March 12, 2005
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Western Michigan used timely hits and capitalized on a few Purdue mistakes en route to a 2-0 victory over the Boilermakers in Day 3 action at the Speedline Invitational. The team, now 13-10 overall, will take on a yet-to-be-determined opponent at 3 p.m. when bracket play begins.
The Boilermakers got the first hit of the game in the second inning as redshirt junior Kristen Schell (San Diego, Calif.) sent a single through the right side. Pinch runner Tiffany Krcelich (Granger, Ind.) moved to second on a ground ball, but was out at third on a fielder's choice by the next batter. A ground ball ended the inning with one left on.
Purdue got another base runner to open the fourth inning as freshman Ashley Hall (Noblesville, Ind.) reached on an error by the first baseman. She then stole second, but a pair of strikeouts and ground out kept her from scoring.
Western Michigan broke onto the scoreboard with two hits and two errors in the bottom of the inning. Danielle Daughtry reached on an error by the right fielder to start the inning. She was then sacrificed over to second and moved to third on a single up the middle by Katie Niemi and scored on a fielding error by the center fielder. Amanda Heckaman then singled to left center and moved to second on the throw home as Niemi scored. A pop up and ground out left Heckaman stranded.
A lead-off walk put junior Staci Falzon (Carlsbad, Calif.) aboard in the sixth, but again Purdue could not convert the runner into a tally on the scoreboard.
The Broncos tallied two hits in the sixth, but were unable to score in the stanza. Niemi sent a two-out single to left. Heckaman then singled to right, but Niemi was thrown out trying to score.
The Boilermakers had two runners on base in the top of the seventh, but couldn't plate them. Junior Tricia Lilley (North Canton, Ohio) sent a one-out double up the middle, then senior Shelli Messer (Greenfield, Ind.) hit a sharp single at the pitcher. A strike out and ground ball, however ended the inning and sealed the WMU win.
Purdue tallied three hits in the contest, while the Broncos scored two runs on four hits. Tricia VanDerSlik earned the complete game victory for Western Michigan, while freshman Melissa Burns (Miami, Fla.) was saddled with the loss for Purdue, despite striking out four batters.
The Boilermakers return to action at 3 p.m. against a team yet to be determined in Bracket B play.