March 25, 2012
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Boilermaker softball team finished out a three-game sweep of Michigan State with a 2-0 victory on Sunday. Purdue managed two runs in the second inning and relied on its defense the rest of the way in the win.
Freshman Lexy Moore (12-2) picked up her second win of the series, striking out three in the complete game victory. Cassee Layne (4-7) was saddled with the loss for MSU, throwing three innings and giving up both runs. Carly Nielsen also saw time in the circle for the Spartans.
Purdue scored its two runs on eight hits and two MSU errors, while allowing the Spartans five hits and committing one error. Sophomores Lindsey Rains and Tori Chiodo tallied two hits apiece for the Boilermakers, while junior Maia Monchek and freshman Ashley Burkhardt picked up the RBI.
MSU put runners on in five of the seven innings, but failed to score, leaving six runners stranded. In the first, the Spartans wasted a one-out single. In the second, the team had runners at the corners after a walk and single. In the fifth, a hit and an error put runners at the corners again to no avail. Michigan State then managed a leadoff single in the seventh, but stranded her with a ground out, a strikeout and a pop up.
The Boilermakers stranded 10 runners, including the bases loaded in the sixth.
Purdue got on the board in the second inning, combining three hits and a walk. Fletcher led off the inning with a single to left and was sacrificed to second, before junior Erika Petruzzi joined her with a walk. Monchek plated the first run with a single through the left side. The throw home pushed her second and Petruzzi to third. Burkhardt made it 2-0 with a single to third base. Burkhardt stole second, putting two in scoring position for the Boilermakers, but a strikeout and ground ball to third base prevented the team from capitalizing.
Rains gave the Boilermakers another scoring chance with a one-out triple off the center field wall in the third, but the team could not bring her home.
Purdue got two hits in the fourth, but stranded the runners after a pair of fielder's choice plays and a fly ball. The fifth inning brought more of the same as a Rains single and a walk to junior Ashley Courtney put runners on. The pair pulled off the double steal only to be stalled at second and third by a ground out.
After a 1-2-3 MSU inning in the sixth, the Boilermakers looked primed to add some insurance runs. A pair of fielding errors by Spartan shortstops put Monchek and Burkhardt on base. A single to shallow center by Chiodo loaded the bases. The Spartans, however, held with two fielder's choice plays at the plate and a liner to left field.
The Boilermakers (18-9, 3-0 Big Ten) return to action at 5 p.m. ET Thursday, when they take on the Valparaiso Crusaders on the road.