May 12, 2005
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - No. 19 Northwestern spoiled the Purdue softball team's first trip to the Big Ten Tournament since 2000, by handing the Boilermakers a 2-0 loss on Thursday. With the loss, Purdue now owns a 34-24-1 record, including a 10-10 conference mark, which earned it a seventh-place finish. The Boilermakers must now wait until Sunday's NCAA Tournament announcement to find out if their season will continue.
"It was a great game," head coach Carol Bruggeman said. "Defensively, it was one of our best games of the season. To hold one of the best hitting teams in the country to two runs is pretty good. We knew we would have to play good defense and we did, with outs at the plate and a key double play. Brooke Baker also did a good job of keeping us in the game; we just could not get that key hit. I liked our approach at the plate; we went down fighting."
Senior Andrea Hillsey (White Lake, Mich.) led off the game with a single to right. Junior Tricia Lilley (North Canton, Ohio) then reached on a one-out fielder's choice as Hillsey was forced out at second. Lilley moved to second on the play as the shortstop threw the ball into the Northwestern dugout when trying for the double play at first base. A strikeout left her stranded.
Northwestern put its leadoff batter aboard in the bottom of the inning as Stephanie Churchwell sent a single bouncing up the middle. A trio of fly balls kept her from advancing around the bases.
The Wildcats broke onto the scoreboard in the second as Kristen Amegin hit a lead-off home run off the right field foul pole. Darcy Sengewald drew a two-out walk, but was left stranded by a ground ball to the third baseman.
Junior Becky Stone (Belleville, Ill.) was hit by a pitch with one out in the third, but pinch runner Jamie Dum (Indianapolis, Ind.) was left stranded by a pop up and line out.
The Wildcats loaded the bases to no avail in the bottom of the inning. Erin Mobley led off with an infield single, then moved to second on a Garland Cooper single to short. A walk put Jamie Dotson on to fill the bases with one out. Sophomore Brooke Baker (Schererville, Ind.) worked out of the jam, getting the next batter, Amegin, to ground into a double play, from the second baseman to the shortstop to the first baseman.
Senior Shelli Messer (Greenfield, Ind.) reached on a one-out free pass in the fourth, but could not make it in to score. A strikeout and ground out left her on base at the end of the stanza.
NU put a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the fourth, but could not score. Sheila McCorkle singled through the left side to start the inning, then moved to second on a sacrifice. A fly ball to right and a swinging strikeout ended the inning.
Stone sent a two-out single up the middle in the fifth, but a fly ball to left kept her from scoring.
The Wildcats added another run on two hits in the NU half of the inning. Churchwell singled up the middle to start the stanza. She moved to third on a sacrifice and a passed ball, but was out at the plate on a fielder's choice that put Cooper aboard. Dotson walked to put runners on first and second for Amegin, who singled to left. Cooper scored on the play, but Dotson was caught trying to take third for the inning's third out.
Absher singled to short to open the sixth inning and moved to second on a two-out wild pitch, but was left stranded by a fly ball to right.
McCorkle led off the Wildcat half of the sixth with a single up the middle, but the remaining batters went down in order on a pop up and two ground outs.
Sophomore Erika Peterson (Irvine, Calif.) singled up the middle with one out in the seventh, but a strikeout and pop up to second base sealed the Northwestern victory.
Purdue tallied four hits in the game, one each by Hillsey, Absher, Peterson and Stone. Northwestern posted two runs on eight hits, while committing one error.
Courtnay Foster (19-6) earned the complete game victory for the Wildcats, while sophomore Brooke Baker (15-16) was charged with the loss after throwing her 15th complete game of the season.
"I am disappointed for our seniors, they certainly deserved better," Bruggeman said. "I wish we had won for them, but I am extremely proud of the way our team played against a Top 20 team. One or two more hits and we might have won the game."
The Boilermakers must now wait until the NCAA Championship field is announced on Sunday night to see if their season will continue.