Brittany Vanderink notches 200th career hit

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue freshman pitcher Suzie Rzegocki held the Ohio State softball team to three hits and the Boilermakers overcame an early 1-0 deficit to beat the Buckeyes, 3-1, Sunday in game two of a doubleheader at the Purdue Varsity Softball Complex in West Lafayette, Ind.

Ohio State (25-16, 4-8 Big Ten) had 10 hits in the opener, winning 7-4, but Rzegocki out-dueled OSU junior Kim Reeder to help Purdue salvage the split.

The Boilermakers (28-11, 5-3 Big Ten) improve to 16-3 in their last 19 games and saw Rzegocki retire 10 of the last 11 and 19 of the last 21 OSU batters of the game. She improves to 12-4.

“(OSU pitcher) Megan Miller had a terrific day in the first game and I thought Kim (Reeder) threw pretty well, too, in the second game,” Linda Kalafatis, Ohio State head coach, said. “I thought we really attacked offensively in game one. We challenged our kids to play harder and with more heart. We’re getting to the end of the season and these games have a great impact on whether our season will continue or not. Our kids played really hard, we just weren’t able to sustain any good rallies.”

Reeder suffers the loss to fall to 13-11 despite striking out nine and tossing her 17th complete game. She scattered six hits and walked four.

With an infield single in the sixth inning, Ohio State senior Brittany Vanderink notched her 200th career base hit, becoming the sixth Buckeye in program history to reach the 200-hit plateau.

The Buckeyes scored in their first at bat when sophomore Sam Marder led off with a walk, went to third on groundouts by freshman Brittany Goodchild and Vanderink and scored on a bouncer up the middle by sophomore Tory Haddad.

Reeder kept the Boilermakers off the scoreboard in the first and second innings, but Purdue’s Candace Curtis got to her with a two-run home run in the bottom of the third to erase Ohio State’s 1-0 lead. Curtis upped the Boilermakers’ lead to 3-1 in the fifth inning with an RBI single.

“Purdue obviously got a big hit with that home run,” Kalafatis said. “In that first game, we had one senior out there (Vanderink) and everyone else was a freshman or a sophomore, so we’re young and we want to continue to grow. We just have to count on our kids continuing to give us that amount of energy.”

Ohio State returns to Columbus and host Kentucky at 5 p.m. Wednesday in a doubleheader at Buckeye Field.

Postgame Notes – Purdue 3, Ohio State 1 – GAME TWO ... April 13, 2008
- Not in the Box Score: The Buckeyes are now 2-2 on the Big Ten Network this season and 5-2 on television overall the last two seasons.
- The Buckeyes are now 19-5 this season when they score first.
- Ohio State is now 7-4 in road games this season.
- Buckeyes at the plate: Sophomore Tory Haddad’s RBI single in the first inning marked her 23rd run batted in this season, which ranks second on the squad behind Sam Marder.
- After walking Sam Marder five times in the first game, Purdue walked Marder once in the second game. Marder struck out and grounded out in two official at bats. - Buckeyes in the circle: Junior Kim Reeder moved into seventh place all-time at Ohio State in innings pitched, surpassing Colleen Kennedy (1986-89). Reeder now has 506.0 innings pitched.
- Buckeyes in the field: Catcher Sam Marder threw out her 18th base stealer of the season in the game. Opponents have been successful only 15 times in 33 attempts this season against Marder (46-percent).
- Weather: Cloudy and 43 degrees at first pitch, 15 MPH wind our to right-centerfield. Feels like 34. Light snow early in game.
- Ohio State is now 20-7 all-time against Purdue, including 7-3 in West Lafayette.

### OhioStateBuckeyes.com ###