April 2, 2010
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State softball hits the road for its first Big Ten road series of 2010 as the Nittany Lions (21-9, 1-1 Big Ten) travel to Purdue (15-19, 0-2 Big Ten). Both games will have GameTracker coverage as well as free live streaming audio provided.
Penn State is coming off a doubleheader sweep in which the Nittany Lions staged two comeback wins over Kent State on Wednesday. PSU was down 2-0 and went on to win 5-2 in the first game before mounting an even larger come back in Game Two with a six-run sixth-inning rally powered by Danee Collett's three-run homer. The Lions went on to win the second game by a score of 9-5. Jackie Hill picked up a win and a save, while Kailyn Johnson added two doubles.
Purdue is 15-19 and 4-1 at home after a 3-1 week in back-to-back doubleheaders against IUPUI and Butler. The Boilermakers took both games against IUPUI on a couple of one-hitters and a third was added against Butler before falling in the nightcap to the Bulldogs, 3-0.
PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS
(21-9, 1-1 Big Ten)
vs.
PURDUE BOILERMAKERS
(15-19 0-2 Big Ten)
Games #31-32: April 3-4, 2010 • Purdue Varsity Softball Complex • West Lafayette, Ind.
GAME DAY
VENUE: Varsity Softball Complex (1,000)
AUDIO STREAMING: PurdueSports.com through Stretch Internet
TALENT: TBA
SERIES RECORD vs. PUR: Penn State leads 20-16
NEXT SERIES: Tuesday, April 6 vs. Pittsburgh (DH) in Happy Valley
GAME STORIES
•â€ˆNittany Lions square off against Purdue for the 37th and 38th times this weekend
• Penn State looks to snap seven-game losing skid against the Boilermakers
• Lions lead Purdue 15-13 under head coach Robin Petrini
• Both games can be heard through audio streaming provided by PurdueSports.com
• PSU enters weekend series with a three-game winning streak after a doubleheader sweep at Kent State, 5-2 and 9-5
• Nittany Lions surpassed last year's win total (19) with two victories at Kent State
• Penn State came back twice from multi-run deficits against Kent State, Lions have five wins in which a multi-run deficit was overcome to win the game this season
• Danee Collett hit a three-run blast to put PSU ahead for good vs. KSU, Desi Giordano's two-run homer added insurance runs, matching last year's HR production (20)
• Freshman Cassidy Bell hit first collegiate home run at Kent State
•â€'Jackie Hill picked up a win and a save vs. KSU, Lisa Akamine got her 10th win as well
• Penn State committed a season-high five errors in second game at Kent State
• Lions return home on Tuesday for a doubleheader against Pittsburgh
GAME NOTES
SCOUTING THE BOILERMAKERS: Purdue enters its home-opening Big Ten series having taken three of four mid-week games over IUPUI and Butler. Suzie Rzegocki pitched three gems, all one-hitters, en route to two shutout wins over IUPUI and a third against Butler. The Boilermakers have felied on Rzegocki all season as she has thrown 71 percent of the team's innings en route to posting a 2.96 ERA. She is allowing opposing batters to hit .236 off her as she has thrown 135 strikeouts in 19 complete games. At the plate, the Boilers are explosive as three are above .300 in batting average including the all-around threat Liane Horiuchi. The leader in runs scored (34), homers (5), slugging percentage (.629) and stolen bases (28), Horiuchi is a force to be reckoned with as she bats .315 with three doubles, five triples to go along with her five homers. Other Purdue bats to worry about are Molly Garst (.345, 9 2B, 26 SB), Jenna Alexander (.330, 4 2B, 4 HR) and Maia Moncheck (.283, 3 2B, 4 3B, 3 HR, 25 RBI).
SERIES HISTORY: The Penn State-Purdue series has seen each team go on some major tears despite the fact Penn State leads 20-16 overall. PSU is on a seven game skid against the Boilers, but before then, the Lions had won four straight and 17 of 21 dating back to 1997. Purde hasn't dropped a game to the Nittany Lions since a 7-1 setback in West Lafayette on Mar. 31, 2006. Last season, Penn State fell 2-0 and 3-2 on the Big Ten Network during Blue-White Weekend in Happy Valley.
KENT STATE TWILIGHT TWINBILL SWEEP: For the third time in a week, Penn State played a doubleheader, and unlike the first two twinbills, which the Lions split, PSU swept the Kent State Golden Flashes. In the first game, Penn State fell behind 2-0 with a pair of solo shots by KSU before exploding for three runs in the fifth inning to make a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead. The rally was highlighted by Cassidy Bell's first collegiate a homer, a liner to straitaway centerfield that put PSU ahead, 3-2. The Lions would tag the plate again when Rachel Myers came home to score on a wild pitch in the inning. Kailyn Johnson's second double of the game came in the sixth inning and scored Bell for the final 5-2 tally. Jackie Hill went the distance with nine strikeouts for her 11th win of the season in the circle. In Game Two, after the teams traded unearned first-inning runs, each team was held scoreless for the next three and a half innings before Kent State hung three on the board in the fifth for a 4-1 lead. In the sixth inning, After a bases-loaded RBI ground out by Kimi Wong, Bell ripped a single up the middle to score two more and knot the game at four apiece. Up came Danee Collett with two outs and two on. She took a 1-0 fastball over the centerfield wall for a three-run blast and a 7-4 Penn State lead, capping a six-run sixth inning. Desi Giordano added two insurance runs with a bomb of her own and Hill tallied her league-leading third save of the season for a 9-5 Penn State win before darnkess set in to end the game early.
FIVE MULTI-RUN COMEBACKS: Penn State has overcome multi-run comebacks five times this season, three of which have come in the past week. The first major comeback camein a 7-2 game in the third inning against Colorado State, as Penn State would go on to win 9-8 in extra innings. PSU staged a comeback with four unanswered runs in a 4-2 win over Florida Gulf Coast on March 14. Just this past Saturday in Game Two vs. Minnesota, PSU found itself down 2-0 after a half-inning and would go on to outscore the Golden Gophers 8-1 the rest of the way before the comebacks of two and three runs over Kent State on Wednesday.
BIG TEN OPENING DOUBLEHEADER vs. MINNESOTA: Penn State split an impromptu doubleheader on March 27 against Minnesota to kick off the Big Ten campaign. The Nittany Lions dropped the first game 3-2 after falling behind 3-0 and rallying with two runs in the seventh to get within one. With two runners on, Minnesota managed a ground out to killy the rally and pick up the win. In Game Two, which was moved up from Sunday morning to Saturday due to a poor forecast, Penn State fell behind again, this time 2-0, after one half inning. The Lions exploded for seven runs in the next three innings, never looking back en route to a dominating 8-3 win. For the two games, Ashley Griffith and Cassidy Bell hit .500, a combined 5-for-10 with six runs scored at the top of the lineup, while Lisa Akamine and Danee Collett each went 3-for-7.  Collett added two runs, a double and two RBI as well. In the circle, Akamine got the win in the second game with a complete game, two-run effort, allowing four hits and walking nine.
FIRST BIG TEN WEEKLY AWARD FOR AKAMINE: Sophomore hurler Lisa Akamine garnered her first Big Ten Pitcher of the Week award on Monday, March 29 for her excellent performances in the circle against Saint Francis and Minnesota.  Akamine went 2-0, pitching 18.1 innings with 23 strikeouts, nine hits against and just two earned runs allowed. Akamine was especially impressive against Saint Francis with an 11.1 inning performance in which she allowed just five hits with no walks and struck out 14 batters.
SPLITTING SAINT FRANCIS:  The Nittany Lions bounced back from a 5-3 afternoon loss to Saint Francis with an impressive 8-0, six-inning win over the Red Flash to split a March 24 doubleheader. Penn State smashed three homers, one each from Danee Collett, Desi Giordano, and Lauren Rossi. In the circle, Lisa Akamine had her most dominant performance yet this year, tossing 11.1 scoreless innings, allowing just five hits, while walking none in a 14-strikeout performance. Akamine picked up the win in the second game to improve to 8-3, while lowering her season earned-run average to 2.65 and provided the game-ending hit, an RBI single, to finish things off in the sixth. The game also marked the final home opener in the 45-year history of Nittany Lion Field.
JEKYLL AND HYDE DOUBLEHEADERS: Last week, Penn State's two doubleheaders had a defining theme-the team that barely hit in the first game was explosive in the second game. In each of the first Game Ones last week, both resulting in losses for the Blue and White, the Lions hit just .160 with only one extra-base hit, a home run by Danee Collett. Moreover, Penn State was getting on base at just .300 and slugging a paltry .220 along with the eight hits and five runs. Collett hit .500, while Lauren Rossi (.287) was the only other batter with an average above .200. Conversely, in the combined Game Twos, Penn State hit .407 with a .493 on-base percentage and slugging .593.  The Lions belted 24 hits, seven of them extra-base hits (five 2Bs, 2 HRs) and scored 16 times. Individually, seven PSU batters were at .400 or above, three of which (Cassidy Bell, Desi Giordano and Lisa Akamine) had four hits apiece.
OFFICIAL RADIO BROADCAST HOME:  On Thursday, March 25, Penn State announced the radio home of Nittany Lion softball for the remainder of the 2010 season.  Eight home games will be broadcast on 1390 AM WRSC in the State College area. All of those games will also be streamed on All-Access for free so that fans can tune in and listen. As scheduled, March 27th's game against Minnesota, Game Two vs. Pittsburgh (Apr. 4), both Michigan State games (Apr. 14) will kick off the radio slate. Other games to be broadcast are against Illinois (Apr. 17), Iowa (Apr. 24), Syracuse Game One (Apr. 27) and Ohio State (May 8). ComRadio traveled with the team on March 31 to Kent State for a doubleheader, the first away broadcast by a Penn State crew to do a softball game. Other radio additions may be announced at a later date, specifically for away games. Combined with the two Big Ten Network television broadcasts and two bigtennetwork.com webcasts, at 22 of the final 27 games will have live coverage from the broadcast booth including this weekend's series at Purdue.
Penn State's new stadium is set to open in 2011. |
HOME OF THE FUTURE:  Friday, March 19, 2010 will go down as one of the defining days in Nittany Lion softball history as the Penn State Board of Trustees approved final funding towards the New Penn State Softball Stadium/Beard Field project. Groundbreaking took place on March 28, 2010 for the 1,084-seat facility that will have all the bells and whistles, which will represent one of the finest facilities in the Big Ten and in the country. Complete with new offices, clubhouses, locker rooms, training areas, batting cages, bullpens, permanent seating, concourse, concessions, bathrooms, dugouts and a brand new press box, Beard Field serve its patrons, coaches and student-athletes as second-to-none. "We are tremendously excited of the Board of Trustees' approval," head coach Robin Petrini said on March 19. "We have been waiting for this day for a long time. Everyone is looking forward to being a part of this project and the student-athletes can't wait to play in one of the best facilities in the nation." Plans call for the stadium to be energy efficient and responsible by design, earning Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. An official groundbreaking ceremony has yet to be announced.
ABOVE AVERAGE HITTING: Penn State hitters in 2010 are hitting .281 through the team's first 30 games. Four starters-Lauren Rossi (.316), Danee Collett (.360), Cassidy Bell (.378) and Ashley Griffith (.314)-are hitting above .300. Last season, the Lions struggled at the plate against a tough schedule, hitting just .246 with only one player, Griffith (.311), above a .300 average. Six regular returning hitters have averages better than they did in 2009. The biggest margin for starters is Collett who is .103 above last season's average of .257, already exceeding her homer total from a year ago (3) with five dingers in 2010.
USF UNDER ARMOUR SHOWCASE SWEEP: The Nittany Lions endured a delayed start to the USF Under Armour Showcase when heavy rain wiped out play on Friday, Mar. 12. When play resumed, Jackie Hill put together three-straight masterpieces effectively shutting down Kennesaw State (5-0), Southern Illinois (1-0) and Florida Gulf Coast (4-2). Lisa Akamine helped lead the Lions past Boston College, 2-1, when Lauren Rossi's bloop hit scored two in the bottom of the sixth for the team's fifth-straight victory and a perfect 4-0 mark in the Showcase, the best record of all participants. Against Kennesaw State and Southern Illinois, Penn State received strong performances from Alyssa Renwick and Ashley Griffith who each hit 3-for-6 apiece in the two games with flawless performances in the field. In the circle, Hill went 21.1 innings with just a two-run homer against FGCU being the only blemish on her docket for the weekend. Moreover, Hill came in for the final out against Boston College to record the save with the winning run at the plate.
Pitcher Jackie Hill |
HILL EARNS BIG TEN PITCHER OF THE WEEK NOD: Senior Jackie Hill won her second Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honor after compiling a 3-1 mark over the 3/13-14 weekend for Penn State. The senior tossed three complete games, two of which were shutouts, and struck out 31 hitters, allowing just 12 hits and nine walks through 26 innings of work for an 0.81 WHIP. Hill allowed just three earned runs in her four appearances this week for an 0.81 ERA. In appearances against Kennesaw State and Southern Illinois, Hill combined for 18 strikeouts and no runs on seven hits in complete-game victories. She improved her record to 10-4 on the year and had a season ERA of 1.43 following the Mar. 14 games.
MIDWEEK SPLIT: After a tough 5-2 loss to Central Michigan, in which Jackie Hill was fighting a stomach illness, Penn State rebounded with a 6-3 win over Saint Joseph's. Lisa Akamine went the distance in the circle with eight strikeouts, while freshman Cassidy Bell went 2-for-3 with two runs scored in her first appearance in the No. 3 spot in the lineup. Danee Collett, Morgan Long, Lauren Rossi and Alyssa Renwick all tallied one RBI apiece to lead the Lions at the plate. Against Central Michigan, Rossi belted her first collegiate home run.
USF UNDER ARMOUR INVITE RECAP: The Nittany Lions' 11-day stay in Florida got off to a strong start when Penn State knocked off Central Michigan (3-1) and Florida Gulf Coast (4-3) in a split doubleheader. For all that went correct in those games, the opposite happened the following day against Ball State, a 1-0 loss, and Florida International, a 5-0 loss. Penn State's bats started to go silent, registering just five hits, while committing seven errors, which led to four of the six runs allowed. The Lions looked set to suffer the same fate the next day against host South Florida, mustering just one hit, trailing 1-0 with two outs to go. Lauren Rossi belted a game-tying double to right center to send the game into extra innings and three more tallies in the 10th inning backed a career performance by Jackie Hill (10 IP, 1 ER 11 K) in the circle to capture a 4-2 win and a 3-2 weekend record.
LIONS AT THE PIRATE CLASSIC: Penn State got to a roaring start in the ECU Pirate Classic, defeating Towson (10-1), Delaware (9-1) and Morehead State (11-0) in run-rule fashion. Penn State outscored its first three opponents 30-2 and scored 17 runs in the first frame. Lisa Akamine was the Lions' best all-around player as she hit .571 at the plate and threw 11.1 innings in the circle, allowing three hits and two runs, picking up the win in all three decisions, improving to 4-1. Cassidy Bell had a superb weekend hitting .538 behind 7-for-13 batting with a team-high five RBI and seven runs scored. Danee Collett and Ashley Griffith batted .500 with Collett driving home four and Griffith scoring five times. Over the last three trips to Greenville, N.C., Penn State has racked up a 10-2 record dating back to 2006.
CAMPBELL/CARTIER WRAP UP: The Nittany Lions headed out west for the second straight week and for the second straight time came back with three wins. Penn State led off with a 5-4 loss to Western Kentucky, unable to overcome a 5-2 deficit. The Nittany Lions quickly rebounded, downing the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos by a 3-1 score thanks to Jackie Hill's performance in the circle. She would throw another pair of one-run performances on Saturday in defeating Utah State (6-1) and host San Diego State (3-1) to run the team's record to 6-3. Penn State capped its weekend in California with a match up against No. 1 Washington on Sunday, a game that would be rained out in the fourth inning as the teams were tied, 0-0. Hill and consensus national player of the year Danielle Lawrie were matching zeros through the first three innings in a pitchers' duel with PSU's Mary Ostman reaching third base in the third inning, but unable to score.
400 THE ALMA MATER WAY: Head coach Robin Petrini achieved a milestone achievement when Penn State beat Utah State, 6-1, on Saturday. Petrini, a 1983 graduate of Utah State, where she won two AIAW National Championships as a shortstop, also picked up win No. 401 against San Diego State later that day. She was greeted by a cookie cake and balloons at the hotel to commemorate the achievement. Already the all-time leading coach in wins at Penn State, Petrini has also led the squad to more NCAA appearances (seven) in her 13 years than the program had before her arrival (two). She'll go for win No. 402 against Towson, the team she beat for her first career win back in 1997.
DEFENSE AND PITCHING: While in San Diego, Penn State saw a return to normalcy in the pitching and defensive departments.  The thicker, cooler air helped to keep balls in the park and the natural dirt at the SDSU Complex made for easier grounders. Penn State tossed a 2.00 ERA as a team including Jackie Hill's 1.11 ERA effort, holding opposing batters to a .188 batting average. The squad made just two errors all weekend, the team sporting a .982 fielding percentage and managed to strand 32 opposing base runners. In East Carolina, that trend continued as the Lions committed no errors while pitching to a 1.27 ERA with just 10 hits allowed. Penn State has yet to yield more than two runs in a game in the past eight ballgames since giving up five to Western Kentucky on February 19. Last weekend, the Lions gave up just three runs in its past four games.
HOT START IN NEW MEXICO: The Nittany Lions got off to a roaring start at the Hotel Encanto Invitational last weekend with a 12-3 run-rule win over UTEP and a thrilling late-night come from behind 9-8 win over Colorado State to open Friday. The two wins on opening day was the first 2-0 start to a season since 1997 for Penn State. The next day, PSU lost a back-and-forth slugfest, 10-9, to host New Mexico State. The following game, PSU got up early on UTSA, and cruised to an 8-4 win. On Sunday, Penn State dropped another back-and-forth game, surrendering a sixth-inning lead to Nebraska in an 11-6 loss. Penn State finished third in the Hotel Encanto Invitational standings, behind NMSU (4-1) and Nebraska (3-2).
HOTEL ENCANTO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM:  Sophomore catcher Danee Colett earned mention on the 2010 Hotel Encanto Invitational All-Tournament Team.  Collett hit a team-high .471 for the weekend with eight hits, one homer and a double, while driving in seven RBI. For the weekend she got on base at a clip of .500 and slugged .706 while posting a nearly flawless performance on behind the plate (40 putouts, zero errors, one passed ball).
BOMBS OVER LAS CRUCES: Homers weren't hard to come by in the thin air of Las Cruces (Elevation 4,300 feet), in total, 43 home runs were hit by the six teams in the tournament. Penn State alone hit 10 homers and scored 44 runs. To put that in perspective, the Nittany Lions hit 20 homers all of last year and scored 145 runs, 30 percent of the team's total from a 46-game schedule in 2009. Also, the team "only" hit for seven doubles and a triple. Desi Giordano and Kailyn Johnson led the team with two dingers apiece, while Mary Ostman, Danielle Noll, Jackie Hill, Alyssa Renwick and Johnson smashed their first collegiate homers. Kimi Wong hit her second-career homer vs. Nebraska. As a team, the squad hit .324 at the plate, while reaching safely at a .423 clip and slugging .604.
FIRST TIME MEETINGS:  Penn State will see the final five teams for the first time in softball. Florida Gulf Coast (3/5), Florida International (3/6), Kennesaw State (3/14), Middle Tennessee State (3/13), and Stony Brook (3/12) will all be first-time matchups.  Last week, PSU downed Morehead State 11-0 (5 inn.) to raise its record to 2-1 against first-time opponents. PSU defeated UTEP 12-3 (5 inn.) to open the season, but dropped a 5-4 decision to Western Kentucky for the previous meetings.
BIG STAGE, BIG TEN NETWORK: The Big Ten Network announced its annual televised softball schedule on Feb. 18 and at least four Penn State games will be broadcast live on television or through the network's website, BigTenNetwork.com. Penn State's games at Michigan (4/21) will be on the BTN's website, while the two matchups at Northwestern (5/1-2). There's a possibility that PSU's games at Indiana (5/14-15) could be picked up as part of the Big Ten Network's wild card weekend.
Left Fielder Ashley Griffith |
GRIFFITH HAS CLASS: Senior outfielder Ashley Griffith is one of just 30 NCAA softball student-athletes to be named a Lowe's Senior CLASS Award candidate.  The award is "An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in SchoolTM, the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award honors the attributes of senior student-athletes in four areas: classroom, community, character and competition." Additionally, Griffith is one of just five Big Ten softball student-athletes to be a Lowe's Senior CLASS Award candidate. Finalists were named on March 29, but Griffith was not one of the 10 candidates for inclusion on that list.
ALL-BIG TEN RETURNERS: The Nittany Lions return two 2009 All-Big Ten performers, Ashley Griffith (Second Team) and Lisa Akamine (Third Team) to the fold. In addition to those two, Penn State also sees Jackie Hill, a 2008 All-Region selection, as its leading pitcher.
TEAM COMPOSITION: All told, Penn State has 11 Lions back on the squad from 2009, while welcoming in seven newcomers. Five starters will return to their normal positions in Ashley Griffith (LF), Desi Giordano (3B), Jackie Hill (P/1B/DP), Lisa Akamine (P/DP), and Danee Collett (C). So far this season, Cassidy Bell (CF), Alyssa Renwick (SS) and Kailyn Johnson (1B/DP) have filled in at their spots everyday, while second base (Lauren Yao/Morgan Long/Lauren Rossi) and right field (Mary Ostman/Danielle Noll) are being platooned for now.
FALL BALL SUCCESS:  The Nittany Lions had an impressive fall season as they welcomed their newcomers to the fold. Penn State went 5-1, including a back-to-back doubleheader sweeps in the Nittany Lion Fall Tournament, beating Virginia Tech (3-2), Iona (5-0), NCAA Division II Champ Lock Haven (4-2) and Saint Francis (2-0). In the Iona game, Lisa Akamine fanned 14 batters and was two outs away from a no-hit bid. Prior to the tournament, the Lions played a doubleheader against local rival Bucknell. Jackie Hill tossed a no-hitter to give Penn State a 1-0 victory in game one, while Akamine allowed just one earned run in a 2-1 eight-inning loss in the nightcap.
PSULIONSOFTBALL ON TWITTER: Nittany Lion softball is now on Twitter. Keep up to date with inside information and exclusive access @PSULionSoftball.
NITTANY LIONS ON YOUTUBE: Check out exclusive interviews after every game on GoPSUsports.com and the GoPSUTV YouTube Channel (Youtube.com/GoPSUTV) and click on the softball playlist on the right side of the page.
NEXT TIME OUT: The Nittany Lions have a quick turnaround as after a Monday off day they return to Happy Valley to host Pittsburgh. The doubleheader is set for 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday with live coverage on GameTracker for live stats and radio on 1390 AM WRSC and GoPSUsports.com All-Access.
--NITTANY LIONS--