Indiana University Softball Sweeps Illinois to Finish Regular Season Indiana took care of business from start to finish on Sunday against Illinois when the Hoosiers won 7-3 at Andy Mohr Field to secure a series sweep and close the regular season. It was Indiana’s fifth win in a row and put the team’s season record at 41-13 and 17-7 in the Big Ten. Indiana jumped to an early 5-0 lead, started off by a leadoff home run from Aly VanBrandt in the bottom of the first. Josie Bird hit a 3-run homer just a few at bats later to make it 4-0. Madalyn Strader hit a double to mark the fifth straight hit by Indiana to open the game. Strader would later score in the inning on a wild pitch.
Illinois got on the scoreboard when Alaina Miller grounded out to second and Ava Moore scored on the play to bring the score to 5-1. Aly VanBrandt grounded out with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth, but Ellie Goins scored on the play to extend the lead to 6-1. A fifth inning RBI single from Goins brought home Jada Ellison to make it a 7-1 game. Taylor Porter homered to left field in the seventh to draw closer at 7-3, but that would be the last of the Illini scoring. Today marked Indiana’s fifth win in a row. Indiana has won 40-plus games in three of the last four seasons. Hooks’ 5.1 innings of work got her the win and improved her season record to 11-2. Eight different Hoosiers recorded a hit. VanBrandt and Bird both hit a home run. Indiana’s regular season has concluded. It will next compete in the Big Ten Tournament in College Park, Md. The tournament is set to take place from May 6-9.
Indiana University Softball Earns No. 4 Seed in Big Ten Tournament 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.
Indiana University Men’s Golf Finishes 16th at the Big Ten Championships The Indiana men’s golf team closed the season with a 16th-place finish at the 2026 Big Ten Championships. The Hoosiers shot an 878 (294-293-291; +38) at the Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Oregon over the weekend. Junior Cole Starnes was the lowest Hoosier of the weekend at 218 (71-71-76; +8). He converted seven birdies and tied for 47th overall. Junior Nick Piesen signed for a 220 (75-74-71; +10). He made a pair of birdie attempts in each of the final two rounds of the event. Junior Alec Cesare returned to the Indiana lineup and shot a 221 (72-76-73; +11). The Ball State transfer added five birdies, which included his final two holes of the tournament. Sophomore Bradley Chill Jr. compiled a three-round score of 223 (76-74-73; +13). He added nine birdies to his ledger. Freshman Caleb Schnarr shot a 223 (76-74-74; +14) in his debut Big Ten Championships. He converted eight birdies across three rounds. Redshirt senior Ethan Chelf traveled as the team substitute but was not inserted into the lineup.
Indiana University Baseball Drops Series Finale at Northwestern A frustrating afternoon saw the Indiana Baseball team (21-27, 7-17 B1G) drop a road series to Northwestern (19-25-1, 7-17 B1G) at Rocky and Bernice Miller Park. The Wildcats scored five in the bottom of the second inning to finish off an 8-6 win over IU on Sunday (May 3) in Evanston. The loss drops the Hoosiers at least two games back of the cut line for this year’s Big Ten Tournament. Sophomore outfielder Hogan Denny tried to set the tone by leading off the game with a solo home run over the wall in left field. He finished the series with nine hits and multi-hit efforts in all three games of the weekend. Sophomore first baseman Jake Hanley had a two-run home run and an RBI double but IU didn’t get much support beyond the top two players in the order.
IU’s pitching staff tried to keep it together but couldn’t overcome a pair of multi-run home runs in the second inning. Northwestern’s Jack Lausch (three-run) and Noah Ruiz (two-run) each went yard off of IU’s best reliever Gavin Seebold to break things open in the second frame. Late solo home runs helped the Wildcats add insurance runs to the board. An extra window opened for head coach Jeff Mercer and the Hoosiers in the eighth inning. After a trio of walks and a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded trimmed the deficit to four runs with no outs. A double play from Denny and a groundout from sophomore shortstop Cooper Malamazian kept IU from inching any closer in the contest. The Sunday loss to Northwestern makes each of IU’s last two weekends (at Purdue, vs. Illinois) must-win scenarios. IU will get the week off due to final exams before resuming conference play on Friday (May 8) evening in West Lafayette at Alexander Field. First pitch next week is set for 6 p.m. on B1G+.
Indy Ignite Conclude the Regular Season with a Four-Set Win over the San Diego Mojo The Indy Ignite finished the Major League Volleyball regular season with their 23rd victory after a four-set win over the San Diego Mojo on Sunday. The 22-25, 25-13, 30-28, 25-17 win saw the Ignite finish with a 23-5 record — the best in the history of MLV. The team earned 13 of those wins at home while only recording one home loss across the entire regular season. Indy now heads into the MLV Championship on a five-game winning streak. “I think both teams really put their best foot forward today and wanted to move into the playoffs with rhythm and with energy,” Ignite head coach Lauren Bertolacci said. “We spoke about it being Fan Appreciation Night and we definitely wanted to give the fans the sendoff that they deserve as well for coming out to all these home games and helping us have a really, really great home record. We were pumped to be able to do that.”
The game got out to a rocky start for the Ignite as the Mojo took the opening set 22-25. Indy then rebounded in the second set, hitting an astounding 53.8 percent (14 of 26) on 50.0% efficiency. Opposite hitter Azhani Tealer was a perfect 5-for-5 hitting during the second set that ended 25-13 in favor of the Ignite. “San Diego’s a good serving team,” Tealer said after the game, “So we were a lot in medium-system situations and taking more risks there. And I think we scored really well, especially our left side. Yeah, the second set was much better.”
The third set was a marathon for both teams. Both Indy and San Diego battled throughout multiple set points, but in the end, it was the Ignite who finally took the lead off a 30-28 set win after Tealer had a backrow kill to set up the set-winning ace by setter Mia Tuaniga. Middle blocker Jaelyn Keene helped lead the Ignite in the fourth set as they rallied from a 13-12 deficit to outscore San Diego 13-4 the rest of the way. “It takes a little heart and determination to come out after a first-set loss, and I think that’s good for us,” Keene said. “Especially going into what’s to come because it’s one-and-done the next two games. Hopefully, we remember that and we come out ready to go first set, second set, third set, fifth set, all the sets.” The Ignite now head into the MLV Championship as the top seed. They will play four-seed Omaha at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 7 at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas.
Indy Fuel Eliminated from the Kelly Cup Playoffs with a Game 5 Loss to the Fort Wayne Komets The Indy Fuel faced the Fort Wayne Komets on Sunday evening in Game 5 of the Divisional Semifinal Round of the 2026 Kelly Cup Playoffs. Facing elimination on the road, the Fuel could not outscore the Komets and ultimately fell 4-0 in their final match. Indy earned the first power play of the game at 9:44 when Harrison Rees took a high sticking penalty that sent him to the box for two minutes. The Fuel took the game’s next penalty. With under five minutes to go in the first frame, Tyler Weiss was called for holding. Immediately after they killed the penalty, Logan Nelson scored for the Komets, putting them up 1-0. At 19:40, Blake Murray took a hooking penalty. This put Indy on a power play that would last well into the second period. After one frame, Indy was outshooting the Komets, 12-6 despite being down 1-0.
Just 32 seconds into the second period, Kyle Aucoin took a high sticking penalty. This negated the Fuel’s power play chance and gave the Komets about a minute of power play time themselves. Regardless, neither team scored on the power play. Late in the period, Indy’s Jesse Tucker left the ice after a collision that left a lot to clean up before play resumed. Fort Wayne had a few more good chances before the period ended without another goal or penalty. Through two, shots were tied 19-19 while the Komets remained up 1-0.
Tucker returned to play in the third period as the Fuel came out swinging, however it was Komets captain Alex Aleardi who scored next. His goal came at 5:00, putting Fort Wayne up 2-0. At 7:26, William Dufour scored to make it 3-0 for the Komets quickly. Soon after that, Chris Cameron took a roughing penalty. Just twelve seconds after that, Jesse Tucker joined him in the penalty for high sticking. This came at the same time as a power play goal for the Komets, by Matt Miller. This gave Fort Wayne a 4-0 lead. At 12:44, what was essentially a line brawl broke out resulting in roughing penalties to Chris Cameron and Tyler Inamoto while Chase Dafoe went to the box for goaltender interference. It seemed like the floodgates opened and an onslaught of penalties hit the game sheet after fighting broke out nearly everywhere. Indy’s Nick Grima and Tyler Weiss ended up with ten-minute misconduct penalties along with Stonehouse and Atkinson from the Komets. The Fuel put their best efforts towards attacking the net for the remainder of the game but could not score. The game ended with a final score of 4-0 in favor of the Komets, with Indy slightly outshooting Fort Wayne, 29-28. The Komets will move on to the second round of the 2026 Kelly Cup Playoffs where they will face the Toledo Walleye.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Cancels Legends Day Concert One of the popular concerts scheduled during Indianapolis 500 festivities has been canceled, IMS confirmed to the South-Central Indiana News Network. A spokesperson for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway said there will not be a Legends Day concert in 2026, but there is hope for the concert’s return next year in 2027. “There will not be a Legends Day concert this year. We look forward to working with Live Nation in future years to host another epic concert at Everwise Amphitheater at White River State Park in Indianapolis,” a statement from IMS director of communications Amanda Stanley read, in part. This leaves the Carb Day concert and the Snake Pit concert as the music performances headlining Month of May events this year. While the Legends Day concert will not happen, all other events set for Saturday, May 23 — the day before the race — will take place as scheduled. The 110th Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for Sunday, May 24.