Feb. 21, 2015
| 3 | 9 |
| 5 | 10 |
| Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015 | |
MSU Softball Field | Starkville, Miss.
| POST GAME LINKS |
| Gm 1: Box Score (HTML) | (PDF) | Play-by-Play |
| Gm 2: Box Score (HTML) | (PDF) | Play-by-Play |
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Despite home runs by Shelby Miller (Sugar Land , Texas) and Alyssa VanDerveer (Hillsborough, N.J.), the Penn State softball team dropped both games of its scheduled twin bill with Mississippi State, Saturday, 9-3 and then 10-5 in a rain shortened six inning contest.
The second game was halted in the top of the sixth inning, with the Lions down 10-5 but threatening with two on and one out and Alicia Walker (Los Alamitos, Calif.) at the plate. Before the Bulldogs took a commanding five run advantage, Penn State did have two comfortable leads of its own.
The lions jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead to start things off in the second game on two infield singles and a walk which loaded the bases with no one out in the first. Then a Kristina Brackpool (Valencia, Calif.) base hit into left brought home a pair to make it 2-0.
Unfortunately, that lead would not last for long as MSU plated three in its half of the first off of two doubles to make it 3-2.
A scoreless second sent the contest into the third inning and that's when Amanda Lehotak saw her team get out to its second lead of the second game, pushing three runs across the board to make it 5-3.
VanDerveer homered to left with one out in the third to make it 3-3. Brackpool doubled following her teammate's bomb and Miller promptly singled to put runners on the corners. A passed ball allowed Brackpool to score the go ahead run and then a Mary Ward (Greencastle, Pa.) double brought home PSU's fifth run of the game.
The resilient Bulldogs out of the SEC answered the second Nittany Lion rally with one of their own in the bottom half of the third, plating five runs on seven hits and a PSU error to make it 8-5. Mississippi State tacked on two more in the fifth to double up the Lions and that's where the game would be called after 5.1 innings of play.
Making her first start of the season after 18 innings of brilliant relief was Marlaina Laubach (Northampton, Pa.). She was tagged with the hard luck loss in the second game after surrendering her first earned run of the 2015 campaign and moves to 2-1 on the year.
In the first game, Miss State got out to a commanding 4-0 lead after a four run, two hit first inning in which Penn State committed a pair of errors in the field. But Miller's three-run home run to right field, the first of her career, gave her team new life, putting them down just 4-3 in the fourth.
Ultimately a three-run fifth and a two-run sixth for Mississippi State would do the Lions in as the Bulldogs won going away by a 9-3 score.
Despite the doubleheader sweep there were some bright spots at the plate for the Blue and White as Brackpool was the only player with at least two hits in both contests.
She went 2-2 in the first game and then 2-3 in the second and finished the day with a 4-7, one RBI and two runs scored line. VanDerveer was equally as impressive going 2-3 in the second game and 3-6 on the day with two runs and an RBI.
Miller chipped in with a two-hit performance of her own in the second game and was also 3-6 on the day with a pair of runs and three RBI. The trio of Brackpool, VanDerveer and Miller accounted for five PSU runs on Saturday along with 10 hits and six runs scored.
The two losses drop Penn State's record to an even 6-6, the first time it's been at the .500 mark all season. The Bulldogs, who were receiving votes in both Top 25 polls this week improve to 12-1 on the young season.
The final game of this three game non-conference tilt will get underway an hour earlier than first planned to avoid any possible weather delays. First pitch between the Lions and MSU is scheduled for 1 p.m., Eastern in Starkville.
Live video of the game will be available via the SEC Network Plus by downloading the Watch ESPN App.