With a Big Ten Tournament appearance on the line, Iowa softball lost, 3-1, the first game of a three-contest series with Purdue on May 4 at Pearl Field.
Allison Doocy scattered 7 hits and 6 strikeouts across her 7 innings of work, allowing 3 runs. Iowa’s hibernating bats were held to 8 hits and just the 1 run.
Iowa went up early in the bottom of the first. With Allie Wood on first after a single, and with 2 outs after a double play, Taylor Libby blasted a line-drive RBI double over the left fielder’s head.
Mallory Kilian started Iowa’s half of the second inning with a single beyond the second baseman into right field after fighting off a number of pitches. Iowa’s next three batters were sent to the bench in order to end the inning.
Angela Schmiederer, who had singled in the first, earned her second hit of the day with a line drive into right field to start the bottom of third.
The Boilermakers finally struck in the top of the fourth. Doocy threw four-straight balls for a leadoff walk. Then Purdue’s Jenny Behan ripped a single to left field on the first pitch she saw. The Boilermakers loaded the bases with nobody out with an infield single to third base.
Doocy struck out the next batter, but Purdue’s Madison Doulgas launched a 2-run double to right-center to put the Boilermakers on top, 2-1. Luckily for Iowa, Purdue’s runner from first base rounded third too hard and was caught in a rundown for an out.
Purdue didn’t stop there, however. With two outs and a runner on second, Doocy walked the next batter, then hit the following hitter. With bases loaded again, Purdue’s Mallory Baker worked an 8-pitch walk to score another runner. Ryleigh Scott could have added another run but stepped out of the batter’s box as she laced a single into right field. Iowa finally escaped the top of the fourth with a 3-1 deficit and the Boilermakers stranding three runners.
Iowa failed to respond in the fourth inning despite loading the bases with nobody out.
“Bases loaded with no outs, and we failed to capitalize,” head coach Marla Looper said. “We got to be better in that area [May 5].”
Doocy kept the Boilermakers quiet in the top of the fifth inning, and Purdue pitcher Sydney Bates did the same in the bottom half.
Iowa’s defense stepped up in the top of the sixth inning. Lea Thompson made a diving grab at second base to fend off what could have been a leadoff double. Allie Wood backtracked to the wall in center field to snag a fly ball while looking straight in the sun. Sarah Kurtz cleanly fielded a ground ball to her left to get the final out at first.
Thompson showed off her leather work again in the top of the seventh. She jumped and snagged a line drive out of the air for the first out. Purdue hit a single to shortstop and then sent a ground ball to Doocy for the second out. Doocy forced a final pop out along the first base line for the final out.
The Hawkeyes went three up and three down in their half of the seventh inning to end the game.
The loss brings Iowa’s conference record to 6-14, “good” for No. 11 in the Big Ten. Only the top 12 teams advance to the Big Ten Tournament in Madison, Wisconsin.
So now Iowa is fighting for a spot in Madison. Surprisingly, Rutgers, which had been two games behind Iowa prior to this weekend, swept Indiana on May 4 to bring its record even with Iowa’s. Purdue is now one game behind Iowa. Looper and her squad will need to win May 5 or May 6 if they hope to keep playing this season.
“It doesn’t matter what anybody else does,” Looper said. “We got to take care of ourselves and not care what anybody else does … If we don’t take care of our own business, then that’s just how it is.”
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