CLEARWATER, Fla. - - It took nearly 22 hours to complete from when the game originally started, but for the University of South Florida softball team, the 2-1 victory over Purdue was worth the wait.
In the team's first game of the Under Armour Showcase, USF (20-8) won its 11th consecutive game thanks to the combination of getting the bats hot early and a stellar pitching performance by junior pitcher Cristi Ecks.
Ecks moves to 4-3 on the year after scattering five hits and allowing just one run over five innings of work while striking out five.
Senior Kit Dunbar led all hitters with a 3-3 performance at the plate and also scored a run that turned out to be the game winner.
Ecks took the circle for USF on Friday for the 4 p.m. first pitch against the Boilermakers but was only able to record one out before play was halted due to heavy rain in the top of the first.
The game picked up at the point it left off Saturday at noon on field nine at the Eddie C. Moore Complex. Ecks returned to pitch and sat down the second and third outs of the frame in order.
USF came up to the plate with aggressive bats in the bottom of the first and plated a pair of runs. Led off by a pair of infield hits from Britta Giddens and Kit Dunbar, cleanup hitter JoJo Medina took a 2-2 pitch and drove it to left center field for a RBI double that scored Giddens.
Sophomore Alison Savarese then propelled the Bulls to a 2-0 lead when she brought in Dunbar on a single into left. The RBI pushed Savarese's total to 10, marking the fourth USF batter to achieve the double-digit tally.
Purdue (17-7) would cut the lead to one in the top of the fifth with a two-out RBI double by Candace Curtis, but could not score the equalizer.
Senior Courtney Mosch came in to relieve Ecks to start the top of the sixth and with one out in the inning, the Bulls found themselves in a jam.
The Boilermakers' made a strong push to tie the game by moving a runner around to third, however Savarese ended the inning when she made an incredible catch on a sharp line drive and then tagged out the runner trying to retreat to the bag to end the half inning.
Mosch secured the USF victory by earning her first save of the season when she sat down the Boilermakers in order in the seventh.
USF will continue play in the Under Armour Showcase at 2 p.m. against Oklahoma State.
