Illinois softball hadn’t played an extra-inning game all season going into Sunday’s doubleheader against visiting Purdue.

After short-gaming the Boilermakers (29-20, 7-10 Big Ten) in five innings in Friday’s 9-1 victory, the Illini (23-24, 12-7 Big Ten) went to extra innings in both games on Sunday at Eichelberger field.

The Illini offense struggled early in the first game, but pulled it together and made a run at the end of the game. Center fielder Carly Thomas tied the game in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI single, but came up short in the first game. However, the team felt positive heading into the rubber match.

“The momentum definitely carried over,” second baseman Allie Bauch said. “We scored a lot of runs late, and we knew that we could score on them the second game.”

Scoring early and often, the Illini jumped out to an early lead in the second game.

Bauch was a big contributor, going 4-for-9 with three RBIs in the double header.

“I just go to the plate with the same approach every time,” Bauch said. “I just look to get on base to allow my teammates to hit me in.”

Bauch has been the most consistent hitter for the Illini, with a batting average of .400 on the season. She leads the team in slugging percentage at .716, and on base percentage at .483.

Starting pitcher Jade Vecvanags couldn’t find her groove on the mound.  After giving up five runs in 2 1/3 innings in the first game, Vecvanags gave up seven runs in eight innings pitched in the second game. The performance was a rare showing for the sophomore Vecvanags, who’s been the Illini’s best pitcher all season.

With the game on the line and down one run in the bottom of the eighth, Illinois made a comeback. Thomas hit a single to tie the game, and left fielder Nicole Evans advanced to third on a call that was highly debated by the Purdue coaching staff. The third base umpire was in left field checking to see if the ball was caught, but as a result, was out of position to make a call. Because none of the umpires saw the play, they had to declare Evans safe.

Then, shortstop Ruby Rivera came to the plate, and hit an infield single to score Evans and win the game.

The walk off was the first hit of the day for Rivera. Head coach Terri Sullivan praised Rivera, who committed two errors, for her resilience. 

“That is what good players do,” Sullivan said. “She made some very uncharacteristic errors today, but she came through for us when it counted.”

Illinois hasn’t lost a weekend series since March 22 against Minnesota — The team’s first conference series of the season.

The Illini remain fourth in the conference after the weekend. They have one more conference series: against Nebraska, the third-place team in the conference that leads the Illini by one game.

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