Women’s Softball Headed to Big Ten Tournament

Let's give the women's softball team some love here. The ladies just completed their second season at their new stadium located at the Northwest Athletic complex and it ended in a tie for 10^th place in the 14 team league with Michigan State and Rutgers. Purdue is 27-27 overall and 8-15 in the Big Ten. The top 12 teams qualified for the Big Ten Tournament, so Iowa and Maryland have been tossed aside.

This year's tournament will be played at Penn State and Purdue enters as the No. 11 seed. They will open play on Thursday at 5:30pm against Nebraska (32-18, 15-8).

Purdue enters the tournament having lost five in a row, getting swept by Northwestern 2-0, 1-0, and 3-1 last week. Before that they dropped two of three at Nebraska, taking the opener 4-3 in 8 innings before losing 8-0 and 4-3. Purdue only won series against Wisconsin and Iowa, while splitting a doubleheader with Indiana.

As usual, Lilly Fecho has been the team's ace. She sports an 18-13 record with a 1.89 ERA in 31 starts. The senior has been the anchor for the Boilers the last few seasons. She now has 67 career victories and a career ERA well under 3. The 67 wins are good for third all-time in program history.

Kristen Hoppman leads the ladies at the plate with a .311 batting average and 4 homers to go with 6 RBI. Katie Harrison also has a .296 average with 6 home runs and 25 RBI. Overall, Purdue is not a great hitting team, but Fecho is a good enough pitcher to keep them in most games. The Boilers have lost eight games by one run this season, which is likely the difference between a regular campaign and an NCAA berth for the first time since 2009.

All games of the Big Ten Tournament will be televised on BTN.