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80 GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED BY STACY CLARDIE SClardie@GoldandBlack.com A fter last season, Coach Kim Schuette took a deep look into her team's numbers. One especially stuck out. The Boilermakers were last in the Big Ten in runs scored. "When we scored two runs, we won. When we didn't, we lost," Schuette said. "Some teams have to score five to win. Those were the numbers last year, which was a big nemesis. We didn't have power. We didn't have doubles. We definitely didn't hit home runs. So we had to really work. We struck out way too much. Our pitchers struck out a lot of people — unfortunately we struck out offensively a lot as well. So cutting down those numbers (is key)." It may seem oversimplified or obvious, even: Score more runs, win games. But that especially seems like it could be the case for this year's team. Schuette was happy to have seen progress in certain ar- eas last season: The defense took a consid- erable leap, for one, going from one of the Big Ten's worst statistically to one of the league's most stable units, and the Boiler- makers got 30 victories, snapping back-to- back seasons of finishing below .500. The pitching staff, led by Lilly Fecho, was above average, certainly good enough to have seen a higher team win total. A couple key seniors have moved on, but Schuette feels good about the returning talent and the infusion of freshmen — as many as five could start — and is confi- dent the defense will be solid once again and, certainly, has ultimate confidence in Fecho as the team's ace. So the difference to the season could be a matter of improving at the plate. "Statistically (last sea- son), we did not show our full potential," senior shortstop Paris Andrew said. "That's what was re- ally hard to grasp because I know how much potential our team had and I saw us hit in practice and to see it not carry over to the game was tough. But this year, I think it'll be different. Because mentally we're all tougher — that's a huge part to hitting. We've all been working really hard, especially on our offensive game. People are seeing the ball really well and making really good, solid contact and staying within themselves. Just from what I can tell in prac- tice, we're ahead of where we were last year. That's what is important." Last season, Purdue was 12th in the Big Ten in average (.279), 13th in OBP (.358), 13th in total bases (580), last in walks (141) and runs (223) and only two teams in the conference struck out more (303). That didn't quite jibe with a staff that was third in ERA (2.52), second in oppos- ing team's batting average (.213), third in strikeouts (399) and allowed the sec- ond-fewest runs among conference teams (164). But Schuette is hoping a different fo- cus and approach will help the offense re- spond. This winter, Purdue saw more live pitching during practice and had multiple people throwing front toss to hitters. That allowed hitters to see a moving ball and one that wouldn't always be in the same Looking For The Next Level Schuette needs hitters to rise in Year 3 Purdue Senior Paris Andrew is Purdue's top returning hitter in average. Lineup Purdue's projected lineup and rota- tion (last season's statistics) Players (bats) Pos. Avg. Lauren Stewart (R) OF N/A Emily Kenny (R) 3B N/A Heather Knight (R) C N/A Katie Harrison (R) DP .310 Lexi Huffman (R) 1B N/A Paris Andrew (L) SS .301 Kristen Hoppman (R) 2B .293 Maya Hughes (L) OF .256 Mary Gooding (L) OF .237 Top reserves Kaylah Hampton (R) C .267 Mallory Baker (L) OF N/A Rotation W-L ERA Lilly Fecho (L) 20-17 2.02 Gina Snyder (R) 7-3 3.45 Maddie Damon (R) N/A N/A