Feb. 17, 2011
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The 2011 Nittany Lion softball season starts on Friday at the FAU Kick-Off Classic in Boca Raton, Fla. for a five-game series. Penn State will face off against Tulsa and Massachusetts Friday morning before taking on Long Island and Florida Atlantic on Saturday evening with a final game coming on Sunday.
PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS (0-0)
FAU Kick-Off Classic (Boca Raton, Fla.)
| Date | Opponent | Media |
| Friday, 9 a.m. | Tulsa | |
| Friday, 11 a.m. | UMass | | UM Audio |
| Saturday, 4 p.m. | Long Island | |
| Saturday, 8 p.m. | Florida Atlantic | |
| Sunday (9/11/1) | TBA | GameTracker TBA |
GAME STORIES
• The Nittany Lions open their 47th season of play with eight of nine starters returning
• Penn State looking to futher the 10-win improvement from 2009 to 2010
• Head coach Robin Petrini is just 26 wins from 450 career wins
• Nittany Lions led by tri-captains Danee Collett, Desi Giordano and Jackie Hill
• Penn State returns 2009 and 2010 All-Big Ten selection Lisa Akamine
• PSU looks for second straight season-opening win after last year's 12-3 win over UTEP
GAME NOTES
KICKING 2011 OFF: The Penn State softball team opens its 2011 season at the FAU Kick-Off Classic hosted by Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton, Fla. Penn state is prepared to play Tulsa, Massachusetts, Long Island and Florida Atlantic before a Championship/Consolation game on Sunday, Feb. 20. The first two games will take place Friday, Feb. 18 and the second pair will be Saturday.
SEASON OPENING HISTORY: The Nittany Lions are looking for their 19th win in the program's season-opening 47th game. Penn state is 18-28 all-time and 4-10 under head coach Robin Petrini, who helped lead PSU to a 12-3 win over UTEP in last year's opener. The win snapped a seven-game season-opening skid that dated back to 2002.
RETURNING TO THE FOLD: Penn State's 2011 squad remains relatively intact from last year's team due to graduate of just one everyday starter in Ashley Griffith. All told, Penn State has 15 letterwinners from a year ago returning including the top three Nittany Lions in batting average (Cassidy Bell, Danee Collett, Lauren Rossi) and hits (Bell, Collett, Kailyn Johnson) as well as the top two pitchers in Jackie Hill and Lisa Akamine.
NEW ADDITIONS: Penn State figures to improve with newcomers Alyssa Sovereign, Kasie Hatfield, Liz Presto, Jordan Wheatley and Jenn Edsall. Sovereign looks to fill the vacant spot in the outfield left by Griffith, while Hatfield and Presto have shown powerful hitting at the plate. Wheatley and Edsall are expected to back up and give depth in the pitching circle.
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN HURRICANE: Tulsa enters the weekend with a 2-3 mark after playing in the Texas Classic hosted in Austin. The Hurricane's two wins came against Northern Illinois (3-2, 6-1), which sandwiched the three losses to Texas (6-1) and Louisville (4-1, 5-0). Tulsa split up its pitching duties between Lacey Middlebrooks (1-1, 2.69 ERA), Aimee Cregar (1-1, 3.18) and Jordan Kinard (0-1, 3.89), while Caitlin Everett led the offense batting .400 with six singles. Tulsa hit .208 last weekend with just five extra-base hits. Last season, the Golden Hurricane placed second in Conference USA, compiling a 31-21 overall record.
SERIES HISTORY: Penn State leads the all-time series with Tulsa, 2-1. The two teams last met in 2008, splitting a pair of games, 4-1. In 2003, the Nittany Lions took a convincing 8-0 win.
SCOUTING THE MINUTEWOMEN: Massachusetts has yet to play a game this season, but were once again and NCAA Regional participant in 2010. Last season the Minutewomen amassed a 42-10-1 record en route to winning the Atlantic 10 championship. UMass is led by last year's national leader in strikeouts, Sara Plourde (40-8, 1.30 ERA), who fanned 556 in 311.1 innings. The Minutewomen also boast a powerful offense hitting .292 with 83 doubles, 58 homers and a .493 slugging percentage a year ago.
SERIES HISTORY: Former A-10 rivals, Penn State and UMass have faced off on the softball diamond 25 previous times with UM holding a 15-10 edge. Despite the many encounters, the two teams have played just once since PSU left for the Big Ten in 1992, a 2-1 UMass win in 2000. Currently, UM has a four-game winning streak in the series. The two teams are 4-4 when meeting in neutral sites.
SCOUTING THE BLACKBIRDS: Long Island had a tough weekend at the USF Wilson-DeMarini Tournament dropping all five games in which it played. The Blackbirds fell to South Florida (5-1), N.C. State (7-5), No. 5 Florida (9-2), Marshall (6-3) and Florida Gulf Coast (8-2). Last weekend the team hit just .192 and while pitching a 7.88 team earned run average. Emily Kakuska led LIU with a .400 average, six hits, which included a double and a homer. Sophomore Megan Sheaf carried the pitching load going 21.1 of the 32 innings going 0-3 with a 7.59 ERA. In 2010, LIU went 39-18, capturing the Northeast Conference title and reaching the final of the NCAA Amherst Regional, falling to Arizona State.
SERIES HISTORY: PSU and Blackbirds have played once before, a 2-1 Penn State win in 2006 during the NCAA Tournament in Hempstead, N.Y.
SCOUTING THE OWLS: Florida Atlantic (1-3) played a tough schedule at the Dot Richardson Classic with all four of its games being decided by two or less runs. The Owls fell to Chattanooga (2-1), No. 17 Georgia Tech (3-2), and Fordham (1-0) before clipping Chattanooga (3-1). Two pitchers, Rose Gressley (0-2, 0.00 ERA) and Taylor Fawbush (1-1, 1.50), pitched exceptionally well holding opposing batters to .208, but four Owl errors led to four unearned runs. At the plate, Gressley led FAU with a .308 average with a homer and accounted for all five RBI. As a team, however, the Owls hit just .188 against top-flight competition.
SERIES HISTORY: FAU and Penn State last played in 2007 with PSU winning 7-0 after a 1-0 loss. Overall, the Nittany Lions are 4-2 against Florida Atlantic with all the games coming on the Owls' home field.
CHAMPIONSHIP/CONSOLATION GAME: Penn State is one of six teams at the FAU Kick-Off Classic, playing four other opponents, but not Big Ten rival Michigan. Following Saturday's play, all six teams will be seeded (1 vs. 2, 3 vs. 4, 5 vs. 6) and play Sunday at 9 a.m., 11 a.m. or 1 p.m.
DIFFICULT 2011 SCHEDULE: The Nittany Lions will once again face some of the best teams in the country. By the numbers, the 2011 non-conference schedule will be one of the toughest in the country as 22 of Penn State's 26 non-Big Ten opponents participated in postseason action in 2010. Additionally, 10 of the first 12 scheduled opponents sported a winning record last year totaling eight NCAA Tournament appearances. Penn State will play at least 21 games this year against teams that won 30 or more games last season with 10 who won at least 40.
ALL-BIG TEN RETURNEE: Junior pitcher Lisa Akamine returns to the Nittany Lions as the lone All-Big Ten honoree having claimed third-team honors in 2009 and 2010. Fellow pitcher Jackie Hill is Penn State's only NFCA All-Great Lakes mention after her second-team performance in 2008.
FALL BALL REDUX: Penn State played six games this offseason going 4-2. PSU's hitting was superb knocking home 29 runs altogether. The Nittany Lions defeated Lock Haven (8-3), Virginia Tech (4-0) and Liberty (3-2 and 7-2), while falling to Bucknell (7-6) and Virginia Tech (11-1).
PSULIONSOFTBALL ON TWITTER: Nittany Lion softball is now on Twitter. Keep up to date with inside information and exclusive access @PSULionSoftball.
NEXT SERIES: The Nittany Lions will travel south again as Penn State participates in the Carolina Classic in Chapel Hill, N.C. PSU will face Florida International and Georgetown on Feb. 26 and wrap things up against FIU and North Carolina on Feb. 27.
For complete coverage of all the Nittany Lion softball this season, visit GoPSUsports.com.
Follow Penn State Softball on Twitter: @PSULionSoftball
--NITTANY LIONS--