Boilers to face Arkansas in bracket play of UT-Arlington Tourny

Freshman Leighann Burke picks up victory for Purdue

Feb. 11, 2000

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue softball team won one and dropped two on the opening day of the 2000 season. The Boilermakers (1-2, 0-0 Big Ten) defeated Louisiana-Monroe 3-0 and fell to eighth-ranked Oklahoma 6-1 and Kentucky 2-0 in pool play at the University of Texas-Arlington Tournament. The Boilermakers finished second in their pool and will play Arkansas in bracket play on Saturday at 10 a.m. EST.

Freshman Leighann Burke had an impressive debut for Purdue in the opening game against UL-Monroe. Taking the mound for the first in the Old Gold and Black she pitched six innings of one hit ball, retiring the first 10 batters she faced before allowing a single in the fourth. Burke struck out two on her way to the shut out victory and did not allow a runner past second base. Senior Crystal Inman pitched a perfect seventh to pick up the save.

The Boilermaker offense got off to a quick start against the Lady Indians, scoring a run in the bottom of the first on a double by senior Skeeter Nixon, a bunt single by sophomore Danika Nice and a sacrifice fly from sophomore Katie Crabtree. Purdue picked up two more insurance runs in the fourth when freshman Jesse Jones led off the inning with a double to left center, she advanced to third on a fielders choice and scored on a single up the middle by junior Lynne Tortorelli. Tortorelli stole second and moved to third when the UL-Monroe's Lori Tande made a wild throw to first on junior Keely Povlitz's grounder to short. Nixon brought home Tortorelli with a single up the middle.

Tortorelli finished 1-for-1 on the day with the single, a run and two stolen bases.

The Boilermakers could only mange four hits in their second game against Kentucky. Freshman Angi Roembke collected two of the hits going 2-for-3 in the designated player position. Sophomore Meagan Dooley (0-1) pitched five strong innings giving up only one run on two hits.

In the third game the Boilermakers ran into the eighth-ranked Sooners and 1999 Big 12 Freshman-of-the-Year Jennifer Stewart. Stewart hurled a complete game two-hitter against the Boilers. Sophomore Katie Crabtree belted a solo homer over the left field wall in the fourth to account for the lone Purdue run. Burke (1-1) picked up the loss for Purdue giving up three runs in 2-1/3 innings of work.

"We need our offense to get on track," coach Carol Bruggeman said. "Defensively I was pleased with our performance, we've been practicing indoors for the past couple of months and to come outside and play so well in the field is encouraging. Our hitting needs to be better, we need to be more aggressive at the plate and swing at better pitches. We're fortunate to come out second in our group and we are really looking forward to the games on Saturday."

The Boilermakers were able to secure the second place finish in their pool through a formula of head-to-head results, runs scored and runs allowed. The Boilers will face the Razorbacks who finished fourth in their pool on Friday.