March 1, 2003
FULLERTON, Calif. - No. 17 Oregon State came back from a 3-1 deficit to top the Purdue softball team 5-4 at the Worth Invitational Saturday afternoon.
The Beavers scored the game-winner in the bottom of the sixth on an obstruction call on third baseman Shelli Messer. The play was set up as pinch hitter Lisa Allen singled to right field. Shannon Sorg pinch ran for Allen and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Adrienne Alo singled and advanced to second on the throw as the Boilermakers went for the out at the plate. The throw was in time, but the home plate umpire said Messer obstructed the runner and awarded the run. Kelly Petersen grounded into a double play to end the inning as reliever Leighann Burke tossed the ball to catcher Jesse Jones for the out at the plate, Jones then fired it to first baseman Heidi Foster to complete the play.
Foster kept Purdue in the hunt with her second home run of the game in the top of the seventh. The two-out long ball to center field made it 5-4 Beavers and brought up freshman Tricia Lilley. Lilley knocked a double off the center field fence to put the tying run aboard, but OSU's third pitcher of the day, Amy Klever, punched out pinch hitter Laura Martin to close the game.
The Boilermakers scored first as Foster rocketed a two-run home run to left center to drive in senior Angi Roembke, who singled to short. Oregon State answered in the bottom of the first inning. Freshman Diana LaRiva walked Clare Burnam to lead things off. Brynnen Guthrie reached on a fielder's choice to push Burnam to second. Peterson recorded a sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring position and Shelly Prochaska hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score the run.
Purdue continued its success in the second inning, capitalizing on an error by the right fielder, who dropped an Andrea Hillsey fly ball to allow pinch runner Staci Falzon to score. Falzon, who was pinch running for designated player Becky Stone who walked, rounded the bases on an Andrea Roush single to short and an Angela Knight single to second base.
OSU made it 3-2 in the bottom of the second, making good on a Purdue error. Steph Adams got a triple out of an error by the right fielder and scored on a passed ball. The Beavers then took a 4-3 lead with two runs on three hits in the fourth. Allen singled to left, then Burnam singled to center to put two on for Guthrie. She then doubled to left center, scoring both runners.
LaRiva took the loss after pitching four full innings, while Dena Dubois picked up the win and Klever recorded the save. LaRiva drops to 1-4, while Dubois moved to 1-1 on the year.
Purdue scored four runs on eight hits, while committing two errors, while Oregon State tallied five runs on nine hits with two errors.
The Boilermakers will end out the weekend with a 10 a.m. meeting with No. 4 Washington.