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Softball team begins season
today at Auburn Invitational
The Purdue softball team will begin the 2001 season
today at the Auburn Invitational where they will take on Ohio State,
Auburn, Northern Illinois and Syracuse in the round robin portion of
the tournament and then be seeded in the bracket portion of the tournament.
"We are obviously really looking forward to this
weekend," Purdue coach Carol Bruggeman said. "The whole team has been
practicing hard and we're ready for some competition. It's time for
us to compete, and I'm confident that the whole team will put forth
an excellent effort."
This season, the Boilermakers will return all three
of their pitchers and seven of their starting position players. Players
returning in their positions include sophomore first baseman Heidi Foster,
sophomore second baseman Andrea Roush, junior shortstop Katie Crabtree,
sophomore Jessica Jones at third base, senior catcher Keely Povlitz
and senior Lynne Tortorelli and junior Chrissy Davie in the outfield.
Pitchers returning for Purdue are sophomore Leighann
Burke (9-9, 2.24 ERA, 137.1IP, 18 GS, 3 SV, 129 SO), sophomore Nicole
Crouse (6-7, 2.49 ERA, 70.1 IP, 9 GS, 38 SO) and junior Meagan Dooley
(12-11, 0.73 ERA, 153.2 IP, 26 GS, 54 SO).
The team also welcomes four freshmen to the lineup,
all of which will contribute immediately. Catcher Sara Hall, of Bell
Canyon, Calif.; infielder Holly Streed, of Ramona, Calif.; utility players
Nicole Austin, of Martinsville, Ind.; and Angela Knight, of Granger,
Ind., will play their first regular-season games as Boilermakers when
they take the field in Alabama.
The Boilermakers will miss one of their strongest
bats this weekend. Foster will not travel with the team because of a
family emergency.
"We will miss Heidi and her enthusiasm this weekend,"
Bruggeman said. "But, I am very confident that the rest of the team
will step up and contribute in her absence. Our thoughts and prayers
are with both Heidi and her family."
Last season, the Boilermakers finished with a 33-28
record and tallied a sixth-place finish in the Big Ten with a record
of 6-10. This season Purdue will look to improve on that record as the
team graduated only three seniors.
Crabtree (.332), Jones (.322), Foster (.281) and
Tortorelli (.261) will be the first to be looked upon to produce, as
they were four of the top five players at the plate last season.
Coach Bruggeman and her staff, however, are very
satisfied with what they have seen out of this 2001 Purdue squad. In
the short fall season, the Boilermakers finished 9-3, defeating opponents
Bradley University, Northern Illinois, St. Francis, Loyola, Indianapolis,
IUPUI, Indiana State, IP-Fort Wayne and Evansville.
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team begins season today at Auburn Invitational
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SPORTS DESK PHONE:
(765) 743-1111
ext. 251
Sports editor:
Paul Trembacki Assistant sports
editor:
Anne
McLaren
To
send a letter to the editor, please email opinions@purdueexponent.org
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