INDIANAPOLIS – Sycamore Softball will head East on I-70 to take on IUPUI and Butler in back-to-back days on Tuesday and Wednesday, with both games slated to start at 5 p.m. ET.
LAST TIME OUT
Indiana State is coming off a series sweep at Drake, where the Bulldogs took the first doubleheader in consecutive 5-0 wins before taking the finale on a walk-off 4-3 win on Sunday. The Sycamores went the whole weekend without an error and turned five double plays.
SCOUTING THE JAGUARS
IUPUI stands at 13-19 on the season, which includes a loss to Indiana State down at the WKU Hilltopper Spring Fling in February. The Sycamores won 15-8 thanks in part to three doubles by
Gabi Carter and a 5 RBI performance by
Brooke Mann -- including a two-run HR.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Butler enters this week at 16-17 overall and is on a five game winning streak -- including a 4-1 start to Big East play with a 1-1 opening with DePaul and series sweep vs. Villanova.
SERIES HISTORY
The Sycamores lead the all-time series with IUPUI at 26-11, as well as the series with Butler at 28-17.
LESS-LIE IS MORE
Freshman
Leslie Sims has started her Sycamore career off with a bang as ISU's batting average leader -- mostly out of the nine spot in the batting order. Sims leads Indiana State and ranks fourth in the Valley with a .446 average on 33 hits through 32 games played and 24 games started. Sims is primarily a speed demon on the base paths, using her legs for bunt singles and 15 stolen bases on the season -- third-most in the Valley this year. Sims also owns an inside-the-park grand slam vs. Wright State. She is one of four Valley players to be batting over .400 this year. Her .446 average ranks 26th nationally and her .529 on-base percentage ranks 34th.
SUPER STOBER
Junior
Kylie Stober may have a 1-8 record in the circle, but she has been a far more productive pitcher than her record suggests. Stober holds a 4.94 ERA on the season, but in the past week she has pitched two complete games and recorded a 3.05 ERA – including an eight-inning, two-hit loss to Ball State that included holding the Cardinals to seven straight hitless and scoreless innings. Her first start vs. Drake began the same way with three perfect, extending her hitless streak to 10.0 IP before Drake broke the game open. Stober also started making plate appearances for the Sycamores this past weekend, hitting .600 with three hits in five at-bats.
DOUBLE THE PLEASURE, DOUBLE THE FUN
The Sycamore defense knows how to turn a double play with 21 on the season – five coming this past weekend against Drake, pushing them to third in the NCAA this season. ISU had two games vs. Drake where they pulled off two double plays – including two impressive ones in the series finale off fly balls into the outfield. Indiana State's defense went the entire weekend without committing a single error.
TOUGH OUT
Senior
Erika Crissman is no pushover, as her stat line this season can attest. The Los Alamitos, Calif., native has only struck out twice in 100 at-bats all season -- ranking her as the hardest to strikeout in the Valley and 10th-hardest in all of the NCAA this season. Crissman, a career .311 hitter, is hitting .300 on the season with 21 RBI with two doubles, two triples, and an inside-the-park home run.
PRODUCING WHEN IT COUNTS
ISU has been in so many close games late and extra innings contests because the offense has refused to back down in the later innings. The Sycamores have outscored opponents 50-34 in the sixth and seventh innings combined this season and have been able to scrape together six wins when trailing in the fifth inning or later.
A TEAM THAT HITS TOGETHER…
The Sycamores have been a consistently offensive team in 2017, currently sitting at fourth in the Valley with a team batting average of .289. The Sycamores also rank highly in runs scored (second, 172), RBI (third, 141) and walks (third, 112). The Sycamores have also been lethal on the base paths, currently leading the Valley with 55 stolen bases. When out-hitting an opponent, the Sycamores are 12-3.
WHAM BAM, THANK YOU MANN
Sophomore catcher
Brooke Mann is having a superb first season at Indiana State as the top slugger for the Sycamores in 2017. Mann leads ISU with 29 RBI, six home runs and a .565 slugging percentage. Mann was named the MVC Player and Newcomer of the Week for her five-game stretch down in Florida at USF's Under Armour Showcase. In those five games she put up a slash line of .833/.895/1.417 with 10 RBI, one double and two three-run dingers.
DELLA DELLA GHER, Y'ALL
Freshman
Della Gher should technically still be in high school, but instead she's currently leading the Missouri Valley and ranks third in the NCAA in saves as a key member of Indiana State's pitching staff. Gher, who graduated early from Paris High School in Paris, Ill., in December, entered ISU's spring break trip with a shaky 12.90 ERA and brought that all the way down to a then team-leading 3.55 after a superb showing in seven appearances across ISU's eight games in Florida. Overall, she put up a 0.78 ERA down in Florida, going 1-0 to improve to 2-0 on the season and recording all four of her MVC-leading saves in 18.0 innings pitched.
For the latest information on the Sycamore Softball team, make sure to check out
GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including
Facebook and
Twitter.
