Indiana softball wins in extra innings over Nebraska to reach Big Ten tournament finals

Alex Cooper did it again.

No. 8 seed Indiana softball advanced to the Big Ten tournament finals on Friday night with a wild 9-5 comeback win in extra innings over Nebraska in Iowa City, Iowa.

Cooper, who powered her team to a pair of walk-off wins during the regular season, led off the seventh inning with a game-tying home run.

She also hit a solo home run in IU's win over top-seeded Northwestern on Thursday.

On a 1-2 count, she crushed a ball over the right-center field fence to keep IU's season alive. The third baseman came into Friday's game hitting .277 with six home runs and 34 RBIs. She was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team and All-Defensive Team earlier in the week. She is 4 of 8 with four runs and three RBIs in the tournament.

Indiana (40-17) put up six runs in the top of the eighth inning.

After Aaliyah Andrews broke the tie with a two-RBI single, Briana Copeland launched a no-doubter to left field for a three-run home run. It was the third straight game that IU had seven different players record a hit.

Nebraska (30-23) led nearly the entire game thanks to a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first from shortstop Billie Andrews, who accounted for four of her team's six hits. The Cornhuskers added two more runs in the second, but struggled to get on base through the rest of regulation.

Indiana sophomore reliever Sophie Kleiman (14-4) got the win while handling the biggest workload of her career. She tied her career-high with seven innings pitched and crossed the 100-pitch mark for the first time (127 pitches thrown). She gave up three earned runs on four hits and three walks and had four strikeouts.

The Hoosiers will look for their first ever Big Ten tournament title in the finals on Saturday at 4 p.m. against the winner of No. 2 Michigan and No. 11 Wisconsin. They were 0-3 against Michigan during the regular season and 1-2 against Wisconsin.

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana softball eliminates Nebraska in Big Ten tournament semifinal