‘Incredible Group’ – IU Ready for Big Ten Softball Tournament
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Hollywood has Mission Impossible, and it’s rocked the airways in some form since the late 1960s.
Indiana Softball has Mission 40, and it’s delivered for the third time in four seasons, now at 41 victories and counting entering this week’s Big Ten tourney at Maryland.
Could it lead to program-record-setting postseason possibilities?
Stay tuned.
“With our group,” coach Shonda Stanton says, “it’s not about individual awards, it’s Mission 40 and getting to 40-plus wins. They have stuck to that mission from Day One. It didn’t matter who got the credit. They just want to show up and win.”
Stanton certainly does from her Andy Mohr Field office, sunlight streaming in as if to highlight Hoosier potential. IU is 41-13 with a five-game winning streak and a No. 37 RPI. It has made a program-record three straight NCAA tourneys and is in position to make it four. Stanton can’t wait to see what’s next.
“For us the last few years, we had the couple of big names (Taylor Minnick and Brianna Copeland) that everybody focused on,” she says. “Now, you see a total team effort.
“Everybody clocks in and does her job. That’s what it’s about. Pass the bat. Get on. Hit a game winner up the middle. They’re doing their jobs on both sides of the ball. We have a total team.”
Or, as junior second baseman Aly VanBrandt puts it, “We have the talent, but also the togetherness. We pick each other up when we’re down. That’s what great teams do. We could be good if we didn’t do that; we’re great because of that.”
Stanton teams win, from a year at IU Indianapolis to 18 years at Marshall to nine years with the Hoosiers, 872 victories in all.
The fourth-place Big Ten finish is the third best regular season finish in Stanton’s Hoosier run behind a second in 2023 and a third in 2018.
IU opens conference tourney action Thursday against the winner between fifth-seed Washington (35-17) and 12th-seed Minnesota (16-35) in the single-elimination event. The tournament champion gets an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which begins next week.
Nebraska (43-6) got the No. 1 tourney seed ahead of second-seed Oregon (40-11) and third-seed UCLA (45-7). The Cornhuskers are No. 3 nationally in RPI, behind only Arkansas (41-10) and Alabama (47-6). UCLA is No. 7. Oregon is No. 9. Washington is No. 28.
The Hoosiers have never won the Big Ten conference tourney but did reach the championship game in 2023 and ’24. They’ve been to four College World Series, in 1979, ’80, ‘83 and ’86. Their best finish was second in 1980.
Could this group breakthrough for more, say Mission 45-plus?
“They show up, do the work and practice,” Stanton says. They eat a good breakfast. They do their recovery time at night. I don’t have to babysit them.
“In 30 years of coaching, sometimes you have to babysit or hold hands. You learn your team and do whatever it takes as a coach. This is not a team you have to babysit. It’s a team that’s coachable. A team that’s a joy to be around.”
Joy includes elite offense. IU ranks second in the Big Ten behind UCLA in hitting (.353 to .386), runs (439 to 567) and runs batted in (401 to 542). It leads in stolen bases (128), triples (25) and doubles (99).
“You look at our team and roster, we are filled with athletes,” Stanton says. “We’re high in doubles, high in triples, and we have a great amount of home runs (79).”
Ten players hit .306 or better, led by Aly VanBrandt (.404), Cassidy Ketttleman (.398), Avery Parker (.377), Alex Cooper (.376), Brooke Mannon (.363) and Josie Bird (.351). Parker has a team-leading 19 home runs and 63 RBI. VanBrandt is at 14 and 59; Bird at 13 and 61.
In pitching, IU’s 3.18 team earned run average is second in the Big Ten to Nebraska’s 2.03. True freshman Aubree Hooks leads with an 11-2 record and a 2.41 ERA. Sophomore Ella Trout, a Georgia transfer, is at 11-6 and 2.80, plus four saves. Redshirt junior Taylor Hess, a Kentucky transfer with just one win before this season, is at 10-2 with a 3.95 ERA.
Stanton credits that pitching success to associate head coach Chanda Bell, once a record-setting pitcher at Kentucky who has coached under Stanton for 13 years.
“Coach Bell has done a tremendous job with them and figuring out matchups. Our pitching is hitting its stride at the right time.”
What’s the key to postseason success?
“It’s pitching,” Stanton says. “It’s timely hitting.
“Pitching is what will carry you in the postseason, and then timely hitting. You might only get that one good pitch to hit. It doesn’t matter if you strike out a bunch of times. If you clutch up after a walk or an error, and get the blast, it’s whatever it takes to make it happen. It’s staying the course.
“We’ve been challenged throughout the year. It hasn’t been easy. We have not lost back-to-back games with the exception of the UCLA series (losing all three games).
“All year, we have bounced back any time we’ve lost a game. That’s good mental toughness. It’s refocusing. It’s an incredible group.”
Ranked No. 25 by Softball America, Indiana has a win over then- No. 25 Ohio State, and one-run losses to then No. 22 Arizona State, No. 9 UCLA and No. 25 Louisville. It swept rival Purdue, won two of three at perennial power Michigan and split a pair of games against the regular season champion of the American in South Florida.
The Hoosiers are ready, VanBrandt says, to do something special, and it starts with trust.
“It’s trusting that we’ve put in the work leading to this point,” she says. “Trusting that our training will pay off. Staying together through it all and not putting too much pressure on ourselves.”