No. 10/10 Softball falls to Purdue, 5-4, in Louisiana Classic finale

Sunday, February 9

Lafayette, La.

9:00 AM

University of Texas

4-2

Purdue

1-2

Purdue

Texas

No. 10/10 Softball falls to Purdue, 5-4, in Louisiana Classic finale

02.09.2014 | Softball

Box Score

Shireman blasts third home run of the season and collects three RBIs.

Box Score (PDF) | Twitter

LAFAYETTE, La. – On the final day of the 28th Annual Louisiana Classic, No. 10/10 Texas Softball was handed a 5-4 loss by Purdue (1-2) on Sunday morning at Lamson Field, dropping the Longhorns to 4-2 on the season.

In the seventh inning with the Longhorns trailing by a run, senior Karina Scott represented the game-tying run with two outs. After already having a two-run home run back in the second inning, sophomore Erin Shireman, nearly drove in the game-winning run, but was called out on a close play at first base when she was thrown out by Purdue second baseman Tori Chiodo.

Freshman pitcher Lauren Slatten (1-1) took her first loss of her UT career in her second start. It was not the easiest day for the rookie right-hander, as the Boilermakers scored four runs off of four walks, a hit batter and a base hit in the first inning.

Texas jumped on the board and made it a one-run game (3-2) in its half of the second inning when Shireman slammed a two-run home run with Scott on base after earning a one-out walk.

The Boilermakers reclaimed their three-run lead on Lindsey Rains' two-run home run off of junior Gabby Smith in the ensuing inning. Purdue worked to continue its rally by getting its next two runners on base. After striking out CJ Parsons for the first out, sophomore Holly Kern took over the circle and stranded the two Purdue runners to get UT out of the threat.

Kern went on to throw the final four-and-two-thirds, over which she allowed no runs on two hits and three walks while striking out three.

Davis batted her way on base with a one-out single up the middle to get it going for the Longhorns in their half of the third inning. Later in the frame, senior Mandy Ogle slammed a double to right field, allowing Davis to demonstrate her speed to make it all the way home from first base to cut the Purdue lead to two runs.

In the fifth inning, UT would get the last of its run support it would be able to collect from the Boilermakers. The Horns started by getting its first two batters– sophomore Lindsey Stephens and Ogle – on base. As the inning progressed, Shireman lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to score sophomore Rachel Scott, who came in as a pinch runner for Ogle. Texas would bring the margin to a single run at 5-4, which is how the contest resulted.

No. 10/10 Texas returns to Austin to get ready for its 2014 home opener on Wednesday evening, Feb. 12 against UTSA at 7:00 p.m. The game will be nationally televised on Longhorn Network.

POSTGAME NOTES

Texas falls to 4-2 on the year. The Longhorns have now posted at least four wins in their first six games 13 times in program history.
With UT's 5-4 loss to Purdue, the Longhorns' record in the all-time series with the Boilermakers drops to 1-3. All four games in the head-to-head series have been decided by one run.
Texas completes play in the Louisiana Classic with a 3-2 record in the three-day tournament. UT defeated North Carolina and No. 13/15 Louisiana Lafayette twice, while losing to Northern Iowa and Purdue.
Senior Taylor Thom led the horns with a .529 batting average by having a team-high nine hits in 14 at bats during the Louisiana Classic.
Sophomore Erin Shireman hit her third home run of the season on Sunday morning against Purdue. She is now tied with classmate Lindsey Stephens for the team lead.
Senior Mandy Ogle now has 26 putouts on the season, putting her two short of recording 1,000 outs made in her UT career.