April 20, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - A three-hour marathon between Penn State softball and Northwestern came to a close as the Saturday sun set in Central Pennsylvania as the Wildcats claimed a 17-14 victory. The Nittany Lions (11-29, 2-13 Big Ten) and Wildcats (24-16, 8-5 Big Ten) combined for 31 runs on 28 hits, both season-high totals for a Penn State contest this season and most runs in Beard Field history.
The squads meet again at 1 p.m. Sunday at Beard Field and Nittany Lion Softball Park.
In the longest game of the season for both teams, Penn State scored in each of the first six innings while Northwestern posted a run in each of the last six frames. The contest had the most combined runs since Penn State dropped an 18-15 decision to Illinois March 22, 2009.
Seven Nittany Lions combined to post their 12 hits, led by Kailyn Johnson (Yorba Linda, Calif.) and Alyssa Sovereign (La Canada, Calif.) with three while Kasie Hatfield (Tampa, Fla.) produced a pair. Cassidy Bell (Bakersfield, Calif.), Macy Jones (Ashburn, Va.), Reina Furuya (Waipahu, Hawaii) and Shannon Hutchinson (Sewell, N.J.) contributed one apiece.
Furuya and Hatfield both notched home runs against the Wildcats, their third and first of the season, respectively, as five Penn Staters added RBI to their season totals. Along with those two, Sovereign claimed three, Johnson had two and Jones produced one. Each Penn State starter reached base safely against the Wildcats.
Both teams utilized four pitchers apiece as Penn State threw Jordan Wheatley (Troy, Mich.) in the start before Marissa Diescher (Livingston Manor, N.Y.), Rachel Myers (Millheim, Pa.) and Jones combined to finish the game. Jones (10-14) saw the bulk of the work, tossing 4.0 innings and allowing six earned runs on nine hits while striking out one. Northwestern's Amy Letourneau (16-9) picked up the win after throwing the final 3.2 frames to wrap up efforts from Meghan Lamberth, Kristen Wood and Sammy Albanese.
The Nittany Lions jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two with a pair of hits and a big error from the Wildcats. In the first, Bell was hit by a pitch before Jones and Johnson walked to load the bags. With one out, Furuya sent a slow grounder to third that allowed Bell to reach home for the first run of the game.
Hatfield led off the second with a single blasted through the right side before being replaced on the basepaths by Maegan Tupinio (Wahiawa, Hawaii). Lauren Yao (Los Angeles, Calif.) drew a walk to put runners on first and second with Hutchinson at the plate. Hutchinson singled on a bunt down the left line after the Northwestern third baseman hesitated on a throw to first. The Wildcat attempted to make a throw to second, but sailed it high as the ball rolled to the wall in center field, allowing Tupinio, Yao and Hutchinson to score and increase the Penn State lead to 4-0.
After Northwestern cut the lead to 4-2 in the top of the third, Hatfield put another on the board for the Lions as she roped a shot over the wall in left field for her first home run of the year.
The Wildcats went to work in the top of the fourth, posting four hits on the way to a six spot to take an 8-5 lead but Penn State tied it up with three runs on a blast from Furuya in the bottom of the inning. Johnson led off with a single to left center before Sovereign singled to left and Furuya drove them both in with a bomb over the left field fence.
After Northwestern put up four in the fifth, the Lions added two of their own. Bell led off by reaching on an error by the shortstop, followed by a one-out single from Johnson to move Bell to third. Sovereign doubled to bring in both Bell and Taylor Abeyta (San Diego, Calif.), who was running for Johnson.
A relatively quiet, one-run inning for NU in the sixth was followed by Penn State's biggest rally as the Blue and White plated four runs with the help of a couple walks and three hits. Hatfield and Bell reached on balls before Jones singled to right to score Hatfield and put runners on the corners. Johnson slammed her seventh double of the season to center to bring home Bell and Jones before Sovereign singled down the right line to send Johnson home from second, giving Penn State a temporary 14-13 lead.
With two outs in the top of the seventh, Northwestern rallied to tie after Marisa Bast was hit by a pitch and Andrea DiPrima's double fell far enough in left center to bring Bast home. The Wildcats followed up with a three-spot in the top of the eighth to knot the final score at 17-14.
Hatfield tied a season-high with two hits, including a home run and a single. Bell is now 2-3 at the plate this weekend with two singles, six walks and four runs. Sovereign leads the team with six hits in her 10 at-bats against Northwestern while Johnson and Hutchinson have four and three, respectively. Johnson and Furuya are tied with four RBI the last two contests.