Feb. 14, 2010
UTSA Box Score • NMSU Box Score • Collett Video
LAS CRUCES, N.M.--The Penn State softball team continued its offensive power from Friday night, smashing five home runs and scoring 17 runs, splitting games against host New Mexico State (10-9) and UTSA (8-4) on Saturday at the Hotel Encanto Invitational.
Penn State (3-1) capped its day with a win over the University of Texas-San Antonio (2-1), jumping out to a 7-1 lead and never looking back. The Lions got on the board early when Cassidy Bell (Bakersfield, Calif.) and Ashley Griffith (Mt. Laurel, N.J.) reached base safely before Danee Collett (Orange, Calif.) drove the pair home with a double for an early 2-0 margin.
The next inning, Mary Ostman (Northbrook, Ill.) led off with a single, while Alyssa Renwick (Laurens, S.C.) walked in her first collegiate plate appearance. The two stole third and second, respectively, setting up Bell for a double into left field that couldn't be corralled by the UTSA fielder, putting Penn State further ahead, 4-0, after two innings.
Although UTSA would get on the board in the top of the third with a lone run, PSU managed to get the leadoff batter on for the third straight frame when Kailyn Johnson (Yorba Linda, Calif.) singled. When Shannon Hutchinson (Sewell, N.J.) pinch ran for Johnson, Jackie Hill (San Jose, Calif.) laid down a beautiful bunt, pushing Hutchinson to second and reaching safely at first herself. Next up, Lisa Akamine (Escondido, Calif.) singled home Hutchinson and moved Hill to third.
On the next play, with Ostman at the plate, head coach Robin Petrini employed a double steal after the first pitch with the throw going to second base and Hill scoring easily. Akamine was caught in a rundown for the second out of the inning. After Ostman struck out, Renwick sent a 2-2 pitch sailing over the left field wall opening a six-run gap, 7-1, in favor of Penn State. The Lions would tack on another when Johnson clocked an opposite-field shot of her own on a full count for an 8-1 lead.
The Roadrunners would get three back in the fifth with back-to-back homers, but could get no closer as Akamine shut down the UTSA high-powered offense the rest of the way. By doing so, Akamine earned her first win of the season after giving up nine hits, three walks and three earned runs, while striking out nine batters.
In the previous game, Penn State found itself in a slugfest (4-0) with host New Mexico State. The Aggies, who led the NCAA in hitting a year ago, scored in five of the six innings and hit three homers of their own, but were matched for the majority of the game by the Nittany Lion home-run hitting of Desi Giordano (West Caldwell, N.J.), Collett and Hill. Giordano finished with a 3-RBI day, while Collett went 3-for-4 with four RBI and Hill had two hits and two RBI. Hill's dinger was the first of her collegiate career.
PSU capitalized on some sloppy play by the Aggies, scoring four of the nine runs in an unearned fashion. After falling behind 3-1, the Lions hung four on the board in the top of the third, started by Bell reaching on a miscue. A successful bunt single by Griffith put Bell on third. Griffith moved to second when Giordano grounded out to the pitcher and Collett drove the duo home with a one-out single to left field.
Hutchinson came in to pinch run for Collett, moving to second base when Johnson grounded out to short. Four pitches later, Hill clocked a fastball to left for a Pen State 5-3 lead after three innings.
After two scoreless half-innings, NMSU answered back with three in each the fourth and fifth innings, opening up a sizable 9-5 lead after five innings. PSU, who was resilient in a 9-8 comeback win over Colorado State the night before, opened up a rally that quieted the home town fans.
Akamine led off with a first-pitch single, while Bell got on afterwards with a fielder's choice, putting out Akamine at second. Griffith walked on a 3-0 count and Giordano sent a 2-2 flyball through the thin air of New Mexico just over the left field wall, cutting the deficit to one at 9-8. NMSU brought in Kelsey Scheuler to stem the tide for the Aggies, but she served up a 1-0 fastball to Collett who smacked it over the left field wall to tie things up at nine apiece. Unfortunately for Penn State, NMSU would capitalize on one of the Nittany Lions' miscues in the sixth. With one away, Teresa Conrad reached base when Lauren Yao (Los Angeles, Calif.) couldn't handle Hill's throw over. A single by Amber Olive put two on, bringing in Akamine to pitch for Hill. Brittany Clifton, who hit two homers in the game, laid down a sac bunt, moving the runners to second and third. Three pitches later, Kylie Randall singled home Conrad for an unearned run that proved to be the difference.
Penn State would load the bases in the top of the seventh but couldn't push anyone across the plate to extend the game. Overall, the Lions belted 11 hits against NMSU and for the day had 20.
The Nittany Lions wrap up play in the Hotel Encanto Invitational on Sunday at 9:00 a.m. MT (11:00 a.m. ET) against a 2-3 Nebraska team. Live stats will be run through Gametracker and live commentary on Twitter (@PSULionSoftball).
NOTES
The last time Penn State began its season 3-1 was in 2007 when the Lions knocked off N.C. State, East Carolina and North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., the team went 38-17 en route to an NCAA Tournament appearance...Penn State's bats have exploded for seven home runs and two doubles at the seemingly tiny NMSU Softball Complex; Las Cruces, N.M. sits on a plateau at an altitude of 4,200 feet...PSU is slugging .589 and reaching base at a .445 clip, having gathered 39 hits, 17 walks and taken five hit-by-pitches...PSU's pitchers have struck out 34 batters, while only walking and hitting 13 combined bitters...The Nittany Lions are hitting a staggering .348 at the plate, having scored 38 times on 39 hits...Collett leads the team in batting average (.538), hits (7), and tied for first in RBI (7) with Giordano...Giordano's two homers this weekend moves her into a tie for sixth in the all-time books at Penn State with 15...Griffith's three walks in four games has her in ninth all-time at PSU with 49, while she is all alone in third for sacrifices with 35...Head coach Robin Petrini has now won 398 games and is just two away from number 400.
--NITTANY LIONS--