March 3, 2007
WOODSTOCK, Ga. - Extra innings were not kind to the Boilermaker softball team as it lost a 5-4 nine-inning heartbreaker to Middle Tennessee State Saturday afternoon. Purdue rallied to tie the game in the seventh, but could not overcome the Blue Raiders in extra stanzas.
Purdue scored four runs on eight hits and two MTSU errors, while the Blue Raiders plated five runs on eight hits and four Boilermakers miscues. Sophomore Kelly Miller (Indianapolis, Ind.) and junior Ashley Hall (Noblesville, Ind.) led the team with two hits each.
Lindsey Vander Lugt (5-7) earned the complete-game victory for Middle Tennessee State, while senior Brooke Baker (Schererville, Ind.) struck out four in a complete game effort for the Boilermakers.
MTSU struck first, combining a pair of Boilermaker miscues with a fielder's choice and a single for a single run in the opening stanza. Whitney Darlington singled to right field to score the runner from third.
The Boilermakers threatened, putting two runners in scoring position in the third inning. Sophomore Christina Trauger (Santa Rosa, Calif.) drew a one-out walk and advanced to third on a ground ball and an error. Hall reached on the error and stole second, but a strikeout, however, left both two stranded.
The Blue Raiders added three runs to their tally in the top of the fourth. A two-base error and a sacrifice bunt put Martha Davis on third for Ashley Cline, who picked up the RBI with a sharp double. Shelby Stiner drove in Cline with a double to left center, before scoring on a Samantha Floyd double to right center. A line out and ground out got Purdue out of the inning without further damage.
Purdue got two runs back on a trio of hits in the bottom of the inning. Sophomore Katie Mitchell (Crown Point, Ind.) led off with a double to left center. Senior DaQueta Johnson (Ontario, Calif.) followed with a single to the shortstop. A sacrifice bunt moved Mitchell and pinch runner Catherine Zaworski (Prospect Heights, Ill.) into scoring position, setting the table for senior Erika Peterson (Irvine, Calif.). Peterson made good on the RBI opportunity with a double off the center field wall. A strikeout kept Peterson from making her way around the base paths.
A pair of bunt singles put Miller and Hall aboard in the fifth. A ground ball moved them into scoring position, but neither could make it around to score.
With their backs against the wall in the seventh inning, the Boilermakers came through with two runs on three hits and an error to send the game to extra innings. Trauger doubled down the left field line to start the inning. Miller and Hall followed with singles to the shortstop, loading the bases for sophomore Candace Curtis (Danville, Calif.). Curtis reached on a fielder's choice as MTSU got the force out at home, but the play didn't end there. In an attempt to pull off a double play, the catcher threw to first but airmailed the ball into right field, allowing Curtis to advance to second as Miller and Hall to scored. A ground out and pop up left Curtis aboard at the inning's end.
A runner was placed on second base to start the eighth inning due to the international tie breaker rule. MTSU sacrificed their runner to third, but a pop up and ground out left her stranded. The Boilermakers followed suit bunting the runner to third, but could not convert as a strike out and ground out sent the game to a ninth stanza.
A single to right field drove gave the Blue Raiders a 5-4 lead in the ninth.
In the home half of the ninth, the Boilermakers used a sacrifice bunt to push pinch runner Traci Lippold (Greenwood, Ind.) to third, but could not bring her in to score after a strike out and a bang-bang ground out play at first base.
The Boilermakers look to shake off the heartbreaker when they take on Winthrop at 5 p.m.