Washington
Indiana softball drops heartbreaker to Washington in opening game of Columbia Regional
Washington won in walk-off fashion over Indiana softball on Friday afternoon in the opening round of the Columbia Regional at Missouri Softball Stadium.
The Hoosiers were down to their last out in the seventh, but tied the game on a RBI double from Avery Parker only to give up the lead in the bottom of inning — freshman Giselle Alvarez hit a double on a 3-2 count and two outs — with Sophie Kleiman taking the loss in relief.
Indiana (40-19) lost 8-7 to a Huskies team that had lost four straight games coming into the NCAA tournament and six of their last seven. The loss sets up an elimination game for the Hoosiers on Saturday against the loser of the game between Missouri and Omaha on Friday night.
How to watch: How to watch Indiana softball on TV in the Columbia Regional of the NCAA Tournament
Indiana softball readies for ‘loaded’ Columbia Regional with eye on making history
Indiana softball can’t hold onto the lead
Indiana pounced on Washington ace Ruby Meylan when she entered the game in the fifth inning.
The Hoosiers limited two-time first-team All-Pac 12 pitcher to the shortest appearance of her career (she only recorded two outs) to take their first lead of the game with four runs in the inning.
Meylan entered the game in the fifth with her team leading 4-1 and the bottom of the order coming up.
Cora Bassett and Brooke Benson led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Washington allowed Bassett to score on a miscue in the infield when catcher Sydney Stewart tried to throw to second base and Meylan thought she was throwing back to the mound.
The ball bounced off Meylan’s glove and the Hoosiers cut the lead to 4-2. Taylor Minnick followed that up with an RBI double.
Meylan exited the game after getting only two outs. It’s the first time in her career she didn’t pitch at least a full inning.
Lopez re-entered the game and Stone crushed a two-run home run on the first pitch she saw to give Indiana a 5-4 lead. Freshman Alex Cooper hit a home run in the top of the sixth inning off the top of the center field wall.
Washington rallied in the sixth inning.
Olivia Johnson knocked in two runs with a shallow single to right field to tie the game 6-6. The Huskies scored the go-ahead run on what looked like a sure out at second base.
The Hoosiers tried to get the lead runner when Brooklyn Carter sent a softly hit ball to first base, but the throw bounced off Brooke Benson’s glove at second and Johnson just kept on running as the shortstop held onto the ball in the outfield.
Indiana was credited with two fielding errors on the play.
Indiana softball falls behind early
Washington went up 2-0 in the bottom of the second.
Huskies first baseman Brooke Nelson worked a leadoff walk off starting pitcher Brianna Copelan and scored on a double from Alana Johnson. Johnson reached third on a throwing error on the play and scored on Kinsey Fiedler’s sacrifice fly to center.
Indiana got on the board in the top of the fourth when Stone crushed the second pitch she saw off the fence in center field for her first triple of the season (fourth of her career). Aly VanBrandt laid down a perfect suicide squeeze in front of the plate that scored pinch runner Cassidy Kettleman.
The momentum was short-lived.
Washington led off the bottom of the inning with three straight hits that scored a pair of runs. Johnson led off the inning with another double and scored on an RBI triple from Fielder that landed just outside of the outstretched glove of Kettleman in center.
Indiana made a pitching change after Sydney Stewart hit an RBI single with Sophie Kleiman replacing Copeland. Copeland gave up six hits (three extra-base hits) and a walk in three innings.
Kleiman worked out of the jam thanks in part to a nice catch in foul territory on the first base line from Stone.
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.
A contract worker was killed by a falling tree on Monday afternoon in Washington County, officials said.
The Washington County Office of the Coroner said in a news release that the contractor was killed after the tree fell on them around 4 p.m. The worker, who was not immediately identified, was hired to cut down a tree at a residence on Lynn Portal Road in Canton Township, and it fell in an unintended direction, killing the person, the coroner said.
No other information was immediately released on Monday evening. The Greene-Washington Regional Police Department and the coroner are investigating.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
On September 11, 2025, after 11 years at the Washington Post as an editor and columnist, I was fired via email.
In the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk killing, I did what I have always done— and was expected to do — as a public voice and columnist on race, gender, and culture: I commented on America’s racial double standards in public discourse when it comes to political violence. You can read my posts below.
And then this post of mine:
The very next day, I was fired from my job at the Washington Post without so much as a conversation.
According to the termination letter from the Post, the company cited these two Bluesky posts, claimed that I disparaged white men, accused me of ‘gross misconduct’, and that my Bluesky posts “potentially endanger[ed] the physical safety of our staff”.
You can read the letter for yourself here.
In October, along with the Washington Post Guild and the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, we filed a grievance against the Post, challenging the termination.
So, I have some updates…
The arbitration hearing will be this Thursday, June 4, in Washington, D.C.
As the last remaining Black full-time staff columnist in the Washington Post’s Opinions section, I was very aware of what my firing represented for diversity in newsrooms.
While newsroom diversity is absolutely critical, it is not the only principle at stake. I am fighting for journalists’ rights to do their jobs, to comment on matters of public concern without fear of censorship, retaliation, or political pressure.
And this is a battle well worth having.
I am thankful for the support of the Washington Post Guild, my lawyers at the Washington Baltimore News Guild, as well as Norman Eisen and the legal support from the Democracy Defenders Fund.
And of course, I am deeply grateful to my readers, followers, friends, mentors, and the industry peers who have supported me throughout my career and through what has been one of the most personally and professionally challenging periods of my life.
The stakes are high, but I’m ready.
Let’s go.
-Karen
Jordan Selesnick won the Regional Championship at SCG CON Washington DC with Azorius Momo on Sunday.
Creatures (25)
Lands (21)
In a field packed with Izzet Prowess and Mono-Green Landfall, Selesnick put the power of Azorius Momo on display — proving the power of strong metagaming and mulligan decisions. Selesnick regularly dug for better opening hands in tight matchups, allowing his deck to have starts similar to those in Modern as opposed to Standard. After an 8-1 start on Day 1, Selesnick cruised to the No. 1 seed in the Top 8 with a record of 12-1-2.
Once in the Top 8, Selesnick only dropped a single game in route to a dominant performance. He defeated Stephen Snelson, on Izzet Spellementals, 2-1 in the quarters before clean 2-0 wins against Alexander Kans, on Selesnya Aggro, and Matt Xu, on Mono-Green Landfall.
Selesnick showed off both types of powerful draws the Momo deck can have in the finals, blinking a Quantum Riddler into play on Turn 2 in Game 1, and landing a copied Sage of the Skies on Turn 2 in Game 2. With the fast starts and utility offered from Starfield Shepherd, Selesnick had no problem navigating the mid-games for fast wins facing down strong starts from Xu.
Creatures (20)
Lands (26)
Selesnick took home $20,000 and the title of champion, while Xu earned $10,000. The Top 32 finishers earned invites to the upcoming Pro Tour in Amsterdam, though Selesnick and Xu also punched their tickets to the Magic World Championship.
Izzet Prowess made up almost 25 percent of the 1,198 players on Day 1, followed by Four-Color Control at 10 percent, thanks to its strong showing in the most recent Regional Championships. Mono-Green Landfall was next at just under nine percent, while Mardu Discard and Dimir Excruciator rounded out the Top 5 decks.
Day 2 consisted of 285 players that reached 18 match points on Day 1. See how the archetypes converted below.
View the Top 8 decklists from the Regional Championship. For all the decklists from the event and final standings check out the Melee page for the tournament.
SCG CON will be back in action next in Las Vegas on June 26-28.
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