March 30, 2013
University Park, Pa. - Penn State dropped the final two games of the series against No. 13/14 Michigan in a Saturday doubleheader, 18-4 and 9-6, respectively. The Nittany Lions (7-19, 0-3 Big Ten) rallied late with a six-run fifth inning in the second game, but came up short against the Wolverines (28-7, 6-0 Big Ten).
Penn State returns to action for a Tuesday doubleheader against Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich., starting at 3 p.m. before traveling to Indiana for a three-game series April 5-7.
Michigan jumped out to an early lead in the second game of the doubleheader, scoring seven over the first five innings, but the Lions rallied in the bottom of the fifth with a six-run effort. Kasie Hatfield (Tampa, Fla.) led off with a single to right before being replaced on the basepaths by Alicia Walker (Los Alamitos, Calif.). Shannon Hutchinson (Sewell, N.J.) followed up with a single to the same area before Macy Jones (Ashburn, Va.) loaded the bases on a fielding error by Michigan's Caitlin Blanchard at first.
Junior Alyssa Sovereign (La Canada, Calif.) broke up the shutout with an RBI single, scoring Walker, before Cassidy Bell (Bakersfield, Calif.) batted in Hutchinson with the fourth single of the inning. Two Michigan fielding errors and singles by Liz Presto (Bethlehem, Pa.) and Kailyn Johnson (Yorba Linda, Calif.) helped Penn State record four more runs for a total of six in the frame, cutting the Wolverines' lead to one at 7-6.
Michigan recovered to post two runs in the top of the six to set the final score at 9-6 as they allowed just one more Nittany Lion hit over the last two innings.
Jones threw all seven innings, aside from a one-batter appearance for classmate Christy Von Pusch (Bryn Mawr, Pa.), striking out a pair of Wolverines in her second start of the weekend. Haylie Wagner picked up her eighth win of the season after tossing a complete game for Michigan.
The Maize and Blue racked up 17 hits in the first game of the doubleheader on the way to an 18-4 victory. Freshman Reina Furuya (Waipahu, Hawaii) hit her first career home run in the effort, adding two RBI to her season total of six with her second multi-RBI game of her career. Johnson also added an RBI while Sovereign, Bell, Furuya and Walker accounted for the four Penn State runs.
Pitcher Sara Driesenga (19-5) picked up the win for the Wolverines in the first game of the doubleheader.
With a hit in each game of the series, Bell extended her hitting streak to eight games and now has 183 career hits, tying her with Jennifer Tripkin for 11th all time. Hutchinson's hit in the bottom of the fifth extended her hitting streak to career-high six games. Lauren Yao's (Los Angeles, Calif.) hit in the bottom of the third inning of the first game gives her a hit in five of her last six games.