Hero’ – Minnick Hits Way Into Softball Record Books
5/1/2025 3:30:00 PM | Softball
'Hometown Hero' – Minnick Hits Way Into Softball Record Books
By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The "Rat Club President" strides to the plate, Foreigner's "Juke Box Hero" playing in the background, and you suspect something good is about to happen.
It usually does when Taylor Minnick hits.
Indiana's senior left fielder crouches in her left-batting stance then pounces against Oregon pitching standout Elise Sokolsky to rip a left-center double, her 20th of the season and 55th of her career, both Hoosier records.
It's not enough to help deliver a victory against the No. 7 Ducks on this sun-splashed Saturday afternoon at Andy Mohr Field, but add her seventh-inning Sunday two-run home run and it gives her a .504 batting average that, with just three regular-season games remaining, has coach Shonda Stanton in full-praise mode.
"What she's doing is incredible," Stanton says. "I don't think people understand how hard it is to hit .500 in a Power 4 Conference. Her average has gone up since we hit Big Ten play. "It's not like in the preseason we played mush teams and she stacked her average. That's not what happened. We played a strong non-conference schedule."
Praise includes the "Rat" designation, reflecting Stanton's admiration for Minnick's elite work ethic.
"We talk about being a rat around here, about working hard, like a gym rat," Stanton says. "Taylor is president of the rat club. You want a player who wants to be the CEO of the rats, and Taylor is it when it comes to hitting. She puts her work in. She doesn't miss taking swings. She works on her craft."
The secret to greatness is that there is no secret. Talent only matters if you make the most of it. Minnick does, through that work ethic, through commitment, dedication, passion and focus.
"I attribute that to not only being a rat," Stanton says, "but also the mindset. Nobody is better with two strikes. Nobody is better in clutch moments. She wants the bat in her hands. It's being a rat, having a good mindset and being a good hitter coming in."
For Minnick, average comes with power. She has a team-leading 15 home runs, plus two triples to go along with those 21 doubles and a .504 average. Her 1.030 slugging percentage is by far the team's best (catcher Avery Parker is next at .730) and is second in the Big Ten to Ohio State's Jasmyn Burns (1.041 with a .476 average). Her career-high 58 runs batted in and 137 total bases also lead the team.
"Most kids hitting .500 are singles kids; they're slappers," Stanton says. "There aren't many hitters who can hit close to .500. You can count on your hand, and not even a full hand, that you see that in the Power 4, those bang-the-fence hitters. She's a bang-the-fence kid."
The program doubles records, along with 42 career homers reflect that bang.
"It's cool," Minnick says, "but I don't look at numbers as much as having a good at-bat. Win every pitch, every at-bat and every game."
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Competitors compete -- always. Minnick remains in a battle with pitcher/first baseman Brianna Coleman for the team homer lead, both for the season and for their careers. Copeland has 13 homers this season and 43 for her career.
Yes, they are aware.
"We make it into a little bit of a fun game," Minnick says. "If Bri hits a home run, I want to hit a home run. We don't fight about it, but we're trying to chase each other's records."
Growing up, Minnick was a right-handed hitter focused on bunting and slapping balls rather than driving them.
"I wasn't much of a hitter. I was more of a get-on-base player."
She worked to change that, including driving to Indianapolis and Spencer each week for countless lessons when she wasn't working on her game at Edgewood High School's field.
By the time Minnick got to Edgewood, which is just outside of Bloomington, she was a left-handed power-and-average hitter known for "swinging away." The result -- she set school career records for batting average (.536), runs batted in (129) and doubles (35), capped by a senior year in which she set school single-season records for batting average (.596) and homers (12).
She led Edgewood to a 2018 sectional championship. She led her summer travel team, the Beverly Bandits, to a PGF 16U Premier Championship. She was named to the PGF All-American team and ranked 50th nationally by Extra Innings Softball.
There was just one problem -- she wasn't going to be an IU Hoosier.
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Sometimes, if you're Stanton seeking to build IU into a consistent NCAA tourney qualifier and Big Ten contender, you take your recruiting shots.
When Minnick decided to reopen her recruitment, Stanton did her best to keep her home.
"I started calling her. I said, 'We'd love to see you play at home. This is the place for you.'"
Eventually, Minnick agreed.
"We were very excited," Stanton says with a smile.
Excitement extends to her teammates.
"It's her poise at the plate," Parker says. "She has her poise because she prepares. She motivates me to always work harder. I will never be satisfied because she's always working harder than me. Her preparation causes her to be a great hitter and causes her to have that poise and confidence when she's hitting."
Minnick has plenty of individual honors -- All-American, Academic All-Big Ten, conference player of the week -- but says her favorite Hoosier moment is the program-record 23-game winning streak during the 2023 season.
"That's something not many people can say they were part of," she says.
When her playing days are over, Minnick says she wants to coach softball, preferably at the college level.
For now, there's bouncing back from three straight losses to No. 7 Oregon that leaves IU with a 30-16 overall record, 8-11 in the Big Ten. The regular season ends with this weekend's series at rival Purdue (27-20, 8-11). Then comes the Big Ten tourney, also at Purdue, with Hoosier sights set on a third straight NCAA tourney appearance.
Minnick is set to lead the way.
"What I love is she's worked on her whole game," Stanton says. "She's turned into a tremendous outfielder, and a good base runner. She has developed within our system. We're proud of her and proud she's a hometown hero."
And if you add "Juke Box Hero" with that pride, all the better.
