April 8, 2014
Complete Release in PDF Format
The Slate
Boilermaker Softball Complex - West Lafayette, Ind.
Wednesday, April 9
5 p.m. vs. Ball State
Radio: Listen
Live Stats: purduesports.com
Promotion: Faculty/Staff Appreciation Day - $1 tickets for all Purdue faculty and staff with ID.
Buckeye Field - Columbus, Ohio
Live Stats: purduesports.com
Video: Watch
Friday, April 11
6 p.m. at Ohio State
Saturday, April 12
2 p.m. at Ohio State
Sunday, April 13
1 p.m. at Ohio State
The Book on the Boilermakers
At First Glance: Purdue (20-18-1) will step away from Big Ten play on Wednesday for a non-conference contest against Ball State. The team returns 17 players from its 2013 squad which posted a 21-32 mark, an 8-14 Big Ten mark and Big Ten Tournament second round appearance. Seven position starters and three starting pitchers return, while five newcomers join the roster. Head coach Kim Schuette is in her first season with the Boilermakers after spending the last eight years as head coach at Eastern Illinois.
Last Time Out: The Boilermakers won the season series with Indiana, going 2-1 against the Hoosiers in West Lafayette last weekend. Purdue swept the Saturday doubleheader by identical 4-1 scores, but Indiana won 5-2 on Sunday.
Statistically Speaking: Outfielder Andie Varsho (.459) leads the Boilermaker bats with a .459 average, 34 runs, 13 doubles and 17 stolen bases. Six other starters are batting .250 or better. Catcher Danielle Fletcher (.383), first baseman Ashley Burkhardt (.363), designated player Katy McJunkin (.342), infielder Tori Chiodo (.330), catcher/outfielder Maia Monchek (.281) and outfielder Lindsey Rains (.278) round out the group. Fletcher has driven in a team-best 32 RBI, while registering eight home runs and 10 doubles. Burkhardt has driven in 30 RBI and boasts 10 doubles and seven home runs. Chiodo has driven in 27 RBI and scored 24 runs, while also launching five home runs and stealing seven bases. Rains adds 18 RBI, 17 runs and two homers. As a team, the Boilers are batting .312 with 26 home runs and 46 stolen bases.
In the circle, the Purdue staff has combined for 213 strikeouts in 254 innings. Sophomore Lilly Fecho (14-10) has done the bulk of the pitching, striking out 145 batters in 147 innings, including 19 complete games. Junior Lexy Moore (4-7) has added 42 Ks in 61 innings, while junior Alex Whittemore has issued 15 Ks in 28 innings, including a complete-game no-hitter. Senior Lauren Grant has struck out 11 batters in 16 innings.
Series Information
Ball State (Purdue leads the series 18-3): The Boilermakers and Cardinals split the first two games of the all-time series, which began on March 21, 1995. The Boilermakers won the next 12 games in the series from 1995 to 2006. BSU ended the streak with a 7-3 win on April 16, 2008 in Muncie. Purdue rebounded to win four straight. Most recently, the teams split an April 12, 2012 doubleheader in Muncie. Purdue is 8-0 all time in West Lafayette, 9-3 in Muncie and 1-0 in neutral contests.
Ohio State (OSU leads the series 20-17): The Buckeyes won seven of the first 10 games in the series with the Boilermakers, which began on April 15, 1995. Purdue won four straight from 1999-2001. OSU countered with six straight wins from 2001-2005. The Boilermakers snapped the streak winning two of the next three. The Buckeyes won each of the next four, but Purdue has dominated the series since 2008, taking eight of the last 10. The Buckeyes won the 2013 series finale 5-3 in 10 innings to end a six-game series win streak for Purdue. The Boilers are 5-6 vs. OSU in West Lafayette, 11-14 in Columbus and 1-0 in neutral contests.
What a Difference a Win Makes ...
If the Boilermakers top Ball State on Wednesday...
- They will move to 21-18-1 on the season.
- It would move the team's record to 188-140 all-time in home games, including a 102-27 record in non-conference contests.
- They will move to 217-200-2 all-time in the month of April, including a 9-6 mark when playing on April 9.
Chatting About the Cardinals
At First Glance: The Ball State Cardinals (19-13) have played just three games since March 23 due to weather cancellations. The Cardinals return 14 letterwinners, including six starters and two pitchers, from the 2013 team that posted a 37-17 record and won the Mid American Conference regular season title. Ball State is coached by Tyra Perry, who is in her first year with the team.
Last Time Out: The Cardinals split a pair of weekend home games with Toledo, winning the Saturday contest 8-1 and falling 6-4 on Sunday.
Statistically Speaking: Outfielder Briana Evans leads the Ball State offense with a .404 average, 21 runs, four triples and nine stolen bases. Six other starters are batting .290 or better. Designated player Jennifer Gilbert (.381), third baseman Audrey Bickel (.378), first baseman Taylor Rager (.354), outfielder Loren Cihlar (.341), second baseman Emily Dabkowski (.317) and shortstop Selena Reyna (.290) make up the group. Gilbert has driven in a team-best 40 RBI with 11 home runs, nine doubles and three triples, while also scoring a team-best 33 runs. Bickel has added 31 RBI and accounted for four home runs, while Rager has chipped in 25 RBI, four homers and 14 doubles. Cihlar has gone 8-for-8 on the base paths, while Dabkowski boasts 21 RBI, four home runs and 33 runs. As a team, Ball State is batting .325 with 36 home runs and 25 stolen bases.
Sophomore Kelsey Schifferdecker (8-5) and sophomore Nicole Steinbach (8-6) have done the bulk of the pitching for the Cardinals. Schifferdecker has struck out 44 batters in 83 innings of work including two shutouts, while Steinbach has added 47 Ks in 77 innings with one shutout and two saves. Freshman Jocelyn Rivera (2-1) has struck out 22 in 29 innings with a shutout and sophomore lefty Sammi Cowger (1-1) has six strikeouts and a save to her credit in 10 innings. Opponents boast a .321 average against the staff.
An Overview of Ohio State
At First Glance: The Ohio State Buckeyes (17-18, 5-4 Big Ten) are set to play a Wednesday doubleheader against Ohio before welcoming Purdue to Columbus for the weekend's Big Ten series. The Buckeyes return 16 letterwinners, including seven starters and five pitchers, from the 2013 team that posted a 34-22 record and finished eighth in the Big Ten. OSU is coached by Kelly Kovach Schoenly, who is in her second year with the team.
Last Time Out: The Buckeyes lost all three games of a weekend road series with No. 5 Michigan, falling 1-0 on Saturday and by scores of 10-0 and 9-1 on Sunday.
Statistically Speaking: First baseman Evelyn Carrillo (.364) leads a group of six Buckeyes with averages of .250 or better. Carrillo has driven in 23 RBI with seven doubles and three home runs and stolen three bases. Outfielders Caitlin Conrad (.353), Taylor Watkins (.321) and Cammi Prantl (.313), catcher Erika Leonard (.287) and designated player Jayla Saibene (.254) round out the group. Conrad has driven in 24 RBI and scored a team-leading 27 runs with 10 doubles, two triples and six home runs. Watkins has scored 24 runs and added 17 RBI with seven doubles, two triples, three homers and four steals. Prantl boasts 24 runs, 19 RBI, 10 doubles, four homers and four steals. As a team, Ohio State is batting .281 with 22 home runs and 18 stolen bases.
Four pitchers have split time in the circle for OSU. Junior Olivia O'Reilly (6-4) has struck out 47 batters in 77 innings with one shutout and three saves. Freshman Shelby Hursh (3-6) has added 50 Ks in 50 innings with a shutout and three saves. Senior Melanie Nichols (4-5) chips in 33 strikeouts in 46 innings with a shutout and junior Alex DiDomenico (3-3) has added 28 Ks in 36 innings with a shutout. The staff is allowing foes a .255 average.
Among The Nation
The Boilermakers rank 26th nationally in doubles per game (1.56) and 34th in batting average (.312). Individually, senior Andie Varsho ranks among the national top 60 in three categories: batting average (16th with .459), on-base percentage (21st with .541) and doubles per game (46th with 0.33). Junior Ashley Burkhardt ranks sixth nationally in sacrifice flies (4). Senior Maia Monchek ranks 49th in sacrifice bunts per game (0.23). Sophomore pitcher Lilly Fecho is 32nd nationally in strikeouts (145) and 45th in wins (14). Senior Tori Chiodo ranks 52nd in walks per game (0.69).
Breaking Records
Senior outfielder Andie Varsho set two records during Purdue's weekend series with Indiana. With a fifth-inning single in Game 1 on April 5, she became the school's all-time career hits leader (256). The hit also gave her the Purdue record for longest hitting streak in a season (21), surpassing Ashley Hall's 20-game stretch during the 2007 season. With a third-inning single in Game 2 of the series, Varsho extended the hit streak to 22 games. The Hoosiers held her without a hit in the series finale.
In the Record Books\b>
Junior first baseman Ashley Burkhardt tied the school record for home runs in a game with two in Game 2 against Coastal Carolina on Feb. 14. The effort marked the 22nd time a Boilermaker has achieved the feat. Burkhardt becomes the 16th individual to do so.
Senior outfielder Andie Varsho tied the school game record for hits with a 5-for-5 effort against Bryant on March 14. Two other players have recorded five hits in a game: Angi Roembke (5-for-5) vs. Indiana, 4/14/02 and Molly Garst (5-for-6) vs. Troy, 2/26/12. Varsho had four singles, a double and two RBI in the contest.
Varsho tied the school record for doubles in a game with three in Game 3 of the series with Penn State, March 22. The effort matches that of Andrea Hillsey, who registered three doubles against Texas A&M Corpus Christi on March 3, 2002.
The Boilermakers posted 17 hits in the contest with Bryant, matching the second highest tally in program history. Purdue teams have posted a record 18 hits in a game six times and have managed 17 hit tallies seven other times last on April 17, 2007.
Purdue drew a school record 11 walks in Game 1 of the series with Penn State on March 21. The 11 free passes surpassed the previous record mark of nine, which had been recorded in five contests, last vs. Penn State on March 31, 2012.
Climbing the Career Records List
A handful of records are in danger of falling in 2014 as seniors Danielle Fletcher and Andie Varsho already own spots among the career Top 5, while Lindsey Rains and Tori Chiodo are approaching the Top 5.
Varsho became Purdue's all-time career hits leader on April 5, surpassing Katie Crabtree (1999-2002), who tallied 255. Varsho also ranks fifth in runs scored (134) and also is now tied for fifth in walks (79). Rains is six runs away (126) from the matching Varsho's fifth-place run output and two steals (71) out of the Top 5.
Fletcher joined the Top 5 for RBI (119) and also is in striking distance of the Top 5 in doubles and walks. Fletcher is one RBI away from Crabtree's fourth-place tally of 120, while Varsho is six behind her. For her part, Chiodo is just two walks behind Varsho's fifth place output in that category.