April 29, 2000
Minneapolis, Minn. - Head coach Carol Bruggeman told the Purdue softball team not to get discouraged if they didn't score in the first couple of innings of Saturday's game against Minnesota and to stay aggressive at the plate. It seems that the team took her words to heart outlasting Minnesota 4-3 on a Katie Crabtree solo home run in the sixteenth inning.
"A great win for our team," Bruggeman said. "I often say after games that it was a total team effort, but today's game brings a whole new definition to the term."
The Boilermakers (32-24, 5-8 Big Ten) did indeed use all 18 players on their roster in the longest game in school history, including all four pitchers on the staff. Offensively, Purdue rapped out 17 hits on the day, with Crabtree's tenth home run of the season the lone extra-base hit. Every Boilermaker starter had at least one hit, with Skeeter Nixon and Angi Roembke collecting three each.
Starter Meagan Dooley and relievers Leighann Burke, Crystal Inman and Nicole Crouse surrendered only seven hits to the 61 Minnesota hitters that came to the plate. The quartet struck out 18 Gopher batters, highlighted by Burke's career high 11, and walked only four. Crouse (6-6) picked up the win. Minnesota starter Angie Recknor, who has thrown over 300 innings this season, tossed 15.2 innings for the Gophers in the loss.
Minnesota was the first to score when they put up a lone run in the bottom of second off starter Meagan Dooley. Morgan Holden tripled to right-center for the Gophers and scored on a sac-fly to center to take the early 1-0 lead.
Purdue, after threatening in the fourth and sixth innings, would finally tie the score in the their final turn at bat in regulation on a ground ball error off the bat of pinch hitter Laura Martin.
Roembke led off the top of the seventh with a single to left, and moved to second on a perfect sac-bunt by Chrissy Davie. Designated player Crystal Inman followed with a single to left to give Purdue runners on first and third and one out. Bruggeman then brought in Martin to pinch-hit for catcher Keely Povlitz. The freshman infielder hit a sharp grounder towards the second base side of shortstop Shelly Nichols, who, in her haste to make the play at first, booted the ball allowing Roembke to come home and tie the score at one-apiece.
The game would remain tied until the 11th when the Boilers, using the same strategy from the seventh, scored a single run and take the lead. Davie led off the top of the inning with a infield single and moved over to second on another perfect sac-bunt off the bat of Inman. Povlitz, having re-entered the game, smacked a single to left center. Moving on contact, Davie crossed the plate with the go-ahead run as the throw from the outfield sailed up the third baseline.
The Gophers, however, would not go quietly. With one out in the bottom of the inning, second baseman Angel Braden hit a solo home run off reliever Burke to knot the score at two-all.
Both teams would score runs in the 13th to extend the game. Davie again ignited the Purdue rally with a leadoff infield single. Inman, sacrificed Davie to second. Povlitz struck out, but capitalized on a crucial passed ball on the third strike, reaching first safely as Davie moved to third. Nixon followed with a looping single to left to score Davie and give Purdue its second one-run advantage of the game.
Braden once again rescued the gophers from defeat with a sac-fly off Inman to the wall in straight away center to score Tammi Hayes from third.
The game would remain tied until the 16th when Crabtree, who finished the day 2-for-8, smacked Recknor's offering over the right-center field wall for the decisive run.
"I'm very proud of our team today," Bruggeman said. "They never let up and left every bit of effort they had out on the field. We got contributions from top to bottom of the lineup and the pitching staff was outstanding, each athlete stepped up did what was asked of them. This was an important game and the team treated it as such."
The Boilermakers will return to action on Sunday against the Gophers at 1 p.m.
R H EPurdue 000 000 100 010 100 1 4 17 1Minn. 010 000 000 010 100 0 3 7 2
Purdue Box Score
Name (Pos) AB R H RBISkeeter Nixon cf 8 0 3 1 Danika Nice pr 0 0 0 0Andrea Roush 2b 7 0 1 0Katie Crabtree ss 8 1 2 1Heidi Foster 1b 8 0 1 0 Jill Paxson pr 0 0 0 0Jessica Jones 3b 5 0 1 0 Briana Hensley pr 0 0 0 0Angi Roembke 7 1 3 0 Danica Maher ph 0 0 0 0Chrissy Davie rf 7 2 2 0Crystal Inman dp/p 5 0 2 0 Lynne Tortorelli pr 0 0 0 0Keely Povlitz c 6 0 2 1 Laura Martin ph 1 0 0 1
HR- Crabtree (10)SB- RoushSH- Roush, Davie, Inman 2
Player IP H R ER BB SO AB BFMeagan Dooley 5.0 2 1 1 1 2 16 18Leighann Burke 5.2 4 1 1 1 11 21 23Crystal Inman 2.2 1 1 1 1 1 7 11Nicole Crouse (W, 6-6) 2.2 0 0 0 1 4 7 9
Minnesota Box Score
Name (Pos) AB R H RBITammi Hays cf 6 1 1 0 Katie Orth ph 1 0 0 0Veronica Roberts rf 7 0 0 0Angel Braden 2b 6 1 2 2Jordanne Nygren dp 6 0 0 0 Stacy Towne pr 0 0 0 0Michelle Bennett 3b 5 0 1 0 Amy Hafemeyer pr 0 0 0 0Morgan Holden lf 6 1 3 0Shelly Nichols ss 4 0 0 0Dana Ballard 1b 5 0 0 1 Allie Fisk pr 0 0 0 0Meghan Smith 4 0 0 0 Christine Lindberg ph 1 0 0 0
3B- HoldenSH- Bennett, Holden, SmithSF- Braden, Ballard
Player IP H R ER BB SO AB BFAngie Recknor (L, 24-24)15.2 17 4 2 3 10 62 69Meagan Hautala 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
Start: 1 p.m.Time: 4:26Attendance: 617