Boiler softball looks for team play to sustain strong record

By Greg Doddridge
Staff Writer

Purdue looks for team consistency on the softball field at 3 this afternoon in Dayton, Ohio, against the Flyers.

The Boilers (27-18-1, 4-8 Big Ten) are looking to erase a three-game skid in their doubleheader against the Flyers (18-19, 8-4 Atlantic 10).

After defeating Penn State 5-4 in 10 innings on Friday, they lost the late game to the Nittany Lions 8-0. Their second loss of the weekend came Saturday against Ohio State, a 2-0 Buckeye shutout. And the losing streak continued on Sunday against the Buckeyes with Purdue falling 2-1.

Sunday against Ohio State, Purdue senior Lynne Tortorelli went 1-3 and drove in the only Purdue run in the loss.

The Flyers, on the other hand, took two of three games against Saint Bonaventure this past weekend. Dayton is led at the plate by Erin Wiedemann, who bats .311 and has 18 RBIs and 37 hits on the season. On the mound the Flyers are led by freshman Ashlea Hoheimer, who has a 13-8 record with a 1.10 ERA.

Despite Purdue's three straight losses, the Boilers are strong in the areas of hitting, fielding and pitching.

Junior Katie Crabtree leads the team at the plate with a .333 average followed by sophomores Andrea Roush (.323) and Heidi Foster (.286). In the field, senior catcher Keely Povlitz has only made five errors in 205 putouts and has a fielding percentage of .979. Foster, at first base, has made three errors in 387 putouts. Her fielding percentage is .993. On the mound, sophomore Leighann Burke has a 1.06 ERA with a 10-8 record, junior Meagan Dooley is 8-6 (1.73 ERA) and junior Nicole Crouse is 9-4 (2.27 ERA).

With these numbers, what would the problem be?

"There are certain days when the pitching is on and not the hitting," said Burke. "But then some days the hitting is on and not the pitching."

The Boilers had six hits on Sunday against OSU. However, Crouse allowed seven hits in four innings of work, garnering two earned runs with only one strikeout and a walk. Crouse took the loss for the Boilers.

"Now, more than ever, we have pulled together as a team," said Burke. "No one person is going to win it for us."

Burke said the losses have been frustrating because people just want to win. But she said the games against non-conference opponent Dayton will be a welcome change. She thinks the games will bring back the fun in softball and maybe that will help the team mold together for the win.

"We still want to win against Dayton, don't get me wrong" said Burke. "But, it will be fun and it will help as we enter the Big Ten competition (at Iowa and Northwestern) this weekend."

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Anne McLaren

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