April 11, 2003
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - No. 24 Illinois claimed the upper hand in a battle of timely hits, as the Illini softball team topped Purdue 6-3 in a Friday afternoon contest.
Freshman Diana LaRiva entered the game in the fifth and took Illinois down in order, but she would not be so fortunate the following inning. Freshman Jenna Hall led off the sixth with a home run over the center field wall. Junior Erin Montgomery then singled down the left field line, before moving to second on a sacrifice bunt. With two outs and Montgomery aboard, Illinois head coach Terri Sullivan took a risk, putting back-up catcher Katie Bradley in to pinch hit for Katie O'Connell. Bradley was just 1-for-10 on the year entering the game, but delivered this time around with a single to left field, scoring the run. Rachelle Coriddi singled past the shortstop and advanced on the throw, moving O'Connell, who reentered to run for Bradley, to third. Sophomore LeeAnn Butcher added a pair of insurance runs with a single to right field.
The Boilermakers got one of the runs back in the bottom of the inning, on a Jesse Jones RBI double to center. The Jones hit scored sophomore Andrea Hillsey, who climbed aboard with a single through the left side, but would not be enough as the team went down in order in the seventh, its last chance for a score.
Purdue struck first with a run in the opening stanza. Tricia Lilley singled up the middle in her first at-bat after missing four games with a hand injury, and scored on a Hillsey RBI triple that rolled to the center field wall, but Illinois took the lead in the second and never relinquished it.
A lead-off walk put a runner aboard for Montgomery, who hit a straight shot just inside the left field foul pole, to give the Illini a 2-1 lead. The Boilermakers tied it at two after combining a pair of hits with two Illinois errors in the fourth. Hillsey tallied a lead off single to left, then advanced to second on an overthrown ball to second base, intended to prevent her from stealing. Senior Andrea Roush then singled to the shortstop, whose errant throw to first allowed Hillsey to score on the play.
LaRiva took the loss, dropping to 10-9, while Illini pitcher Amanda Fortune moved to 17-5 with the victory. Hillsey, who was recently named as one of 25 candidates for the Amateur Softball Association's Player of the Year award, was again solid at the plate, going 3-for-3 and boosting her league leading batting average to .500.
The Boilermakers look to split the series with a win in Saturday's noon meeting on Women in Athletics Day. All women get in free and female student-athletes from a variety of sports will participate in an autograph session before the game. The first 25 Purdue students at the game will receive a voucher for a free softball T-shirt. A victory would mark the team's first over a top 25 opponent.