Feb. 26, 2005
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The Boilermakers used a squeeze bunt in the bottom of the ninth to secure a 5-4 win over Kentucky to close Day 2 of the Frost Classic. Sophomore Catherine Zaworski laid down the game-winning bunt, driving in senior Shelli Messer from third in international tie-breaker extra innings. Purdue wraps up the tournament with contests against Bowling Green and Tennessee Tech on Sunday.
After the Wildcats went down 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth, Messer came in to pinch run on second base, which is awarded automatically in international tie-breaker innings. Sophomore Erika Peterson (Irvine, Calif.) sacrificed Messer to third, before Zaworski put down the perfect bunt, allowing Messer to slide around the catcher's tag for the game-winner.
"Today was a battle," head coach Carol Bruggeman said. "I thought Brooke Baker was a warrior for us in the second game. We have a good hitting team, but today everything was a struggle from the plate. We hung in there and found a way to scratch out a run against Kentucky."
The Boilermakers were the first to score, putting up two runs in the opening stanza. Junior Staci Falzon (Carlsbad, Calif.) led off with a single up the middle, then senior Katie Absher (Puyallup, Wash.) followed with a bunt single. Senior Andrea Hillsey (White Lake, Mich.) walked to load the bases. Sophomore Katie Fortune (Kingwood, Texas) then sent a sacrifice fly into left field to score Falzon. A pair of wild pitches scored Absher and put Hillsey on third. Lilley and Stone then walked to fill the bases again, prompting UK to put in relief pitcher Meghan Cooper. Cooper got the next batter to ground out to prevent further damage.
The Wildcats responded with three runs on four hits in the second. Megan Glenn started the rally with a single to left field, then moved to second on a sacrifice. A Callie Kovacs single into left moved Glenn to third. Emily Marks picked up an infield single to load the bases. Lori Melchi earned the RBI with a sacrifice fly to left. Alli Eckman doubled to right center to score two more runs, before a fly ball wrapped up the stanza.
Purdue tied the score with an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth. Absher singled to the shortstop with one out to give the Boilermakers a baserunner. Hillsey then reached on a bobbled catch by the first baseman. Sophomore DaQueta Johnson singled and advanced to second on a shot to centerfield, moving Hillsey to third, but Absher was thrown out at the plate by the centerfielder. Fortune walked to load the bases, then Hillsey scored on a single to third base by junior Tricia Lilley (North Canton, Ohio). A swinging strikeout left the bases full.
Kentucky had a runner in scoring position in the seventh, but couldn't convert. Eckman reached on a one-out fielding error by the third baseman. Pinch runner Kristen Cochran then moved to second on a fielder's choice that put Jessica Nance on first. The next batter grounded into a double play to end the inning.
The game went into extra innings, envoking the international tie-breaker rule which put pinch runner Jenny Sibert on second base to start the stanza. The Wildcats then bunted her over to third. A two-out single into short centerfield was enough to score the runner and put UK up 4-3.
Purdue evened the score as a one-out single by Lilley scored pinch runner Ashley Hall from third. Hall, who started on second, moved to third on a sacrifice by Fortune. A fly ball to centerfield kept the game going.
Absher and Lilley led Purdue at the plate with two hits each, while six Boilermakers posted hits in the effort. Sophomore Brooke Baker (Schererville, Ind.) picked up the win, striking out six batters in seven innings of relief work. Megan Cooper was charged with the Kentucky loss after throwing 8.2 innings of relief.
The Boilermakers (8-5) return to action at 12:15 p.m. on Sunday against Bowling Green.