March 15, 2009
FULLERTON, Calif. - In the final game of the Judi Garman Classic, the Nittany Lions fell to Nebraska by a score of 10-1 in five innings. Penn State is now 9-11 on the season while Nebraska improves to 15-5. Sophomore shortstop Desi Giordano (West Caldwell, N.J.) homered for the Lions only score.
Nebraska drew the first blood with the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the first. A sacrifice fly by Amanda Duran allowed Meghan Mullin to score. Brittany Pascale reached on a fielder's choice, but Darcy Rutherford beat the tag to stay at third as the bases were juiced a second time. Rutherford then reached home when Heidi Foland was hit by the pitch as Julie Bechtel followed with a grand slam over the right field wall. Penn State then made a pitching change as Lisa Akamine (Escondido, Calif.) replaced Kimi Wong (Goleta, Calif.) in the circle. Whitney Barrett then reached on a throwing error and advanced to second before moving around to third on a sac bunt. A strike out ended the inning, but the damage had been done as the Corn Huskers put the Lions in a six run hole.
Senior center fielder Sam Hovanec (Pittsburgh, Pa.) got the first hit for the Nittany Lions in the top of the second and advanced to third as Akamine grounded out to third. Giordano then reached on a walk. The Lions were retired on a ground out and a strike out.
The Huskers scored again in the second as they had runners on the corners and pulled the double steal.
The Lions got off to a good start in the top of the third as senior third baseman Shana Madura (Slate Hill, N.Y.) reached on a walk and senior first baseman Danielle Kinley (Carlsbad, Calif.) singled through the right side. But a strike out and a Huskers double play ended the inning.
Nebraska kept pouring it on with two runners in scoring position and one out in the bottom of the third. Bechtel scored on a throwing error before Haley Long was tagged out at the plate.
The Lions eliminated the shutout in the top of the fourth as Giordano aced a pitch over the center field wall with two outs. But the Huskers weren't done scoring as Foland homered to plate Madison Drake in the process.
Penn State needed two runs in the top of the fifth to keep the game going, but no one crossed as Nebraska sealed the win with two fly outs and a foul out.
Penn State scored one run on one hit while committing four errors while Nebraska scored 10 runs on seven hits. Hovanec went 2-for-2. Wong took the loss to become 0-1 in the circle while Akamine struck out three batters in 3.2 innings of work.
The Nittany Lions will return to the diamond next weekend for the start of Big Ten Conference play with a two-game series at Illinois. Game one will start at 6 p.m. ET on Saturday March 21 with game two to follow at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday March 22.