April 27, 2001
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue softball team split in Big Ten Conference home doubleheader action today with the Illinois Illini. The Boilermakers fell in game one, 3-0, but came back with an offensive explosion to take the second game, 6-0. The Old Gold and Black recorded their 16th shutout of the season to improve to 31-23-1 (7-11 Big Ten). The Illini stand at 45-20 (11-7 Big Ten).
"The second game today was just an outstanding game," said Purdue head coach Carol Bruggeman. "It was definitely one of our most complete games all year. Meagan Dooley was outstanding on the mound for us today, our defense was stellar, especially (Katie) Crabtree and (Jesse) Jones at short and third. We got hits and stolen bases, had aggressive base running, and just played great in that second game for a much-needed win."
In the first game, it was basically a three-up, three-down game on both sides of the field with only a very few scattered hits until the top of the fifth inning. In the fifth inning, the Illini made it their inning, scoring three runners on three hits with no Purdue errors, while they left one runner on base.
The action started after the Boilermakers had tallied two outs on the first two batters. Erin Montgomery was able to single to left field and then stole second. Erin Jones ripped one up the middle for a single and the RBI, as Montgomery crossed the plate.
Then Jones stole second and Lindsey Hamma was walked. Behind her, Janna Sartini doubled down the left field line and advanced to third on the Purdue throw home in an attempt to tag out Hamma. But both runners were safe and Sartini earned two RBI and was in scoring position herself.
Sartini wasn't able to cross the plate, however, as Katie O'Connell grounded into a 5-3 play for the third out of the inning.
Purdue made an attempt to come back from three runs down, but ran out of time as the Illinois defense held strong for the rest of the game.
On the mound for Purdue, sophomore Leighann Burke started the game and pitched 6.0 innings, allowing six hits, three runs and three walks. She struck out six batters and took the loss, falling to 11-11 on the season.
Junior Nicole Crouse came in on relief for the final 1.0 inning, walking one batter and striking out one batter.
In the second game, it was an offensive turnaround that made Purdue able to take the lead in the top of the first and never look back.
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In the first at-bat of the game, junior shortstop Katie Crabtree doubled down the left field line for her 17th of the season. Then sophomore outfielder Andrea Roush laid down the sacrifice bunt to advance Crabtree to third. Sophomore first baseman Heidi Foster tallied her first sacrifice fly of the season for the RBI as Crabtree came across the plate for Purdue.
Still with two outs, freshman catcher Sara Hall smacked an infield hit to the shortstop and reached first on an Illinois error as junior outfielder Chrissy Davie grounded into a 6-3 play for the third out.
But Purdue's confidence only became stronger as they continued the game, keeping the Illini scoreless in three more innings before scoring some more runs of its own.
Illinois stepped up its defense, and held off the Boilermakers until the top of the fifth inning, when sophomore designated player Laura Martin started Purdue off with a single, deep in the hole, to the shortstop. Freshman Nicole Austin pinch ran for Martin just before senior outfielder Lynne Tortorelli stepped to the plate for a sacrifice bunt to advance Austin to second. Freshman second baseman Holly Streed popped out to the second baseman and with a runner in scoring position, Crabtree was intentionally walked by the Illini, as they chose to face sophomore Andrea Roush instead.
But Roush was not the easy out that they had hoped, singling to right field and then advancing all the way to third on an error by the right fielder. Roush recorded the RBI for Austin's run but was tagged out on a close play at the plate, when she tried to make it home for an in-the-park home run.
The Boilermakers were able to tally another three-up, three-down inning on defense in the bottom of the fifth and then rallied for more runs in the top of the sixth.
Foster started things off with a double and Hall reached first on a fielder's choice as the Orange and Blue decided to try for the pick off at third. But Foster was able to get safely under the tag. Then, with runners on first and second and no outs, freshman Angela Knight stole to second as the pinch runner for Hall.
Davie recorded Purdue's first out when she struck out swinging. Then sophomore third baseman Jesse Jones made a sacrifice fly to score Foster and advance Knight to third.
The Boilermakers had tallied another run and still had a runner on third with two outs when Martin stepped to the plate again. She doubled to right center field as the ball bounced off the top of the yellow plastic piping, but stayed in the park as Knight scored. Then Tortorelli was up and singled to deep center field and advanced Martin to third. But Bruggeman wisely made the decision to hold Martin at third and not take the risk of a play at the plate.
Streed grounded out to the pitcher for the third out, but the Boilermakers had scored another two runs on three hits.
In the top of the sixth, Illinois was able to make a move and tally two hits of its own. But the Purdue defense held strong and never let a runner past second. Despite Illinois' two hits, it left both runners on base.
The Old Gold and Black scored one last run in the top of the seventh after Roush singled to center field and then stole second and then crossed home plate as Hall reached on an error by the shorstop.
On the mound for Purdue, junior Meagan Dooley pitched her fifth complete game of the year and her third shutout. She tallied no walks and struck out one while allowing six hits. Dooley's record improves to 11-7 on the season and her ERA improves to 1.32.
The Boilermakers will be back in action tomorrow, Saturday, April 28, at 2 p.m. when they host Ohio University in a non-conference doubleheader. The game will be webcast on www.purduesports.com with Sports Information Director Tom Schott calling the action beginning at approximately 1:45 p.m.
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