IU would go on to win the first game with a final score of 6-3 in walk-off fashion.
“We played fantastic,” IU Coach Michelle Gardner said. “We fought hard, and our pitching was really good.”
The first game of the doubleheader took place exactly where the previously scheduled game between the two schools left: top of the first inning, runners on the corners for Purdue and a 2-0 count.
Purdue hit an RBI single right off the bat to take an early 1-0 lead. The Boilermakers then loaded the bases later in the inning with no outs, but senior Miranda Tamayo got out of an early jam without surrendering anymore runs, recording two strikeouts.
Both pitchers were settled in for most of the game, but the Hoosiers were finally able to put together a string of hits in the fourth inning after going hitless through the first three frames.
After junior Kassi Farmer reached on a fielder’s choice and senior Shannon Cawley singled, junior Kelsey Dotson hit her 11th home run of the year to give the Hoosiers a 3-1 lead after four innings.
In their next at-bats, the Boilermakers managed to cut the Hoosiers’ lead in half, to 3-2, on a triple and an error on right fielder junior Michelle Huber.
The Hoosiers went to the top of the seventh inning with the lead, looking to close the game out, until a Purdue home run to center field tied the game up ?at three.
However, in the bottom of the seventh inning, with two on and one out, freshman Mena Fulton came in as a pinch hitter and sent the game-winning, three-run over-the-wall to give the Hoosiers a game 1 victory in Wednesday’s doubleheader.
“My coaches told me go up there and have fun, and that really helped me calm down up there,” Fulton said.
Tamayo earned the win, pitching a complete game while surrendering only three runs — two earned on nine hits and four ?strikeouts.
In the second game of the night, the Boilermakers won by a final score of 4-3.
Purdue struck first again for the second straight game, this time taking a 1-0 lead in the third inning off an error from second baseman sophomore Erin Lehman.
Lehman would make up for her error in IU’s next at-bats, driving in the tying run on an RBI single to center field.
In the fourth inning the Boilermakers would take a 3-1 advantage lead over the Hoosiers with a two-run home run to right field. However, the Hoosiers tied the game once again with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame on an RBI single from sophomore CaraMia Tsirigos and a sacrifice fry from Fulton.
There wouldn’t be another run scored until Purdue scored on an RBI single to left field to take the lead, 4-3 in the seventh inning. IU would fail to score in its last at-bats and lost against Purdue in game 2 of the doubleheader.
The Hoosiers will now prepare for this weekend series against the Michigan State Spartans as they welcome the Spartans to Andy Mohr Field.
“We need to rest,” Gardner said. “We’ve played a lot and we need to relax.”
