March 5, 2010
Penn State 3, Central Michigan 1 • Penn State 4, Florida Gulf Coast 3
CLEARWATER, Fla.--A team-wide illness couldn't slow down the Penn State softball team as it made the most of its two-out hits in wins over Central Michigan and Florida Gulf Coast on Friday night at the Eddie C. Moore Complex. Jackie Hill (San Jose, Calif.) threw 8.1 combined innings for the 3-1 win over CMU, while saving the 4-3 victory over FGCU, allowing no earned runs and just four hits.
Penn State (11-4) has been fighting a virus within the team's ranks for days now and prevented junior third baseman Desi Giordano (West Caldwell, N.J.) from playing on Friday. Couple that with well below average temperatures in Florida and it made for a tight first day at the USF Under Armour Invitational.
In Game One against Central Michigan (1-4), Penn State leapt out to a lead in the top of the third inning when with two outs Ashley Griffith (Mt. Laurel, N.J.) belted an opposite field double scoring Morgan Long (Oro Valley, Ariz.) from third. Kailyn Johnson (Yorba Linda, Calif.) doubled a 1-0 pitch down the left field line scoring Griffith for a 2-0 Penn State lead. After Danee Collett (Orange, Calif.) was hit by a pitch, Hill drove a single to centerfield, scoring Johnson when the centerfielder bobbled the hit giving the Nittany Lions a 3-0 lead.
Central Michigan would fight back in the fourth when Molly Coldren crushed a triple to deep center and a subsequent error by freshman shortstop Alyssa Renwick (Laurens, S.C.) allowed Coldren to score on the play.
From there on out, Hill (6-2) was steady, finishing off the Chippewas with eight strikeouts for the complete game two-hit win. Hill also allowed two walks in her seven innings of play. She was backed by six hits from six different Lions. Hill's counterpart, Kari Seddon, went the distance allowing two earned runs on four walks, while striking out five.
In a tense Game Two of a split doubleheader, Penn State (11-4) won its eighth game in nine tries when the Nittany Lions downed Florida Gulf Coast (7-9) by a score of 4-3. PSU tacked a run in each of the first three innings, racing out to a 3-0 lead. Nevertheless, defensive miscues by both teams were costly as four of the seven combined runs were unearned.
Penn State belted out 12 hits in the game against the Eagles receiving two from five different Nittany Lions. Among those in the two-hit bunch were Cassidy Bell (Bakersfield, Calif.), Griffith, Collett, Long and Renwick.
Bell led off the game with a laser down the leftfield line for three bases. Griffith slapped a single in front of the pitcher and on a double steal, Griffith was thrown out, while Bell made a heads up play to capture home plate for a quick 1-0 lead.
In the second, Long started a two-out rally with a single up the middle. Renwick followed up with a single of her own to turn the lineup over to Bell who singled to right field, scoring Long to make it 2-0.
In the third, Collett singled in the most peculiar way this season, as her chopper took an odd bounce between the pitcher and the third baseman, giving the sophomore catcher first. Hill pushed Collett to second on a groundout and Akamine hit a flair to left that seemed to be the final out of the inning, but Tiffany Upchurch dropped it allowing Collett to score from second base, giving Penn State three-run advantage.
The Nittany Lions' defensive woes would begin soon thereafter as FGCU, with two on and one out, had Jessica Gary at the plate. She lined a shot to first base, but Johnson couldn't handle the ball, allowing two Eagles to score to cut the lead to 3-2, making both runs unearned to Akamine.
In the sixth, the Lions added an insurance run when Griffith ripped a shot that hit off the bag, scoring Long from third base after Long opened the inning with a single to left. FGCU put one across in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI single by Hayley O'Mara and Akamine's day in the circle was complete after 5.2 innings and seven strikeouts.
Hill came on to retire Brittany Baker after she plunked Erin Olson to put two on base. In the seventh, Hill allowed the first two batters, the speedy Lauran Ziegler and Jessica Gary to reach base with infield singles. The senior hurler buckled down and retired Courtney Platt and Mariah Fernandez with popups to second and an Upchurch flyout ended the threat , giving Penn State the one-run win in the first ever meeting with the Eagles.
The Nittany Lions will continue its time at the USF Invitational with another split doubleheader on Saturday against Ball State and Florida International. Game times are set for 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., respectively. Both games can be followed through Gametracker and Twitter (@PSULionSoftball).
NOTES: The Lions upped their team's batting average to .331 on the year, while opponents dipped to .220...Penn State has out-scored its opponents 97-52...Five lions are hitting over .300 this season: Collett (.432), Bell (.404), Johnson (.354), Ostman (.344) and Griffith (.344). A sixth, Akamine, is just below .300 at .297...Penn State was without junior third baseman Desi Giordano who was out due to illness, sophomore Ashley Todd started in her place in both games...Alyssa Renwick had her first multi-hit game in a Penn State uniform thanks to a 2-for-2 day with a sacrifice vs. FGCU...Morgan Long went 3-for-5 at the plate with a team-high three runs in her two games, raising her average to .471...Penn State committed a season-high five errors vs. FCGU. The previous four-error game was an 8-4 win over UTSA (2/13)...Penn State has recorded at least five hits in every game it's played this season...PSU dropped its team ERA to 3.14 with Jackie Hill (2.07) leading the team. Lisa Akamine is throwing at a 4.20 clip.
--NITTANY LIONS--