March 6, 1999
TAMPA, Fla. - The hopes of winning the Speedline Invitational were dashed today for the Purdue softball team (6-5) when they fell to Big Ten rival Iowa (8-3) 3-0 in the first game of single-elimination bracket play.
"Overall this weekend was a real roller-coaster," Purdue coach Carol Bruggeman said. "On Thursday we were a top-25 team; all parts of our game were clicking. Today we were on the downside of the ride; we just couldn't get the key hits we needed or the big defensive plays."
After closing out pool play in third place, the Boilers were set to play Iowa, which finished second in their pool. Purdue fell behind early as the Hawkeyes scored their first run on three consecutive singles in the bottom half of the first inning. Iowa scored again an inning later and a final run crossed the plate in the fourth. Purdue managed four hits in the contest to close out the tournament in the top half of the 24-team field.
"We are making improvements as a team and to be 3-3 in a premiere tournament like this one is good for this team," Bruggeman said.
The Boilers will take the week off before they travel to San Jose, Calf., to compete in the National Invitational Softball Tournament March 12-14.
R H EPurdue 0 4 1Iowa 3 9 0