Indiana Softball Looks to Make Most of NCAA Tournament Opportunity After Long Wait

Indiana is back in the NCAA softball tournament for the first time in 12 years, and the Hoosiers are looking forward to making the most of their opportunity this weekend in Knoxville, Tenn. Indiana opens play on Friday against Louisville on national television.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — It's been 12 long years since an Indiana softball team has played in the NCAA Tournament. The current Hoosiers were running around on grade-school playgrounds back then, pig tails bouncing in the wind.

Fast forward to 2023, and the Hoosiers are back in the 64-team

 field, the No. 2 seed in the Knoxville Regional here on the campus of the University of Tennessee. The Hoosiers will face No. 3 Louisville on Friday at 3 pm. ET. The game is on ESPN2. (For information on how to watch or listen to the game, CLICK HERE)

This is the 50th year of Indiana softball, and it's been a record-setting year. It's also been a long time coming. Indiana is 42-16 and won 23 straight games — a school record — earlier this year. They set single-season records for most home runs, RBIs, doubles, and runs scored. They finished second in the Big Ten to Northwestern, and also lost in the Big Ten Tournament championship game to the Wildcats.

But they had the league's best player in freshman infielder Taryn Kern, who won league Player of the Year honors. The San Jose, Calif., native  has set single-season program records in home runs, RBIs and runs scored and is the only Hoosier to win two individual postseason awards in program history. She hit .411 with 22 home runs and 67 RBIs

"She's a unique athlete. [Kern] is with the best of the best. She's elite,'' Indiana coach Shonda Stanton said during an exclusive interview with HoosiersNow.com reporter Haley Jordan earlier this week. "She's got one of the best arcs I've ever seen, but I think what separates her as a freshman is her mindset. She has her mindset and has the methods, so when you have those two things and you're a smart hitter and you work hard, she knows what it takes to be successful. 

"She knows what she needs. She puts her mindset and methods to work, and that's a fun thing to watch as a coach."

And now that they are in the NCAA field, they want to make the most of it. This is their eighth trip to the NCAAs, but it's been a long time. They were in the tournament in 2011, a long 12 years ago, and they've played in the event in 2006, 1996, 1994, 1986, 1985 and 1983.

They haven't won a tournament game since 2006. In 2011, they lost to Illinois State (3-1) and DePaul (2-1.) in Columbia, Mo. In 2006, they beat Utah 3-0 in their first game — on May 19, 2006 in Austin, Texas — but then lost to Texas 3-0 and Utah 5-1 to get knocked out. They haven't won a regional since 1986.

Indiana's prolific offense needs to deliver this weekend. Fastpitch softball at the highest level is naturally low-scoring, but this lineup has done good things from top to bottom all season, and they'll need to do the same in Knoxville to advance out of the regional for the first time in 37 years.

During this current four-game NCAA Tournament losing streak, they scored a total of three runs. That won't fly this weekend. It didn't last weekend either, when they lost the Big Ten title game to Northwestern 2-1. 

Indiana did play Louisville (35-18) earlier this season, winning 10-5 on April 11 in Bloomington. Taylor Minnick, a sophomore from Bloomington, had three hits and Sarah Stone, a sophomore from Bedford, had five RBIs.

Tennessee is the top seed in the regional, and the No. 4 overall national seed. They won both the SEC regular-season and tournament titles and are 44-8 on the season. The Volunteers play No. 4 seed  Northern Kentucky (23-30) at 5:30 p.m. ET after Indiana's game.

On Saturday, the two losers will play first in the double-elimination event, followed by the two winners. The first game is at 1 p.m. ET, with the second scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET. The winner's bracket game will be televised on ESPN2.

Editor's Note— HoosiersNow.com publisher Tom Brew is in Knoxville and will be provided full coverage all weekend. Bookmark our site to stay in the loop. 

Related stories on Indiana softball

• COACH SHONDA STANTON INTERVIEW Indiana head softball coach Shonda Stanton sat down with Hoosiers Now to discuss her Hoosier coaching history, reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011, star players and how she goes about recruiting the best athletes capable of winning a championship. CLICK HERE
• HOOSIERS CELEBRATE B1G WEEKEND Here's a recap of all that happened to Indiana softball in less than a week's time. The team performed well in the Big Ten Tournament and then heard its name called to play in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011. CLICK HERE
• HOOSIERS EARN NO. 2 SEED IN NCAA TOURNAMENT Indiana's softball team has made it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011. They are the No. 2 seed in the Knoxville Regional and will play Louisville on national television on Friday afternoon in the first round. Tennessee is the top seed. CLICK HERE