Feb. 19, 2011
BOCA RATON, Fla. - The Penn State softball team was unable to muster a run in a frustrating 1-0 loss to Long Island on Saturday afternoon at the FAU Softball Stadium. Jackie Hill (San Jose, Calif.) pitched five innings of shutout softball in relief, allowing just one hit. Junior catcher Danee Collett (Rogersville, Tenn.) registered two hits on the day to lead the Nittany Lions at the plate.
Penn State (1-2) found itself in trouble in the bottom of the second inning when Long Island (1-8) put together a rally. A lead-off walk by starting pitcher Lisa Akamine (Escondido, Calif.) and a double by Emily Kakuska put runners on second and third for the Blackbirds.
Amanda MacIntosh singled home Madison Zymkowitz for a 1-0 lead and Akamine walked Sarah Reynolds on five pitches, forcing Penn State to make the move to Hill. With the bases loaded and no outs on the board, Hill induced three consecutive groundouts on nine pitches to get the Nittany Lions out of the jam and keep them in the game.
PSU put together two hits in the fourth inning with a Collett single and a Lauren Yao (Los Angeles, Calif.) base knock. Hill came to the plate and lofted a long fly ball to left but it was corralled to end the threat.
In the sixth, Collett again had a hit, this time a two-out double to the gap in left, but PSU couldn't push her across the plate. In the seventh, Penn State had another two-out double, this time by pinch-hitter Ellen McNair (Niceville, Fla.) to right center. The hit was McNair's first since the 2009 season after missing 2010 with an injury. Freshman Alyssa Sovereign (La Canada, Calif.) lined a shot to right field but it was hit right at LIU's Karina Cervantes to end the game.
Hill has had a tremendous start to the 2011 season in her first 12 innings of work. The redshirt-senior has a 0.58 earned run average with just five hits against and one earned run, while holding opposing hitters to .122. Hill has also struck out nine in her two appearances thus far.
Penn State returns to the FAU Softball Stadium for an 8:00 p.m. game against host Florida Atlantic. The Nittany Lions have a game on Sunday that will be determined following the conclusion of the FAU game, which will have live stats through GameTracker and updates on Twitter (@PSULionSoftball).
--NITTANY LIONS--