LOS ANGELES - The Boilermaker softball team hung tight with No. 7 UCLA for five innings, but could not manage an upset, falling 9-3 Saturday night. The game was tied 3-3 after five innings, before the Bruins scored six unearned runs in the sixth to steal the game away.
Senior Ashley Burkhardt led the Purdue bats with a 4-for-4 effort, three singles and a home run, and junior CJ Parsons added two hits as the Boilers outhit the Bruins 11-8.
Reliever Ally Carda (2-1) picked up the win for UCLA after entering the game in the fifth inning with the score tied 3-3. Senior Lexy Moore (0-1) took the loss for Purdue, striking out two and allowing five runs in five and two thirds innings. Senior Alex Whittemore and freshman Gina Snyder also saw time in the circle for the Boilermakers.
The Boilers had runners at the corners in the opening stanza after a bunt single and a steal by freshman Maya Hughes and a single to right by Burkhardt. A fly out and a grounder to second base kept the team off the scoreboard.
UCLA put a runner on third in the bottom of the inning with a walk, a sacrifice and ground out, but could not score.
Whittemore sliced a solid two-out single to left field in her first career at-bat in the second inning. Parsons followed with a single to right, but was caught in a rundown to end the stanza.
The Bruins struck first with a two-run home run by Mysha Sataraka in the bottom of the second. A single and a walk put two more runners on. Parsons snagged a line drive at third base and was originally ruled to have turned an inning-ending double play at first base, but the call was overturned. Another walk filled the bases, but second baseman Mary Gooding made a nice defensive stop behind first base to thwart the scoring threat.
Purdue got one run back in the third as Burkhardt smashed a no-doubter into the trees beyond the right field wall.
UCLA answered with a solo shot by Brittany Moeai in the bottom of the inning to make it 3-1.
The Boilermakers tied it up at 3-3, collecting two runs on four hits in the fifth. Parsons got the rally started with a single to left, then Gooding added a single up the middle. Burkhardt drove in the first run with a single to right. She advanced to second on the throw to keep Gooding at third, setting the table for freshman Kayla Hampton's sharp game-tying RBI single up the middle.
The Boilers threatened after Koorsen and Whittemore drew one-out walks in the sixth, but to no avail.
The Bruins broke the game open with six unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth. A double, a walk and a fielding error loaded the bases. A two-out single to shallow center brought in two runs. A throwing error pushed the runners to second and third and a walk filled the bases for Moeai, who cleared them with a grand slam to right center.
Singles by Burkhardt and Hoppman in the seventh kept hope alive for Purdue, but a ground ball to second base wrapped up the game.
The Boilermakers (0-4) return to action at 1 p.m. ET Sunday against No. 24 Texas A&M.