March 2, 2008
BATON ROUGE, La. - The Penn State University softball team (6-5) fell in extra innings to the University of Tulsa (8-9), 4-1 (8). The game went into the seventh tied 0-0 but two Tulsa hits in the frame pushed across the go-ahead run. PSU would not be deterred as senior Ashley Esparza (San Pedro, Calif./San Pedro) blasted a solo homerun in the bottom half to push the game to extras.
In the final inning Tulsa was able to put together three hits which turned into three runs and gave them the 4-1 advantage going into the bottom half. The Nittany Lions were able to put together two, two-out hits but fell just shy of plating another run in the eighth.
Esparza led the squad going 1-for-3 with an RBI and run scored while senior Jen Acunto (Hollywood, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas), sophomore Ashley Griffith (Mt. Laurel, N.J./Lenape), and redshirt-freshman Jackie Hill (San Jose, Calif./Leigh) all added hits. Esparza and Hill combined in the circle to go the full eight innings while striking out 10.
Esparza picked up seven of the 10 strikeouts in her five innings while Hill fanned the final three in her three innings. Hill picked up the loss bring her record to 3-2 on the season.
The Nittany Lions will return to action next Friday, March 7, at the USF Under Armour Invitational in Clearwater, Fla.