May 4, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State limited the bats of No. 14/15 Nebraska as pitcher Macy Jones allowed just three hits but the Huskers escaped Beard Field and Nittany Lion Softball Park with a 3-1 victory Saturday afternoon.
Penn State (14-32, 4-16 Big Ten) and Nebraska (38-11, 15-5 Big Ten) return to action at 2:30 p.m. Sunday with a Senior Day clash live on the Big Ten Network. The squads wrap up the series at 1 p.m. Monday.
Jones (Ashburn, Va.) (12-16) threw the 12th complete game of her career, giving up just one earned run on three hits while striking out one Husker. The three hits marked the fewest she has allowed in a complete-game effort this year and the contest was only the fifth this year that Nebraska has recorded three or fewer hits. Tatum Edwards (24-8) threw all seven innings as well for the Huskers as the Nittany Lions produced three hits and a run against her while drawing four walks.
Reina Furuya (Waipahu, Hawaii) accounted for Penn State's lone RBI with a double in the second that brought Jones home, who singled to reach base in the previous at-bat. Cassidy Bell (Bakersfield, Calif.) notched the team's third hit with a single ripped up the middle in the third. The hit increased her hitting streak to nine games.
After Nebraska plated a pair of unearned runs in the opening frame, Penn State cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the second. Jones opened with a one-out single on a blooper to shallow right field before Furuya lined a double to the same spot to score the run.
The Nittany Lions put runners on base in the next four innings but could not move any across the plate while Nebraska added an insurance run in the top of the fifth. Bell, Lexi Knief (Ramsey, N.J.), Kailyn Johnson (Yorba Linda, Calif.) and Liz Presto (Bethlehem, Pa.) each walked once against Edwards.
Jones was especially efficient in the middle frames as she retired eight-consecutive Huskers from the second to the fourth while allowing just one hit through the first four innings.
With her walk in the sixth, Bell became the first Nittany Lion to draw 40 walks in a season while tying Ashley Esparza (2005-08) for second all-time in that category with the 96th walk of her career.