May 18, 2008
LOS ANGELES - After coming away with one of the biggest wins in program history earlier in the day, the Purdue softball team's inaugural NCAA Tournament experience came to a close with a 2-1 loss to Nevada Saturday night in the Los Angeles Regional.
The Boilermakers end their season with a 35-23 record and a 1-2 record in the NCAA Tournament
Junior Dana Alcocer, who went the distance in Purdue's first game earlier in the evening, suffered the loss and finished the season with a 19-14 record. Katie Holverson, who defeated Purdue in the team's first matchup of the tournament on Friday, earned her 22nd victory of the 2008 season for the Wolf Pack.
The story of the game for both teams was leaving runners on base. Despite the 11 total hits in the ball game, both teams left a combined 20 runners on base, 13 by Nevada and seven by Purdue.
That all changed in the fifth. Leading off the inning, Noelle Micka doubled to right and advanced to third on a single by Brittany Puzey. Vanessa Briones then hit a grounder to second and Kelly Miller threw home to beat Micka who tried to score.
Alcocer then walked Britton Murdock, which loaded the bases for Sam Bias. Bias then sent an Alcocer offering deep to center, which was caught by Christina Trauger, and sacrificed Puzey home from third. The next at bat saw Kelsey Starr shoot one through the right side that scored Briones to make the score 2-0 halfway through the fifth inning.
With two outs in the bottom half of the inning, Miller singled through the left side to bring up Candace Curtis, who drove in all four runs in Purdue's first game of the day. This time, however, Curtis couldn't come up with the hit as she grounded out to second to end the Boilermaker half of the inning.
The Wolf Pack once again threatened in the sixth inning. After a leadoff walk to Danielle Patrick, Noelle Micka doubled to deep left center to move Patrick to third. Freshman Suzie Rzegocki replaced Alcocer, and although she gave up a walk to the first batter she faced, got two ground ball outs to keep the score at 2-0.
With the pitching keeping a potent Nevada offensive attack in check, the Boilermaker bats continued to struggle against Nevada pitching. Holverson pitched five innings and struck out seven, while reliever Richelle Villescas closed out the final two frames, but not without a scare in the seventh.
Beth Cinadr led off with a double that bounced off the top of the right field wall. Trauger reached on a bunt single that advanced Cinadr to third. Cinadr scored on a fielder's choice by Ashley Hall and moved to second on sacrifice by Miller, which brought Curtis to the plate. Curtis lined a shot to left field, but Puzey made a diving catch to end the game, and Purdue's season.
However, coach Kim Maher said she was happy with the way her team improved from Friday's loss to Nevada to today's games.
"I'm glad we had the opportunity to play two games today," she said. "After that first game, the kids realized we have nothing to lose and just go out there and play our game. We are definitely very proud of our team."