March 11, 2011
ATLANTA, Ga. - The Penn State softball team opened play at the SpringHill Suite Buckhead Classic with an 8-0 win over Bowling Green at Mewborn Field on Friday afternoon. The Nittany Lions used a five-run third inning with seven hits in the win.
Penn State (9-7) jumped on Falcons' starter Erin Greenwalt early with two runs in the bottom of the first inning as both scores came with two outs. Alyssa Sovereign (La Canada, Calif.) doubled home Lisa Akamine (Escondido, Calif.), who reached with a one-out single. Sophomore Kailyn Johnson (Yorba Linda, Calif.) would trot home from third on a subsequent wild pitch for a two-run advantage.
The Nittany Lions would add to their lead in the second when Johnson earned a bases-loaded walk to score Liz Presto (Bethlehem, Pa.), who made her first career start on Friday, scoring her first collegiate run. PSU would have two more opportunities pad the lead, but a flyout and a long fly ball to right would limit the damage for Bowling Green.
Penn State would break the game wide open in the fourth scoring five runs on seven hits and an error as PSU sent 10 batters to the plate. Cassidy Bell (Bakersfield, Calif.) legged out an infield single to score Rachel Myers (Millheim, Pa.) for a four-run margin. Akamine and Johnson each singled home runs before Danee Collett (Rogersville, Tenn.) doubled two runs to make the game an insurmountable 8-0 score.
Akamine went four strong innings of hitless ball, striking out six of the 14 batters she faced, walking only one. Freshman Jordan Wheatley (Troy, Mich.) came in of relief of Akamine pitching a scoreless fifth. Bowling Green (2-11) was held hitless until the fifth inning.
PSU pounded out a season-high 11 hits in the game including a three-hit effort from Akamine. Aside from her 3-for-3 day, she scored twice with an RBI. Eight of the nine Nittany Lion starters recorded a hit on the day as Sovereign notched two herself. Both Collett and Johnson each had two RBI days.
Penn State returns to Mewborn Field for a 7:00 p.m. showdown with the Georgia State Panthers. All Nittany Lion games will have live stats coverage through GameTracker as well as commentary and analysis on Twitter (www.twitter.com/PSULionSoftball). Georgia Tech will also be providing live video for each game of the SpringHill Suites Classic as well visit GoPSUsports.com for the link.
--NITTANY LIONS--