April 20, 2008
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Penn State University softball team (31-16, 5-7 Big Ten) earned a split in their final Big Ten road contest of the season with Ohio State University (27-20, 5-11 Big Ten), 3-2 (11) and 3-4. Junior Sam Hovanec (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) hit a two-run homerun in the 11th inning to lift the Nittany Lions to a 3-2 victory in the first game.
The opening stanza of the doubleheader was a back-and-forth affair with neither team able to put many runs on the board. The Buckeyes struck first with a run in the bottom of the third. PSU would trail 1-0 for the next two innings before an Ashley Esparza (San Pedro, Calif./San Pedro) double followed by a Kayce Zielinski (Arlington, Texas/Kennedale) single tied the game up 1-1. Things would stay the same until the top of the 11th when Hovanec drove a two-run homerun over the left field fence.
The Buckeyes would try and recover with a run in the bottom half but it would not be enough as the Nittany Lions were victorious, 3-2.
Hovanec led all Nittany Lion batters going 3-for-5 with the two RBIs and a run scored. Senior Jen Acunto (Hollywood, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas) and Kinley each added two hits a piece.
Esparza picked up the win in the circle going the full 11.0 innings while striking out seven and allowing just two walks.
Game two got off to a much faster start as both teams combined for five runs in the first two innings. Esparza got things on track for the Nittany Lions as she blasted a solo homerun in the first inning. OSU would respond in the bottom half scoring two runs and going on top 2-1.
Three hits and an error in the second would convert into two more runs for the Nittany Lions as they went ahead 3-2. The score would remain the same until the bottom of the seventh when OSU drew a bases loaded walk to tie the game. One batter later, OSU hit a walk-off single off the center field fence.
The Nittany Lions will return to action this Wednesday, April 23 at 3:00 p.m. as they travel to Kent, Ohio for a doubleheader with Kent State University.