April 14, 2002
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue softball team tallied its first two wins of the Big Ten schedule on Sunday, sweeping the Indiana Hoosiers, 6-3 and 7-4, in doubleheader action at the Varsity Softball Complex. The Boilermakers improve to 31-16 (2-6 Big Ten), while the Hoosiers fall to 11-25-1 (0-12 Big Ten).
With the win over the Hoosiers, the Boilermakers gained another point in the Titan Series, sponsored by Keebler, for the year-long competition. The Titan Series now stands at 8-6 in favor of the Hoosiers, with baseball, men's and women's track, and men's and women's golf yet to compete.
"It felt great to get two wins today," said Purdue head coach Carol Bruggeman. "I am very, very proud of our determination today. Even when we got down in the second game, we came back and hung in there for the win.
"Angi Roembke was great today at the plate and Nicole Crouse was very impressive on the mound, gathering both wins and Meagan (Dooley) earned another save with a tough performance."
The Boilermakers started the first game off quickly, tallying two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Senior shortstop Katie Crabtree started it off with a single through the left side, followed by a sacrifice attempt and an error by the Indiana third baseman, putting junior Angi Roembke at first with Crabtree at second. Then, after one out, junior first baseman Heidi Foster walked to load the bases, as junior center fielder Andrea Roush stepped to the plate. Roush single for two RBI and advanced to second on the throw home by Indiana. Two more outs followed and the Old Gold and Black left two runners stranded in scoring position, but tallied their first two wins against the Hoosiers in the Titan Series matchup.
With back and forth 3-up, 3-down innings, Purdue didn't score again until the fifth inning, when Crabtree singled to left center field and made her way around, thanks to a Roembke ground out to put her at second and then an Indiana passed ball to move to third with two outs. Freshman second baseman Andrea Hillsey came through in the clutch, hitting a single up the middle to score Crabtree from third.
Then, hitting her eighth home run of the year, Foster stepped to the plate and smashed, most likely, the longest home run in Purdue softball history, as she smoked it over the left field wall and the grounds crew garage that sits behind the outfield wall. With the two RBI hit, both Hillsey and Foster crossed the plate, taking the Boilermakers' lead to 5-0.
The Hoosiers came back in the sixth inning and tallied three runs on four hits before Bruggeman removed senior starter Nicole Crouse from the mound. Senior reliever Meagan Dooley came in and shut the Crimson and Cream down and caused them to leave two batters stranded in scoring position.
Purdue knew that allowing the Hoosiers three runs was too close for comfort and it needed at least one insurance run as it headed in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Junior designated player Laura Martin started things off with a hit to the second baseman that was bobbled, reaching on the E4 and causing freshman Katie Absher to come in and pinch run. The, junior catcher Jesse Jones reached on an error by the Hoosier catcher in an attempt to sacrifice bunt Absher along. But the error was even better than the sacrifice, putting two runners on the base paths with no outs.
Then with a ground out by freshman third baseman Shelli Messer that advanced the runners to second and third with just one out, sophomore Angela Knight hit a dribbler down the first base line for the second out. But, the Boilermakers were still alive as Crabtree stepped to the plate.
Apparently, Indiana wasn't willing to take the chance against the senior All-American candidate, as it intentionally walked her, loading the bases again.
Next to the plate was Roembke, but she was not the easy out the Hoosiers were looking for, as she singled to first with a bunt, beating out the throw, as is traditional "Roembke style", for the RBI that scored Absher.
In the top half of the seventh inning, the Hoosiers threatened to score a few more runs, putting runners in scoring position. But, it would be a base-running error and a Purdue run-down that caused the Hoosiers to be put out of game one for good.
In game two, the Boilermakers had an even harder time staying alive, but they pulled it off with a five-run rally in the top of the seventh to take the win.
Purdue gathered its first run of the game in the first inning, when a wild pitch put Hillsey across the plate, after she singled to third base and was moved around by a hit by Foster and a fielder's choice play by Roush.
The Hoosiers rallied in the bottom of the first when senior third baseman Brooke Monroe hit a solo home run over the left field fence.
The game would stay tied until the bottom of the third inning, when Indiana started off with a single up the middle, a strike out, another single through the left side and a ground out play that advanced runners to second and third. Then, a single to the shortstop put one run across the plate and then another bunt single added the second run. The Hoosiers ended up with four hits for their two runs, but also left two runners on base.
Purdue started their rally right away, but left the bases loaded in the fourth and sixth innings, while leaving two runners on in the fifth.
Then, the Boilermakers found their groove in the top of the seventh inning, when four Indiana errors finally produced the run results that Coach Bruggeman had been looking for all along. With two hits, the Boilermakers scored five runs to go up, 7-3, over the Crimson and Cream.
The Hoosiers threatened again in the bottom of the seventh, but were able to only score one more run before the final batter of the day hit into a double play and the Hoosiers lost game two with another base running error.
On the mound for the Boilermakers in game one, senior Nicole Crouse made the start and pitched 5.1 innings, allowing five hits, three runs, three walks and striking out six. She improved to 11-5 on the year with the win.
Senior Meagan Dooley came in on relief and pitched her third save of the year in 1.2 innings of work. She allowed two hits and struck out three in six batters faced.
In game two, junior lefty Leighann Burke took the mound for the start and pitched 4.0 innings with seven hits allowed, three runs allowed and six strike outs in 20 batters faced. She took a no-decision, as the Boilermakers were down when she left the game.
Crouse came back for the game two relief appearance and took the win to improve to 12-5. She allowed one hit, one run, one walk and struck out two in 12 batters faced.
The Boilermakers will return to the field on Tuesday, April 16, when they travel to Chicago to take on the UIC Flames in non-conference doubleheader action. Game time is set for 4 p.m. under the lights at Flames Field.
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