Boilers take week off, prepare
for tough road trip
By Jason Tomcsi
Sports
Editor
The Purdue softball team's game against Eastern
Illinois was canceled yesterday, but the Boilers have no problem with
having the week off.
Purdue has played 34 games already this season
and head coach Carol Bruggeman said the rest was good for the team.
"It probably couldn't have come at a better time,"
said Bruggeman. "It was kind of nice to have the week off."
Bruggeman and her team are not too worried that
the time off will hurt them going into this weekend.
"We were anticipating playing so we have kept our
edge because we were anticipating playing," said Bruggeman. "We're excited
we feel very rested. We are ready to go up and play our best."
Junior first baseman Heidi Foster agreed with Bruggeman.
"They are all practice games anyway," said Foster.
"It gave us a chance to work on other things that maybe we needed to
work on."
The Boilermakers (25-9) are moving into the part
of the season they have been preparing for since the first tournament.
They begin Big Ten conference play this weekend when they travel to
Madison to play the Wisconsin Badgers (17-9) on Friday and Saturday.
After the two-game set, the team travels north to Minnesota (19-5) to
take on the Golden Gophers in a double header.
"Wisconsin and Minnesota are two of the best teams
in the Big Ten," said Bruggeman. "I think Minnesota has been playing
better than almost any other Big Ten team right now."
In store for the Boilers up north are two strong
pitching staffs.
Andrea Kirchberg, a pitcher for Wisconsin has a
record of 10-8 on the season and is leading the Badgers in lowest ERA
with 1.59. Kirchberg has recorded 149 strikeouts.
Minnesota's Piper Marten has a record of 11-3 with
an ERA of 1.07 and has sent many batters to the dugout with 136 strikeouts.
Bruggeman said Purdue has prepared for these two
pitchers and the rest of their staffs.
"Andrea Kirchberg from Wisconsin and Piper Marten
from Minnesota throw very hard and they throw the ball up," said Bruggeman.
"They do a nice job of keeping hitters off balance. So we have focused
a lot on that in practice this week and we will see what happens."
According to Foster, the Boilers will have to stay
consistent on the field and with their hitting to do well this weekend.
Defense has been a strong point for the Boilers and has kept them in
many of their games.
"We know if we put the ball in play good things
will happen," said Bruggeman. "We want to limit our strikeouts and keep
doing what we have been doing on defense. Defense is keeping us in every
ball game. If we play good defense we feel like our offense can score
enough runs to win."
With their 25-9 record, the Boilermakers are off
to their best start in program history and are currently on a 10-game
winning streak.
The start has not surprised the Boilers.
"I thought we were going to be better," said Foster.
"We shouldn’t have lost some of the games that we lost, but I thought
we would be better. Our team is really, really good this year. Everything
is so fundamentally sound. Everybody is hitting through the lineup and
I am just really excited."
Bruggeman said she is proud of where here team
is at currently.
"I am very proud of our team," said Bruggeman.
"We have worked very hard to this point. I think we are prepared and
are confident. We are ready for the next phase of our season in the
Big Ten."
Purdue will play Wisconsin at 6 p.m on Friday and
then at noon on Saturday. The double header against Minnesota will start
at noon Sunday in Minneapolis, Minn.
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