April 5, 2002
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue softball team fell today, 6-2, to the Northwestern Wildcats in its Big Ten home opener at the Varsity Softball Complex. The Boilermakers fall to 27-12 (0-3 Big Ten) on the year, while the Wildcats improve to 12-8-1 (3-0 Big Ten).
"Today I have to give a lot of credit to Northwestern," said Purdue head coach Carol Bruggeman. "They came out with two big home runs that set the tone of the game and we made it difficult on ourselves to come back from that. Unfortunately, we gave them some runners ahead of those home runs and they came out a little more ready to play than we did. We had a lot of chances to take the game and we did outhit them.
"I thought that Leighann (Burke) did a nice job in relief today on the mound and hopefully we'll keep our confidence up and come back tomorrow with a win."
The Boilermakers put themselves into a hole right from the start, with an error on the very first play of the game, putting a runner on first. Then, the second Wildcat batter took a walk after a wild pitch advanced the runner on first.
Purdue's defense then was able to pick off that lead runner with a 2-4-6 play between second and third, but the walked batter went to second during the throw around. A sacrifice bunt advanced that runner to third and then Northwestern's Gretchen Barnes stepped to the plate and hit a home run over the left centerfield fence, scoring both herself and Brett Nakabayashi, who was on third, putting the Purple and White up, 2-0. Barnes' home run tied her for the Northwestern career home run lead.
The Northwestern defense took the field fired up and ready to play, holding the Boilermakers to three 3-up, 3-down innings in a row.
However, the Wildcats would extend their lead in the top of the third inning when they got two runners on before Carri Leto would hit her first career home run for a 3-run shot over the right centerfield wall.
Purdue made a pitching change, but still allowed one more run one on one hit and one error in the top of the fourth inning, putting the Wildcats up, 6-0.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Boilermakers tallied their first run of the game, as freshman second baseman Andrea Hillsey singled to centerfield and was sent home by junior Heidi Foster with a single that bounced off the 220' sign in centerfield.
Then, in the bottom of the sixth inning, senior shortstop Katie Crabtree started it off with a single to second base and then advanced to second on a wild pitch. Hillsey snagged another single up the middle, advancing Crabtree to third, before she advanced to second on a passed ball. Another wild pitch over the head of the Northwestern catcher scored Crabtree from third and put Hillsey on third. But, it wouldn't be enough, as junior Andrea Roush fouled one off, but had it caught by the first baseman.
In the top of the seventh inning, the Boilermakers took the Wildcats 3-up, 3-down and then returned to the plate in hopes of catching a few more runs.
Junior designated player Laura Martin hit a single to left field and freshman Katie Absher came in to pinch run. But freshman Shelli Messer's fly ball to left field wasn't deep enough for the sacrifice fly and sophomore right fielder Angela Knight wasn't able to get her ground ball past the Wildcat shortstop.
The Boilermakers will return to the field on Saturday at noon, when they take on the Wildcats for game two of the 2002 season. The game will be broadcast on 1410 WAZY-AM and on www.purduesports.com with sports information director Tom Schott calling all the action from the Varsity Softball Field, beginning at 11:55 a.m.
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