Chris Murray

cmurray@rgj.com

Jennifer Purcell’s weekend began like a nightmare. It ended like a dream.

The Wolf Pack softball first baseman, flying on a prop plane into Missoula, Mont., last Thursday with the team, ruptured her left eardrum. The plane didn’t land until past midnight and Purcell was in the emergency room until 4 a.m. with the first game of the weekend series just nine hours later.

“I’ve had issues since I was 6 months old,” Purcell said. “I’ve had five ear surgeries. I guess it’s something that will always be with me. This rupture was the only one I remember feeling. It was the sharpest pain with so much pressure in my head. I felt it drain once it popped. Oh, God, it just wasn’t a fun trip.”

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But it was the precursor to a memory Purcell will remember forever. In the four games immediately following that ruptured eardrum, with a bandage covering her ear, Purcell proceeded to get a hit in 13 straight at-bats to tie an NCAA record. The mark was first set by Boston University’s April Setterlund in 2010 and matched by Norfolk State’s Haley Ward in 2013. Purcell’s name will stand beside those two.

“It’s just amazing,” Wolf Pack coach Matt Meuchel said. “I think you can coach for 100 years and not see that. A lot of things have to line up. It was even more impressive the last day when she started the day at nine in a row and got to 13. As a coaching staff, we knew. I knew Jenn might have had an idea. As the streak goes on, naturally pressure mounts and you start pressing a little. But she didn’t do that.”

Purcell went 3-for-3 in the first game to start the streak. She followed that with a 4-for-4 game, a 2-for-2 game and another 4-for-4 game. In all, she had seven singles, four doubles and two home runs.

“It still hasn’t hit me at this point, it hasn’t set in,” Purcell said. “It feels really cool to be written down in the NCAA record books. Just a small kid from Reno, Nevada. It means a lot to me. It means a lot for the program. I know it means a lot for the coaches and my teammates. It’s just an awesome feeling.”

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Purcell got her 13th hit on her final at-bat of the front end of a doubleheader. Team rules allow the players to check their phones between games and when Purcell did, it was flooded with messages.

“My phone was going crazy,” said Purcell, a Carson High graduate. “Coach was like, ‘Please put it away. I don’t want you to see that right now.’ He wasn’t mad, but he wanted me to focus. People were excited for me. People in my classes were texting me. My math professor texted me. It was cool.”

Purcell got a chance to break the record in the first inning of game two of the doubleheader. With the bases loaded, Purcell, a lefty, laced the ball down the left-field line for what looked like a sure based-clearing double. But Montana’s Raquel Martinez raced to her right and snared the ball on the run.

“When she caught it, it was this sinking feeling,” Purcell said.

The streak boosted Purcell’s batting average from .320 to .460. She’s hitting a team-best .446 and also leads Nevada in on-base percentage (.520), slugging percentage (.520) and doubles (10). She’s second in walks (10) and runs (16) and third in RBIs (17) and homers (four) while starting all but one game.

Purcell’s breakout season comes after she was a part-time starter as a freshman last year. Her success has dovetailed with the Wolf Pack’s overall improvement as the team surpassed its win total from last season (16) in its first 20 games of 2016. Nevada (19-5) opens MW play Thursday against Boise State.

Purcell hit .289 as a freshman, starting 27 of 55 games. It was a tough transition year as she didn’t know if she would start from one game to the next or if she’d be productive when she was in the lineup.

“She had times of looking really good and times where she wondered if she belonged,” Meuchel said. “That’s natural for a freshman. You grow up wanting to be at this level and you put this level on a pedestal. It’s natural at times to wonder if you belong. But I don’t think she’s questions anymore her ability to play at this level and excel at this level. Once you get that in the rearview, it’s a big advantage.”

Purcell credits her improvement this season to having a more confident and mature approach. A recent change to her stance also helped. Over the summer, Purcell went from a closed stance to an open one because it gave her more power. But on the last day of a tournament in Las Vegas last month, she went back to her closed stance, which allowed her to get to inside pitches easier.

“I said, ‘I’m just going to try it,’” Purcell said of going back to a closed stance. “I ended up hitting two home runs in two games and said, ‘All right, this can work for me.’”

Purcell dabbled in a number of sports as youngster. She rode go-karts, played volleyball and basketball and, of course, excelled in softball. But the first time she picked up a bat at 5, it wasn’t in a softball game.

“I started in baseball because it was convenient,” Purcell said. “My brother played baseball. We were at the same complex. My dad eventually said, ‘I don’t need you to be a tomboy anymore, so we’re making the switch.’ I made the switch to softball at 9 years old.”

And 10 years after that, she put her name in the NCAA record book.

Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at cmurray@rgj.com or follow him on Twitter @MurrayRGJ.

THE FILE ON JENNIFER PURCELL

Class: Sophomore

Height: 5-7

Position: 1B

Bats/Throws: L/L

Hometown: Carson City

High School: Carson High

2016 stats: 24 games (23 starts): .446 BA, .520 OBP, .815 SLG, 16 runs, 10 doubles, four homers, 17 RBIs

NCAA record: Purcell tied an NCAA record last week by getting hits in 13 consecutive at-bats

WOLF PACK SOFTBALL

Who: Boise State (8-20, 0-0 MW) at Nevada (19-5, 0-0)

When: Thursday (4 p.m.), Friday (4 p.m.), Saturday (noon)

Where: Hixson Park

Online: NevadaWolfPack.TV

Easter egg hunt: The team will host an Easter egg hunt in the outfield at 11:30 a.m. Saturday