ST. AUGUSTINE, FLA. ? The KU softball team moved into the semifinals of the Triple Crown Tournament with 8-7 and 3-1 victories over Purdue University on Saturday at Treaty Park.
Junior pitcher Kara Pierce won both games, working 2 2/3 relief innings in the first game and went the distance in the second game. She is now 3-0 with 30 strikouts and a 0.36 ERA in 19.2 innings.
Kansas (4-0) led 7-2 after three innings in the first game, but Purdue (1-3) tied the game with five runs in the top of the fifth. Sophomore Lindsay Weinstein drove home junior Dani May in the bottom of the inning, putting the Jayhawks ahead for good. Sylvia Pfeiffer and May each had two hits, and freshmen Destiny Frankenstein and Melaney Torres each scored two runs.
In the second game, Kansas scored two runs on a single by Pfeiffer in the second inning, and added another run in the fifth inning off a Pfeiffer homer. Pierce struck out nine Boilermakers.
The Jayhawks will face the winner of Saturday’s Evansville/Stetson game at 9:45 a.m. Sunday in the semifinals.
