Purdue Calumet Sweeps Robert Morris to Improve to 5-1 in CCAC
The Purdue University Calumet softball team picked up its second Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference sweep in as many days, topping visiting Robert Morris Illinois in two, 4-3 and 9-1.
The Peregrines (16-15, 5-1) won Game 1 on a walk-off hit by Holly Pagan (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) in the bottom of the eighth inning and then executed another walk-off win with Jess Loy’s (Skokie, Ill./Niles North) RBI-single to end the game in the bottom of sixth by run rule, 9-1.
Freshman Tessa Steffens (Litchfield, Ill./Litchfield) led the way offensively with a breakout day, finishing 6-for-8 with a home run, two triples, a double, four runs scored and three RBI. In the circle, junior Carly Murphy (Dyer, Ind./Lake Central) and freshman Sydney Schmitt (Anderson, Ind./Anderson) picked up wins for the defense.
Purdue Calumet returns to action Thursday with a CCAC twin bill against Cardinal Stritch at Dowling Park. Game 1 begins at 3 p.m. CT.
GAME 1: Purdue Calumet 4, Robert Morris 3 (8 innings)
Both teams traded leads throughout the game before the Eagles knotted it up in the seventh, sending the opener to extra innings. The Peregrines, however, would only need one more at-bat, as senior Kaitlin Barajas (Dyer, Ind./Andrean) opened the inning with a single to centerfield.
Tessa Steffens then singled to put pinch runner Brianna Hall (University Park, Ill./Marian Catholic) in scoring position. After Jess Loy sacrifice bunt moved Hall to third, Holly Pagan came up with the game-winner, belting a line-drive single to left to give the Peregrines’ the walk-off win.
After RMU opened the game with a 2-0 lead — scoring runs in the second and the fourth — Purdue Calumet tied up the game on Steffens’ two-run blast to left center field in the bottom of the fourth. The Peregrines then took the lead in the sixth on a Pagan RBI-sacrifice fly, but the Eagles were able to tie it up with a run in the top of the seventh.
Carly Murphy picked up the complete-game win, throwing all eight innings. She scattered eight hits, allowed just two earned runs and struck out eight — including a huge three-strikeout inning in the sixth, when RMU threatened with two on and nobody out.
Freshman Olivia Sardella (Dyer, Ind./Lake Central) and Barajas each finished 2-for-4 and Steffens led the way, going 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, two runs scored and two RBI.
GAME 2: Purdue Calumet 9, Robert Morris 1 (6 innings)
Purdue Calumet’s offense came alive in the nightcap, as the Peregrines used a six run, seven-hit third inning to blow open Game 2 in a 9-1 victory.
Jess Loy accounted for both the first and last runs of the game, as her sacrifice fly scored Tessa Steffens to give the Peregrines an early 1-0 lead in the second. The floodgates would open in the third, highlighted by Olivia Sardella’s two-RBI single, a Kaitlin Barajas RBI-double, a Steffens’ RBI-triple, another sac fly by Loy and Holly Pagan’s fourth home run of the year, a solo shot to right center.
Purdue Calumet would end the game early by run rule in the sixth, as Alex Morales opened the frame with her first home run of the season and Loy followed with an RBI-single to right field to give the Peregrines the 9-1 win.
Morales (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) had a huge Game 2, going 3-for-4 with two a home run, a double, and two runs scored, Steffens finished 3-for-4 with two triples and two runs scored and Sardella went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored.
Barajas’ hit streak continued, as the senior has now recored a hit in the last eight contests.
In the circle, reliever Sydney Schmitt (2-0) was credited with the win, striking out three and allowing just two hits in 3 and 1/3 innings pitched.
Purdue Calumet Blanks Robert Morris, 7-0
The Purdue University Calumet women's tennis team swept Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference foe Robert Morris University 7-0 on Wednesday afternoon.
The match was shortened due to unavailable court time at Chicago’s East Bank Club.
Ashley Pabey (East Chicago, Ind./East Chicago) picked up the victory at No. 2 singles against RMU's Page Seldal, 8-1, while teammate Emily Pearson (Hammond, Ind./Morton) also won at No. 4 singles against RMU's Brianna Jones, 8-3.
Pabey and Haas were able to pick up the victory in No. 1 doubles, 8-6, defeating RMU's Gvansta Robakidze and Page Seldal.
Kasey Kulesa (Munster, Ind./Munster) and Sarah Dingman (Schererville, Ind./Lake Central) got the win at No. 2 doubles, 8-6, defeating the Eagles' Nicole Witczak and Brianna Jones.
No. 1 singles’ Lori Haas (Bismarck, Ill./Bismarck-Henning) and No. 3 singles' Cynthia Basu-Chavez (Merrillville, Ind./Merrillville) were unable to finish their matches due to unavailability of the courts.
The Peregrines return home Saturday with a double event, taking on CCAC foes St. Francis (Ill.) at 10 a.m., followed by a match with St. Ambrose at 2 p.m. at Dowling Park’s Community Hospital Tennis Complex.
SINGLES: - 1. Lori Haas vs. Gvantsa Robakidze (unfinished); 2. Ashley Pabey def. Page Seldal, 8-1; 3. Cynthia Basu-Chavez vs. Nicole Witczak (unfinished); 4. Emily Pearson def. Brianna Jones, 8-3; 5. Kasey Kulesa won by default; 6. Selena Baez won by default.
DOUBLES: - 1. Haas/Pabey def. Robakidze/Seldal, 8-6; 2. Dingman/Kulesa def. Witczak/Jones, 8-6; 3. Pearson/Basu-Chavez won by default.