April 9, 2002
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue softball team bounced back from its losing streak on Tuesday with two wins over non-conference rival Ball State in doubleheader action at the Varsity Softball Complex. The Boilermakers took the first game 6-3 and the second game 2-1, improving their record to 29-15 on the year, while the Cardinals fall to 11-14.
"Our goal today was to show a lot of effort in every single aspect of our play," said Purdue head coach Carol Bruggeman. "And I am very proud of the effort that we showed today. All three pitchers did an outstanding job on the mound. They generated a ton of ground balls, which we know is a strength of this team, defensively. Leighann Burke was able to get a win and a save today and that's fabulous. It just shows what a great day she had.
"Offensively, Katie Crabtree came through for us big in the first game and again, we hit double-digit hits and that's always a positive. In the second game, Heidi (Foster) hit a huge two-out RBI single and Andrea Roush going 3 for 3 was another strong performance. Roushie always makes things happen for us and it was good to take advantage of some of the many, many chances we had to cash in on."
The Boilermakers gathered a set of banner-raising wins, while adding some important confidence-building records to the Purdue books. In the first game, senior Nicole Crouse took the mound for the start and the win, her 10th of the year and 40th of her career, while junior Leighann Burke earned the save, her third of the year and the 11th of her career.
Junior Jesse Jones added her fifth home run of the year and senior shortstop Katie Crabtree became the Purdue all-time career triples leader with her second triple of the year and the 12th of her career. Crabtree passes Jenny Schoen with the extra-base smack to take the record solely as her own.
Crouse and the Boilermakers started the first game of the day quickly in a hole. With a hit batter on the first pitch of the game and a sacrifice bunt to move her to second, a passed ball and a walk put runners at first and third with only one out. A stolen base by the walked batter added to the pressure on Crouse, but she fought back with a ground out to third base and a strike out, looking, to get out of the inning with no runs allowed.
In the bottom of the first, the Boilermakers got their own runners at first and third with one out and then second and third due to a stolen base. But, Purdue left both runners on and wouldn't score until the second inning, when Jones hit a solo home run, her sixth of the year, over the left center field fence.
In the bottom of the third, junior left fielder Angi Roembke came through with another bunt single that beat out the throw to first and then would work her way around with a stolen base, an advance on a Crabtree single up the middle, and a score on a junior first baseman Heidi Foster single through the left side. Then, with Crabtree on third, Foster stole second for just the third stolen base of her career, and the Boilermakers had runners on second and third with no outs.
Junior centerfielder Andrea Roush then singled up the middle for the RBI as Crabtree came across the plate. Junior designated player Laura Martin sacrificed Roush over to second and Foster to third with a bunt just before Jones was hit by a pitch to re-load the bases for Purdue. Freshman Shelli Messer kept the run going with a single to deep left field that scored both Foster and Roush for two RBI and five total Boilermaker runs.
The Old Gold and Black would add one more run to their 5-0 lead in the fifth inning, when freshman Katie Absher crossed the plate after pinch running for Martin, who had singled to left field and moved around the bases by a stolen base and a passed ball.
Ball State made its comeback in the top of the sixth inning, when the Cardinals were able to single up the middle, double to left center and get three bases out of a dropped fly ball, all in a row. Add a sacrifice fly and the Cardinals were able to put three runs across the Purdue plate before the Boilermaker defense was able to get the third out.
On the mound, Crouse went 6.0 innings, allowed five hits, three runs and walked one. She struck out four batters before Burke came in to finish it off. Tossing only eight pitches, Burke pitched 1.0 inning and faced three batters.
The second game of the twin bill did not have nearly the offensive excitement that the first game produced, but the Boilermakers were able to pull out a 2-1 victory, started by a two-out single in the fifth inning by Foster that scored freshman second baseman Andrea Hillsey after she led off with her own single to left field.
A series of a Roush single along with a throwing error by the Ball State pitcher sent freshman Courtney Kovanis, who was pinch running for Foster, home for the second Purdue run.
Ball State made another comeback attempt in the top of the seventh, when an error by Purdue's Crabtree put a runner on first who eventually scored, unearned. But, the Boilermakers' defense held strong for the third out of the inning and their 29th of the year.
The Boilermakers will return to the field on Thursday when they travel to South Bend to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in a single game at 5 p.m. at Ivy Field.
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