Feb. 13, 2015

Box Score

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Led by clutch pitching and a bottom of the seventh walk-off hit by junior Lexi Knief (Ramsey, N.J.), the Penn State softball team defeated Missouri State 4-3 Friday, before falling to host Texas A&M 8-0 in the second game of the Aggie Classic.

Knief's knock put the cap on a thrilling come from behind victory for PSU, who down 2-0 and 3-2 surged back to hand the Bears their second loss of the season.

Missouri State took an early 2-0 lead in the first but the Lions tacked on a pair in the bottom of the second with two hits and a miscue in the field to tie things up at two apiece.

The Bears regained the lead in the fourth on an RBI triple off the bat of their shortstop, which made it 3-2, but Penn State evened things up in the sixth off an Alyssa VanDerveer (Hillsborough, N.J.) home run, deep to left field, making it 3-3. It was VanDerveer's second home run of the season, tying her with Kristina Brackpool (Valencia, Calif.) for the team lead.

The Lions would not have been in a position to tie the contest though if it wasn't for sophomore Marlaina Laubach (Northampton, Pa.), who entered the game in the fifth, replacing starter Marissa Diescher (Livingston Manor, N.Y.) to get out of a bases loaded no out jam.

Laubach quickly went to work, getting two pop flies before securing the final out of the inning on a foul fly to left, which landed in the glove of Erin Pond (Lagrange, Ohio).

Laubach's pitching brilliance set the stage for the Nittany Lion seventh, which was led off by Brackpool, who reached on an error. A fielder's choice nabbed the PSU lead runner at second but a bunt single by Mollie Sorenson (Stevenson Ranch, Calif.) and a sac bunt by Reina Furuya (Waipahu, Hawaii) placed runners on second and third with two outs for Knieff, who placed the ball in left center and sent her teammates into a frenzy just beyond first base.

Laubach picked up her first win of the young season during the first game and moves to (1-0) in the circle.

In the second game, the Aggies, ranked 20^th in the nation broke a scoreless tie with three runs in the third off of starter Jessica Cummings (Owing, Md.). Another five in the fourth would give them all the breathing room they needed to put an early end to the contest, as they closed out Penn State by an 8-0 score after just five innings.

With Friday's split PSU moves to 4-3 on the year and will take on the same Missouri State and Texas A&M teams on Saturday.

Game 1 features the Bears and Lions at 11 a.m. followed by the Aggies and Penn State's rematch at 6:15 p.m. The second game between A&M and PSU will be televised on the SEC Network.