Feb. 16, 2013
LAS CRUCES, N.M. - A 14-hit offensive explosion and a great all-around effort from freshman Macy Jones gave Penn State softball its first win of the 2013 season, 10-2, over New Mexico State on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Jones threw a complete game and tallied the first grand slam of her career against the Aggies (6-3, 0-0 WAC).
The Nittany Lions (1-3, 0-0 Big Ten) play their final game of the Troy Cox Classic at 11 a.m. Sunday against Missouri-Kansas City.
Jones (Ashburn, Va.) tossed all six innings for the Blue and White and fanned six batters, including back-to-back strikeouts to end the top of the sixth and strand Aggie runners at second and third base, while allowing just six hits and walking a pair in her first collegiate win. Her six RBI fell just one short of tying the program's single-game record set by Shana Madura in 2007.
New Mexico State grabbed an early 2-0 lead with runs in the first and second frames before Penn State rallied back in the bottom of the third.
Jones capped off that huge third inning as her grand slam scored Alyssa Renwick (Laurens, S.C.), Alicia Walker (Los Alamitos, Calif.) and Cassidy Bell (Bakersfield, Calif.) and gave the Nittany Lions a 5-2 lead. Shannon Hutchinson (Sewell, N.J.), Renwick and Kasie Hatfield (Tampa, Fla.) loaded the bases with a single apiece before NMSU's Celisha Walker walked Bell to score the first run. With two outs, Jones connected on a 2-1 pitch and sent it well over the left center wall. The grand slam marked the first of her career, as well as her first home run.
Penn State loaded the bases again in the bottom of the fourth, aided by a pair of walks to Renwick and Walker and a single by Lauren Yao (Los Angeles, Calif.). This time Bell sent a ball on the ground through the middle and nearly to the wall to score Yao and Renwick. The Nittany Lions appeared poised to add to the lead, but an impressive over-the-shoulder catch by NMSU's left fielder Amber Olive ended the inning.
A three-run bottom of the sixth secured the win for Penn State as Bell sent a solo home run out of the park and Jones, fittingly, brought in the final two runs of the game on a ball over Emma Adams' head in deep right field.
Ten different Nittany Lions recorded hits over the two-game day. Bell paced the team with four, followed by Jones (3) and Renwick (3) and Kailyn Johnson (2) (Yorba Linda, Calif.). Alicia Walker (Los Alamitos, Calif.), Karlie Habitz (Newhall, Calif.), Alyssa Sovereign (La Canada, Calif.), Hutchinson, Hatfield and Yao each recorded one hit.