Feb. 26, 2000
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Sophomore Meagan Dooley tossed her second no hitter of the season in Purdue's 3-0 victory over Iowa State at the UCSB Invitational in Santa Barbara, Calif., Saturday. The right hander struck out three while walking only one in the five inning, darkness shortened game.
The victory extended the Boilers' season high win streak to six games.
"It's pretty overwhelming to pitch two no hitters in consecutive weekends," Dooley said. "The defense stepped up today and made some fantastic plays. Having that kind of support behind me really took the pressure off and let me pitch my type of game."
Dooley's previous no-no came last weekend in a 1-0 triumph over Temple at the Triangle Classic in Raleigh, N.C. Unlike that game, in which Jesse Jones' solo home run accounted for the lone run and hit of the game, the Boilermaker offense smacked out six hits in the five innings against the Cyclones, including a solo home run by sophomore Chrissy Davie.
Dooley (3-2) has surrender only 18 hits and two earned runs 34.1 innings of work this season. She leads the team with a 0.41 ERA, three complete games and is tied with Leighann Burke for the team lead in wins with three.
With the game mired in a scoreless tie through three innings, Davie led off the top of the fourth with her towering shot to right center to give the Boilers a 1-0 lead. The home run was her first of the season and second of her career. Looking to give Dooley more support, Purdue picked up two more runs in the top of the fifth on a two run double down the rightfield line by freshman Heidi Foster bringing home senior Skeeter Nixon and sophomore Katie Crabtree.
The closest Iowa State would come to collecting a hit came in the bottom of the fifth. With the sun fading into the Pacific Ocean, Cyclone second baseman Robyn Riedler laced a two-out line drive towards right. First baseman Foster ranged to her right and stabbed the ball out of the air, sealing the victory for Purdue and the no hitter for Dooley.
"The team has really been coming on," coach Carol Bruggeman said. "We made some errors in the field and I had to remind the team to be aggressive and attack the ball on defense. They stepped up and made the plays when it counted."
The Boilermakers will conclude their California trip Sunday with a rematch against Cal Poly- San Luis Obispo at 2 p.m. EST.