Sept. 19, 2012
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State softball team continues its fall schedule with a doubleheader against Bloomsburg at Beard Field Friday evening. The first pitch is set for 6 p.m. with a second game against the Huskies to follow.
Admission and parking to all Fall Ball games are free at Beard Field and Nittany Lion Softball Park, which is located off Park Avenue next to the East Area Halls.
The team wraps up Fall Ball with a five-team tournament at Beard Field Sept. 29-30, featuring competition from Bucknell, Indiana University (Pa.), Lock Haven and Saint Francis. Five games will be played each day, two featuring the Nittany Lions. The team will play Saint Francis both days, with Indiana U. (Pa.) on the schedule Saturday and Lock Haven Sunday.
Penn State split its twin bill with the Bucknell Bison Sept. 14. The Nittany Lions posted a seven-run fifth inning to take the first contest, 11-9, before heavy rainfall stopped play in the first inning of the second game. The rain and the Bison put a damper on the evening as Bucknell won the nightcap, 9-2.
The 2012-13 team, under the direction of 17th-year head coach Robin Petrini, returns Cassidy Bell (Bakersfield, Calif.) and Kasie Hatfield (Tampa, Fla.), both All-Big Ten selections a season ago, among a group of 15 returnees. Bell has one year of eligibility remaining and returns as one of the best outfielders in the conference and in the region. She was a unanimous All-Big Ten First Team selection in 2012, the only field player to be voted by the conference's coaches to the first team. Hatfield, a rising junior, was a force behind the plate in conference play last season, ranking tops among Big Ten catchers in runs (11), doubles (7), home runs (4), RBI (18), total bases (37) and slugging (.607). In all, Petrini's squad returns six seniors and four juniors.