Indiana Softball Earns No. 4 Seed in Big Ten Tournament

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. ––– Following the conclusion of the regular season, Indiana Softball has earned the No. 4 Seed in the 2026 Big Ten Softball Tournament.

With the top-four seed, the Hoosiers have an opening round bye and will open play in the tournament's first quarterfinal matchup on Thursday, May 7 at 11 a.m. Indiana will face the winner of No. 5 Seed Washington and No. 12 Seed Minnesota.

Should Indiana advance past the quarterfinal, the semifinals will take place on Friday, May 8 and the championship on Saturday May 9.

The entire 2026 Big Ten Tournament will be hosted by Maryland at Maryland Softball Stadium. The tournament features the top 12 finishing teams in the conference and is in single-elimination format.

QUICK HITTERS:

IU's offense ranks top-15 nationally in many statistical categories: No. 11 Batting Average (.353), No. 4 On Base Percentage (.457), No. 6 RBI (401), No. 6 Scoring (8.13), No. 1 Hit By Pitch (71), No. 4 Total Runs (439), No. 3 Stolen Bases (128), No. 3 Triples (25).
With a 41-13 record and 17-7 Big Ten mark, Indiana clinched the No. 4 Seed in the Big Ten Tournament, marking the first time the Hoosiers had a bye in the conference tournament since 2023, when they were the No. 2 Seed.
Avery Parker became the program's career home run leader last weekend when she hit home run No. 46 at Iowa on April 19 and since then has hit seven home runs to bring her career total to 53.
Of Indiana's 41 wins this year, 21 of them have been by run rule.
Against Portland State in the Littlewood Invitational (Feb. 12), VanBrandt hit for the cycle as part of a 5-for-5 day where she also totaled two home runs.

LAST TIME OUT:

Indiana had a good finish to the end of the regular season, going undefeated in their final four regular season games. The Hoosiers run ruled Evansville before sweeping Illinois in the team's final regular season Big Ten series. The four wins in the week also put Indiana at five consecutive wins and a 9-2 record since April 17.
In the final week's four games, four different Indiana pitchers picked up a win: Taylor Hess, Aubree Hooks, Brooke Mannon and Ella Troutt.
In Indiana's four wins over Evansville and Illinois, the Hoosiers outscored their opponents, 30-11.
Indiana won seven of their eight Big Ten series in the regular season and three of those seven series victories were season sweeps.
The only series Indiana did not win was a trip out to No. 9 UCLA, which also marked the only time this year that Indiana lost back-to-back games.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT:

Indiana will open Big Ten Tournament play against the winner of the opening round game between No. 12 Seed Minnesota and No. 5 Seed Washington.
Indiana faced Minnesota earlier in the year in its home opener and its first Big Ten series. Minnesota won the first game, but the Hoosiers took the next two to win the series.
Minnesota finished the 2026 regular season at 16-35 and 7-17 in the Big Ten.
Indiana and Washington did not play each other in the regular season. The Huskies went 35-17 and 16-8 in the Big Ten in the regular season campaign.
The only time that Indiana and Washington have played as Big Ten opponents was in last year's Big Ten Tournament when Indiana won 2-0 in the first round.

SERIES HISTORY:

In the all-time series with Minnesota, the Golden Gophers lead it 57-50, including this year's games. Against Washington, the Huskies lead the all-time series, 3-2. If Indiana and Washington that would mark three-straight years of facing each other in the postseason (2024: NCAA Regional & 2025: Big Ten Tournament).

Indiana University Athletics

Indiana Softball Earns No. 4 Seed in Big Ten Tournament

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