BATON ROUGE, La. – The Drake University softball team held Purdue scoreless through five innings in a 3-0 loss before falling to No. 23 LSU, 12-4 in its first two games of the Purple & Gold Challenge at Tiger Park in Baton Rouge, La.
Purdue 3, Drake 0
Nicole Timmons (2-1) surrendered hits to the first two Boilermakers that came to the plate before striking out three of the next four batters to visit the plate to work out of a bases loaded situation in the bottom of the first.
Addie Lightner led off the second inning with a single to right field and a batter later, Delaney Taylor also singled to right to put runners at the corners. Taylor swiped second and Haylee Lehman drew a 1-out walk to load the bases. Purdue starting pitcher Alex Echazarreta escaped the bases loaded jam.
In the bottom of the fourth, Timmons recorded a 1-2-3 inning with a pair of strikeouts. Timmons finished the day with six strikeouts.
Purdue broke through in the bottom of the sixth as a 1-out wild pitch plated the first run of the game. Echazarreta helped her own cause with an RBI single to left center and later scored on an RBI single into left by Olivia McFadden.
The late 3-run frame pushed Purdue past the Bulldogs in game one.
No. 23 LSU 12, Drake 4
After a scoreless first inning, the Tigers scored seven runs on four hits in the bottom of the second.
The next inning with runners at the corners, Macy Johnson worked a full count and singled in the infield to score Aubree Beitzinger. LSU answered with three runs in the bottom of the third for a 10-1 advantage.
Pinch hitter Kristen Arias delivered a 2-out, 2-run single in the top of the fourth that brought MaKayla Rice and Paige Bedsworth around to score. Emily Valtman doubled home Johnson from second in the top of the fifth inning as the Bulldogs (3-4 overall) trailed 10-4.
LSU's Georgia Clark ended the game with a 2-run homer to straightaway center.
Johnson finished 2-for-3 at the plate with an RBI for the Bulldogs. Mackenzie Hupke (0-2) pitched 1.2 innings in a starting role.
Day two for Drake at the Purple & Gold Challenge will begin at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday (Feb. 26) against Stephen F. Austin before another 5:30 p.m. scheduled first pitch against host LSU.
