FULLERTON, Calif. - The Boilermaker softball team limited San Diego State to just two hits, but fell 2-0 in its 2015 season opener at the So Cal Collegiate Challenge.
Purdue put a runner in base in all but the seventh inning, but could not push a run across. Freshmen Maya Hughes and Kaylah Hampton and redshirt junior Katie Harrison tallied their first hits as Boilermakers with singles in the first, second and fourth inning.
Junior Lilly Fecho struck out three batters in the complete game effort, while Erica Romero struck out four and allowed three hits in the win for SDSU.
Hughes led off the Purdue first with an infield single and went to second on a throwing error. The Boilers sacrificed her over to third, but a strikeout and grounder kept them off the scoreboard.
After Fecho sat down her sixth straight batter, Hampton jumped aboard with a single to left to start the bottom of the second, but a double play erased the effort.
Jaylene Ignacio put SDSU on top with a home run just inside the left field foul pole in the third.
The Boilers threatened in the bottom of the inning as sophomore Kristen Hoppman reached on an error and went to third, but the team could not cash in.
Harrison lifted a single to the left center wall in the fourth, but was out in a close play at second base.
In the fifth inning, junior Paris Andrew was hit by a pitch and advanced to third, but again the Boilermakers were kept off the scoreboard by a ground ball.
Lorena Bauer made it 2-0 Aztecs with a one-out home run to right in the sixth.
A throwing error put Hughes on to start the home half of the inning, but she was later caught stealing. Senior Ashley Burkhardt drew a two-out walk, but a strikeout capped the stanza.
Both teams went down in order in the seventh to wrap up the game.
The Boilermakers (0-1) wrap up Day 1 of the So Cal Collegiate Challenge with a 7 p.m. ET game against Cal State Fullerton. Live audio from the game is available here: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/csf/portal.htm?eventId=196582&streamType=audio.