March 11, 2006
CLEARWATER, Fla. - The Boilermakers advanced to the silver bracket of the USF/Adidas Invitational after falling to Northern Illinois 3-2 on Saturday morning. Purdue made a late run, but fell short of the Huskies in the contest.
NIU scored first, putting up a run on a hit and a stolen base. Kelly Park tripled to right center, then stole home as part of a two-out double steal to mark the game's first run.
A second-inning error gave the Huskies a base runner, and they capitalized, taking advantage of the extra life in the inning with a two-run home run by Elyse Jamrozy. A grounder to short ended the inning, stranding two runners.
The Boilermakers broke onto the scoreboard in the fourth inning with one run on three hits. Senior Tricia Lilley (North Canton, Ohio) got the rally started with a one-out double to left center. Junior DaQueta Johnson (Ontario, Calif.) picked up the RBI with a double to right center. Senior Kristen Schell (San Diego, Calif.) joined her on base with a two-out single up the middle, but both runners were left stranded by a fly out.
Sophomore Tiffany Krcelich (Granger, Ind.) singled to short and stole second with one out in the fifth, but a pair of strikeouts kept her from scoring.
Senior Becky Stone (Belleville, Ill.) and Schell posted a pair of two out singles in the sixth, but could not score after a fielder's choice accounted for the third out of the inning.
Purdue did not go down without a fight, scoring a run on a hit and two errors in the seventh. Senior Staci Falzon (Carlsbad, Calif.) and sophomore Ashley Hall (Noblesville, Ind.) reached on back-to-back two-out errors by the shortstop. Lilley singled through the right side, driving in Falzon from second, but a ground ball to the second baseman sealed the NIU win.
The Boilermakers scored two runs on seven hits, including two each by Lilley and Schell. NIU scored three runs on seven hits and an error.
Paige Granath earned the win for NIU after tossing the opening four stanzas, while Taryn Hagemann picked up the save after tossing the final three. Senior Diana LaRiva (Tustin, Calif.) was tabbed with the loss for Purdue.
The Boilermakers return to action at 6 p.m. against conference foe Illinois.