University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Purdue
Gophers End Regular Season With Win
5/4/2014 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 4, 2014
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The No. 12/14 Minnesota softball team capped its 2014 regular season with a 7-2 victory against Purdue Sunday in the teams' weekend rubber match at the Boilermaker Softball Complex in West Lafayette, Ind. The Gophers will begin postseason play with their highest winning percentage in school history at .809-they are now 38-9 and finished with a 16-6 Big Ten record.
Minnesota's 38 overall wins are its most since 2002 and its 16 Big Ten wins are its most since 1999. The 1996 Gophers , who finished 17-6 in conference play, were the last Minnesota team to finish with a better league record than this year's squad.
As was the case Saturday, Minnesota jumped out to a quick lead in the first inning. Kaitlyn Richardson hit a sacrifice fly to score Sam Macken, who reached base with a triple and Sasra Groenewegen knocked home Taylor LeMay from first with a double off the left field wall.
Macken's triple was the first of her career and extended her team-best hitting streak to seven games.
In the third inning, Groenewegen padded the Gophers' lead with a three-run home run, her ninth long ball of the season, to make it a 5-0 game.
Purdue answered in the bottom of the frame with a pair of runs, but the Boilermakers were unable to get on the board again.
With one out in the sixth and LeMay and Hannah Granger on base following singles, Madie Eckstrom put the game out of reach with a pinch-hit, two-RBI single that made it 7-2.
Sara Moulton pitched four innings of five-hit, two-run ball to earn her 24th win of the season. The victory was added to her program record, which is now 109 and she struck out two to up her career total to a school-best 1,154. Groenewegen picked up seven strikeouts in three scoreless innings of relief.
The game was Senior Day for Purdue, which played its last-ever game at the Boilermaker Softball Complex.
The Gophers next play at the Big Ten Tournament in Evanston, Ill. Action there begins Thursday and will end Saturday. With a top-four finish secured, Minnesota earned a bye to Friday's quarterfinal round.
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