Feb. 8, 2013
BATON ROUGE, La. - One hit was the difference in a pitcher's duel between Purdue softball and No. 10 LSU on Friday night. The Tigers secured the 1-0 win with a sixth-inning home run.
Meghan Peterson (1-0) struck out six Boilermakers and gave up three hits in the complete-game victory, while sophomore Lexy Moore and freshman Lilly Fecho each went three innings for Purdue, striking out one batter and allowing just four hits. Fecho (0-1) was saddled with the loss.
Sophomore Ashley Burkhardt, junior Danielle Fletcher and freshman Paris Andrew accounted for the Purdue hits.
Burkhardt hit a high bouncing bunt single to give Purdue its first hit in the opening stanza.
LSU put three runners on in the bottom of the inning with a single, a walk and a hit by pitch, but Fletcher caught two of them trying to steal and the Tigers stranded the third.
The Boilers stranded two runners in the third inning. Senior Maia Monchek drew a leadoff walk, but was out on a fielder's choice play that put Andrew aboard. A fielding error by the shortstop put junior Tori Chiodo on, before a fielder's choice play and a strikeout ended the stanza.
In the home half of the third, Jacee Blades got a leadoff double, but Fecho took over in the circle and sat down the next three batters.
Fletcher lasered a single to center with one out in the fourth and pinch runner Gabi Brown stole second, but a pair of fly balls kept the scoreboard clean.
Purdue looked to have something brewing in the fifth as Monchek led off with a walk and Andrew reached on an infield single, but two fielder's choice plays and a strikeout prevented the team from bringing them home.
LSU broke onto the scoreboard as Kellsi Kloss lifted a one-out solo home run to left center in the fifth.
A Boilermaker double play helped Purdue keep the Tigers off the board in the sixth, despite two walks in the inning.
The Boilermakers made contact with a trio of balls in the seventh, but LSU wrangled all three as a pair of fly outs and a grounder to the shortstop ended a comeback bid.
Purdue (1-1) will have another shot at a ranked opponent when the team faces off with No. 22 North Carolina (0-2) at 10:30 a.m. ET Saturday.