Purdue’s softball team went into Sunday’s game against Minnesota looking for a three-game sweep. For the first three innings, that looked like a strong possibility. But the Golden Gophers changed that in the fourth inning — with the possible help of a remarkably efficient announcer jinx.
The 6-0 lead that the Boilermakers had heading into the inning was down to 6-5 when Minnesota’s Taylor Krapf came to the plate with two outs and runners on first and second. Max Bury, a Purdue student calling the game for B1G+, knew that it wasn’t a great matchup for the Boilermakers.
“To be completely honest, this is the worst possible matchup for Purdue right now,” he said.
Bury continued as Gossett threw her first — and only — pitch of the at-bat.
“Just seeing Krapf at the plate, when the inning has already gotten out of your hands, you don’t want to see someone that can put the ball over the wall at the plate — and there it goes.”
Indeed, Krapf took the first pitch she saw and hit a no-doubt home run.
“You don’t want to see someone that can put the ball over the wall at the plate… And there it goes.” 😅
Talk about announcer jinx on this 3-run HR from Taylor Krapf for @GopherSoftball 👇#B1GSoftball on B1G+ pic.twitter.com/8DquV5vIto
— Big Ten Softball (@B1Gsoftball) April 6, 2025
Bury kept a good sense of humor about it, saying “Sorry about that @PurdueSoftball” on X, later adding “Sometimes the jinx is just too strong.”
Sorry about that @PurdueSoftball 😬
— Max Bury (@maxwellbury) April 6, 2025
Sometimes the jinx is too strong @gavinconnolly_ 😅 https://t.co/H8bQaIJ5OT
— Max Bury (@maxwellbury) April 6, 2025
We can’t put the entire blame on Bury here. As he pointed out, the inning had already begun to go south for Purdue. Still, seeing an announcer jinx strike so quickly is always fun.
The home run was the game-winner. Purdue scored a pair of runs in the fifth inning but lost the game 11-7.
So this jinx was as effective as it was efficient.
