Ohio State Rallies Late, Falls Just Short Against Purdue

Saturday, March 14

West Lafayette, Ind.

2 p.m.

Ohio State

8-15, 0

Purdue

21-6, 0

Ohio State

Purdue

Ohio State Rallies Late, Falls Just Short Against Purdue

3/14/2026 5:27:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

The Buckeyes will wrap up the series tomorrow at 11 a.m.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State (8-15, 2-3 Big Ten) narrowly lost to Purdue (21-6, 2-0 Big Ten) in the second game of this weekend's series, 6-5, at Bittinger Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Buckeyes rallied to tie the game in the sixth inning, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate three times in the seventh.

Abbie Wilhelm and Sami Bewick led the day at the plate, each collecting two hits. Wilhelm, Bewick, and Taylor Cruse each homered in the contest, with five other Buckeyes registering a hit for a team total of nine.

How it Happened

Purdue opened scoring in the bottom of the third when Anna Moore scored Khloe Banks with an RBI single. Hayley Painter then scored Moore with an RBI triple. Delaney Reefe brought in Painter via a sac fly, giving the Boilermakers a 3-0 lead.
Painter brought in another run in the bottom of the fourth on a sac fly that scored Ashlynn Campbell, extending the Purdue lead to 4-0.
Ohio State cut the Purdue lead to one in the top of the fifth via back-to-back home runs: A two-run blast by Sami Bewick that scored Kiki Estrada and solo shot by Taylor Cruse.
Purdue got a run back in the bottom half of the inning via a Banks RBI single that scored Ansley Armstrong.
The Buckeyes tied the game 5-5 in the top of the sixth with an Abbie Wilhelm two-run blast that scored Hadley Parisien.
Purdue retook the lead 6-5 in the bottom of the sixth on an error that scored Painter.
Ohio State got the tying run aboard in the top of the seventh with a Skylar Limon single, but Limon would not be brought home.
Lorin Boutte (2-4) got the start and the loss for Ohio State, tossing 3.2 innings and allowing only two earned runs. Lexi Paulsen and Jenna Molk would also see time, with Paulsen tossing 1.1 inning and Molk throwing 1 inning. Neither Molk nor Paulsen would allow an earned run.
Brooke Perez (4-0) got the win for Purdue, throwing the final two innings in relief.

Looking Ahead
The Buckeyes will look to close out the Purdue series with a win Sunday at 11 a.m. The game will be streamed on B1G+, with links to streaming and live stats available on the schedule page at OhioStateBuckeyes.com. In-game updates will be provided on the official Ohio State Softball X account, @OhioStateSB. Ohio State will then face Butler (9-9) for a midweek game on the campus of Earlham College before returning to Columbus to host the Ohio State Tournament.