By Seth Schwartz
Staff Writer

The Purdue softball team will play host to two quality Big Ten teams this weekend as Northwestern and Iowa come to town.

The Boilermakers (25-20, 2-4 Big Ten) hope to continue to do as well as they have been recently; they have won five of their last six games.

"Northwestern and Iowa are no different than any other teams we've played this year in that they are going to be fundamentally sound," said Purdue coach Carol Bruggeman.

She said the Boilers have been winning because of their pitching, defense and timely hitting. While sweeping two games against IUPUI on Wednesday, the Boilers scored 13 runs.

"We really didn't do too much differently," said Bruggeman. "We talked a lot about their approach. The hitters went in with a very aggressive approach. When you swing, swing hard. I certainly hope they bring that with them this weekend."

Skeeter Nixon also hopes for the team to play with the same confidence against Northwestern and Iowa.

"Big Ten games always come up a level so, hopefully, we'll come out aggressive on offense and play solid defense behind our pitching," Nixon said.

One of the key contributors to the Boilers' offense has been Katie Crabtree, who went 4-for-7, scored two runs and had one RBI in the IUPUI doubleheader. She is hitting a team-high .336 for the season and leads the team in hits (50), homeruns (7) and RBIs (24).

Defensively, the Boilers have been great, especially on the mound. The team will again look for the pitchers to help carry it this weekend. Meagan Dooley has been solid all season, boasting a 0.63 ERA and an 8-7 record. Freshman Leighann Burke has risen her game a level since the Big Ten season started. Burke's ERA has dropped to 2.49 since then, and she is the team leader in strikeouts with 88.

"We're looking forward to getting back into Big Ten play," said Bruggeman. "We'll just take it one game at a time. Our goal is to play good defense and I think if we play good defense all weekend, we'll come out on top."

Nixon said that Northwestern and Iowa are really solid teams, especially Iowa.

"Iowa has always been at the top of the Big Ten," Nixon said. "They have some really good pitching, so we'll just have to stay aggressive and play to win. You've got to go all out when it comes to Big Ten."