Mississippi State
Purdue
Dawgs Fall 5-0 to Purdue in Phyllis Rafter Memorial Finale
February 27, 2011 | Softball
WOODSTOCK, Ga. - Mississippi State's Kylie Vry pitched five solid innings in the circle, but in the end, Purdue scratched across five runs over the final two innings to defeat the Bulldogs 5-0 in Sunday's final game of the Phyllis Rafter Memorial in Woodstock, Ga.
Vry, who retired 15 of the first 16 hitters she faced in the game, fell to 2-6 on the season as she was touched for three runs and four hits while striking out four.
"Kylie did a great job through the first five innings, but we walked the leadoff batter in the sixth and then gave up the home run and struggled from there," MSU head coach Jay Miller said.
Ali Bainbridge, Ka'ili Smith, Sam Lenahan, Jessica Cooley and Erin Nesbit each had a hit for the Bulldogs (6-9), but State was unable to muster any run support off Purdue starter Suzie Rzegocki, who struck out eight in improving to 7-2 on the year.
Sunday's hits capped solid weekends for Smith and Bainbridge. Smith, a Kapolei, Hawaii, native, paced the Dawgs with a .533 average. She also added a home run and two RBI while scoring four times.
Bainbridge batted .333 in the five games, tallying three doubles and three runs scored from the leadoff spot.
Bainbridge sparked the Bulldogs early, opening the game with a double down the line in left field. Smith moved her to third with a one-out base hit, but Rzegocki got a pair of ground-outs to end the inning.
"I thought we had a good opportunity in the first inning, but we didn't put any runs on the board. You have to give credit to Purdue's pitcher. She did a good job keeping us off-balance, and we didn't do a good job adjusting at the plate," Miller said. "We have to work on getting better offensive production and come back strong against UAB on Tuesday."
Vry retired the first 11 batters she faced before Lindsey Rains broke up her perfect game bid with a two-out base hit.
The Boilermakers (8-3) snapped the pitcher's duel in the top of the sixth, scoring a run with a two-out double by Andie Varsho.
Purdue extended the lead to 3-0 in the seventh as Shelby Krammer hit a two-run home run that brought Misty Flesher to the circle in relief of Vry.
The Boilermakers touched Flesher with consecutive singles before Rzegocki scored a run on a ground-out and Tori Chiodo plated the game's final run with a base hit.
An ensuing walk and double steal put Boilermakers at second and third, but Lindsey Dunlap got a ground-out and fly-out to end the inning.
State got base hits from Lenahan and Cooley in the seventh, but a ground-out ended the Bulldogs' rally hopes.
The Dawgs try to bounce back on Tuesday as they head to Birmingham to take on UAB at 6 p.m. Tuesday's game will be State's first at the Blazers' on-campus facility, the UAB Softball Field.
State returns to the MSU Softball Field Mar. 4-6, hosting Texas A&M, Memphis and Mississippi Valley State in the Bulldog Classic.
Purdue 5, Mississippi State 0 (Feb 27, 2011 at Woodstock, Ga.)
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Purdue.............. 000 001 4 - 5 7 0 (8-3)
Mississippi State... 000 000 0 - 0 5 0 (6-9)
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Pitchers: Purdue - Rzegocki, Suzie and Krammer, Shelby. Mississippi State - Kylie Vry;
Misty Flesher(7); Lindsey Dunlap(7) and Sam Lenahan.
Win-Rzegocki, Suzie(7-2) Loss-Kylie Vry(2-6) T-1:40 A-117
HR PUR - Krammer, Shelby.
Weather: 54, mostly cloudy
K. Vry faced 2 batters in the 7th.
