Indiana Softball to Open Big Ten Tournament Against Washington

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. ––– No. 10 seed Indiana will begin the 2025 Big Ten Tournament against No. 7 seed Washington on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.

This will be the first time this season that the Hoosiers and Huskies face each other. Last year the two teams met in the NCAA Columbia Regional.

Should Indiana advance, it will face No. 2 seed UCLA in the quarterfinal on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. The semifinals will take place on Friday, May 9 and the final will be on Saturday, May 10.

The entire 2025 Big Ten Tournament will be hosted by Purdue at Bittinger Stadium. The tournament features the top 12 finishing teams in the conference and is in single-elimination format.

The Hoosiers have reached the Big Ten Tournament Final the past two seasons.

QUICK HITTERS:

Going into the final weekend of the regular season, Indiana led the nation in three statistical categories: batting average (.380), doubles per game (2.15) and on base percentage (.470).
Taylor Minnick was named a Top 25 finalist for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year honor.
Five Hoosiers have a .390 or better batting average. Taylor Minnick (.476), Madalyn Strader (.439), Avery Parker (.409), Kinsey Mitchell (.392) and Aly VanBrandt (.390) all are hitting the mark.
Minnick leads the Big Ten in batting average (.476). The next closest is Jasmyn Burns from Ohio State, who is hitting .473.
Minnick and Brianna Copeland are tied for the most home runs in program history, each sporting 43. Minnick tied the record in Indiana's win at Purdue last Friday (May 2).

LAST TIME OUT:

Indiana took two of three games at Purdue last weekend (May 2-3). The Hoosiers won a thriller, 5-3, in nine innings on Friday and then split the doubleheader on Saturday.
In the first Saturday game, Purdue won, 2-0. In the second, Indiana won 10-2 by run rule in five innings.
Both wins were complete game efforts from Brianna Copeland. She only allowed four earned runs in 14 innings in the circle.
Melina Wilkison made Hoosier history in the third game, hitting two triples. She is only the eighth Hoosier in program history to do so and is the first since 2009.
Josie Bird had a terrific game in the final game of the series for the Hoosiers. The freshman hit a home run and a double that helped propel the team to the run rule.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT:

Washington owns a 34-16 record entering the Big Ten Tournament with a 12-9 mark in conference play. The Huskies ended the regular season with a series win at Penn State (May 2-4), taking two of three games.
The Huskies have earned a handful of ranked wins, defeating No. 16 Arizona (Feb. 7), No. 8 Oregon (March 16) and No. 18 Nebraska (April 26).
They won five Big Ten series, taking them over Rutgers (March 22), Illinois (March 28) Wisconsin (April 4-6), Michigan State (April 18-20) and Penn State (May 2-4).
Alexis DeBoer leads the team at the plate, hitting .372 with 55 hits, nine doubles, 20 home runs and 54 RBI. DeBoer is the daughter of former Indiana Football offensive coordinator and current Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer.
Sophia Ramuno (2.20 ERA) and Stevie Hansen (2.75 ERA) are their most consistent arms in the circle.

SERIES HISTORY NOTES:

The meeting between Indiana and Washington will the first time the two teams will have played against each other as conference opponents. Washington leads the all-time series, 3-1. Last year, the two programs met in the NCAA Columbia Regional where Washington won, 8-7.

Indiana University Athletics

Indiana Softball to Open Big Ten Tournament Against Washington

Players Mentioned

Josie Bird

Brianna Copeland

Taylor Minnick

Kinsey Mitchell

Avery Parker

Madalyn Strader

Aly VanBrandt

Melina Wilkison

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