IU seniors look to defeat Purdue for the first time

The IU women’s softball team will look to West Lafayette as they attempt to break their losing streak of seven games in this weekend’s series.

While the Hoosiers (11-34, 3-12) have not beat the Boilermakers (26-24, 7-7) since 2006, they have given them a good fight, with their last matchup going into extra innings.

“We lost both games last year by one run and had opportunities to win, but just came up short,” senior Kristin King said. “We will be able to learn from those two games and use that as motivation this year to help us compete that much harder so we can come out on top.”

The series, led by the Boilermakers 28-23, seems relatively close but has been dominated by Purdue for more than a decade. The Hoosiers only have three wins in the series since 1998, and none of the current Hoosiers have defeated the Boilermakers during their college careers.

“Obviously Purdue is our biggest rival — they are in any sport,” King said. “We want to come out and play hard against any team that we play, but against Purdue it always means a little more, especially to me, since I have grown up in Indiana my entire life.”

The Boilermakers are led by third baseman Molly Garst, who is batting .387 and has stolen 41 bases this season. Senior shortstop Liane Horiuchi is third nationally in stolen bases per game, ranked sixth in triples, and is also ranked ninth in triples per game. Purdue leads the nation in stolen bases with 140, and they are also the national leaders in stolen bases per game with 2.80.

The Hoosiers will be led by senior outfielder Jennifer Glueckert, who is hitting .363 on the season, and by shortstop Breanna Saucedo, who is batting .305 and has stolen 13 bases on the season.

As if the Hoosiers needed any more motivation against their in-state rival, they potentially can secure a contest for IU with a win. The Crimson and Gold Cup contest between the two schools only has a few events left for the year, and the Hoosiers are currently behind. A win could potentially allow the Hoosiers to maintain ownership of the contest, as they also won last year.

“The games are still important to us,” King said. “We want to finish the season strong and get some momentum going into next weekend to close out the regular season. As a senior, it will be my last road trip, so getting a couple of wins would be very nice.”