The Purdue Northwest Softball team split two battles on the road in GLIAC action against Wayne State on Sunday afternoon. The Pride fell in Game 1 off a walk-off heartbreaker, 3-2, then bounced back in a come from behind victory in Game 2, 4-3.

The Basics

• Records: Purdue Northwest (8-25-1,3-11 GLIAC), Wayne State (18-19,7-7 GLIAC)
• Location: Gary L. Bryce Field – Detroit, Michigan
• Attendance: 60

Game 1
The Breakdown

• Sophomore Kylie Dugan (Buck Creek, Ind./William Henry Harrison) led the Pride going 3-of-4 at plate with a double.
• Sophomore Hannah Rafferty-Flatter (Glen Ellyn, Ill./Glenbard South) earned the start at first adding one hit and one RBI.
• Freshman Kylie Madura (Munster, Ind./Munster) also recorded one hit and RBI.
• Freshman Giuliana Giordano (Lockport, Ill./Lockport Township), sophomore Emma Fair (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove), and junior Olivia Hernandez (Aurora, Ill./Aurora Central Catholic) each chipped in one hit.
• Junior Hailie Charmat (South Bend, Ind./John Adams) gained the start on the mound for the Pride pitching all 6.1 innings for a solid outing. She only allowed three hits with two earned runs and struckout three batters.
• Mady Ruczynski led Wayne State with one hit and one RBI.
• Hayden Batton started in the circle for the Warriors pitching the first five innings allowing two runs off seven hits with two strikeouts.
• Sydney Long came in and pitched the final 2.0 innings for Wayne State and earned the win allowing no runs with one hit.
• Both teams were held scoreless for the first three innings.
• The Pride scored the first runs off of RBI hits from Raffterty-Flatter and Madura to take a 2-0 lead.
• Wayne State scored their first run in the fifth to cut the deficit to 2-1.
• In the seventh inning, Ruczynski hit a ball to the right field that would score the game-tying run. A throwing error though gave Molly Hool the opportunity to score from third and give the Warriors a walk-off win in Game 1, 3-2.

Game 2
The Breakdown

• Junior Grace Wilson (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield) led the Pride going 3-of-4 at the plate with one RBI.
• Senior Darcy Barkauskis added two hits and one RBI.
• Hernandez notching one hit and two RBIs during the game.
• Rafferty-Flatter contributed with her first career multi-hit game with two hits.
• Dugan chipped in one hit and one stolen base.
• Freshman Jordyn Roop (Hudson, Ill./University) started in the circle for Pride pitching the first four innings allowing three runs with seven hits and two strikeouts.
• Freshman Rylan Gick (West Lafayette, Ind./William Henry Harrison) came in relief for Purdue Northwest pitching the final three innings allowing no hit and no runs with two strikeouts to record the win for the Pride.
• Logan Forman and Elly Koopman both led Wayne State with two hits and one RBI.
• Elly Koopman also started on the mound for the Warriors pitching the first three innings allowing one run on five hits.
• Grace Fisher came in for relief for Wayne State and pitched the final four innings allowing three runs and five hits to earn the loss.
• Wayne State took the early lead with a lead-off homerun from Forman to make it a 1-0 after the first inning.
• Purdue Northwest tied the game up 1-1 off a Hernandez RBI single in the third.
• The Warriors regained the lead scoring two runs in the third inning to take a 3-1 advantage.
• The Pride didn't quit and battled back to tie the game up in the fifth inning scoring two runs to make it 3-3.
• Wilson came up with a clutch hit in the sixth inning to give the Pride 4-3 lead, their first of the game.
• The Purdue Northwest defense and pitching finished the game strong holding off Wayne State in the end to get back in the winning column, 4-3.

Up Next

• The Pride return home when they host Grand Valley State to begin the second half of GLIAC play on Wednesday, April 9. The doubleheader is set to begin at 1:00 PM CT at Dowling Park in Hammond, Indiana.