IU visited Purdue for two games Tuesday and earned a narrow win in the opening game before losing the second and splitting the doubleheader.
In game one, IU (21-14, 4-4 in the Big Ten) freshman pitcher Tara Trainer returned to her winning ways after picking up a pair of losses against Michigan last weekend.
The freshman from Lebanon, Ohio, threw a complete game shutout and allowed just one hit during the Hoosiers’ 1-0 win against the Boilermakers (21-16, 3-5).
Trainer struck out seven, walked three and retired the final 14 batters she faced. The only hit she allowed was a bunt single to Purdue senior CJ Parsons.
The Hoosiers scored their only run of the game after sophomore outfielder Rebecca Blitz reached base on a throwing error and made it to third base while the ball bounced around in right field. Blitz scored on a sacrifice fly hit by junior utility player Erin Lehman.
“Tara really had control of the game from the get-go,” IU Coach Michelle Gardner said. “She only had a couple walks, which is something she struggled with this weekend. She pretty much dominated.”
Freshman pitcher Josie Wood took the circle in the second matchup and initially continued the scoreless streak Trainer established in the opener. In the fifth inning, however, both teams’ offenses exploded to combine for six runs.
The Hoosiers broke through with a blast in the fifth when senior catcher Kassi Farmer hit a two-run home run for the Hoosiers’ first hit of the game. The long ball that also plated senior outfielder Shannon Cawley was Farmer’s first of the year and the first for IU in the last six games.
In the bottom half of the fifth, the Boilermakers answered with four runs. A two-run triple tied the game at two, but four walks and an error in the inning allowed two more runs to cross the plate.
“We had two errors in that game, two costly errors,” Gardner said. “But that’s all part of the game. You just move on.”
The two teams traded two-run homers in the sixth and seventh innings, with senior infielder Michelle Huber providing IU’s last two runs on a home run in the last inning. The Hoosiers ultimately fell 6-4 when they failed to add on in the final frame.
Penn State (17-14, 6-0) travels to Andy Mohr Field this weekend to play IU in a three-game series. The Hoosiers will have a chance to gain ground in the standings on a team that is several games ahead of them.
It will be the last in a stretch of three consecutive weekend series at home to begin the Big Ten schedule for IU. The Hoosiers will spend the following two weekends on the road, and Gardner said getting wins this weekend will be crucial.
“It’s going to be very important that we come out and play clean with good pitching and defense all the way around,” Gardner said. “Like in the first game today, we just have to find ways to win the tight games.”
