March 18, 2007
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Santa Clara softball team met Purdue in their second game of a busy day at the Capitol Classic. In their second of three games Saturday, the Broncos were in some trouble early and were not able to recover, as they were defeated in five innings by a score of 10-0.
Two errors in the top of the first inning gave the Boilermakers an early 1-0 lead. Then in the top of the second, Purdue sent ten players to bat before Santa Clara could retire the side. After a leadoff solo home run increased Purdue's lead to 2-0, and a hit batsman, it looked like Santa Clara would escape a big inning. But then three singles and a walk scored three more runs, forcing Jerrica Castagno out of the game. Senior Sara Overmier replaced Castagno, and gave up a run-scoring hit before sending Purdue back out into the field with a 6-0 lead.
But Santa Clara was not able to string together many hits as they never had a runner past second base.
Overmier got three quick outs in the third inning, and got some defensive help in the fourth though Purdue snuck another run to increase the lead to 7-0. But in the fifth, a two run home run by Erika Peterson put the Boilermakers over the eight-run mark, which ended the game after just five innings after the Broncos wen't down in order in the bottom of the inning.
Santa Clara (6-27) has one more game Saturday against BYU before concluding play at the Capitol Classic Sunday morning against Iowa State.