March 14, 2015
| 9 | 1 |
| 4 | 0 |
| Shea Stadium | Sacramento, Calif. | |
| POST GAME LINKS |
| Game 1: Box Score (HTML) | (PDF) |
| Game 2: Box Score (HTML) | (PDF) |
VIDEO: Postgame (Lehotak/Miller/Good)
| FINAL STATISTICS |
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Led by stellar pitching performances by pitchers Marlaina Laubach (Northampton, Pa.) and Jessica Cummings (Owing, Md.), the Penn State softball team swept its final two games of the Capital Classic, Saturday at Shea Stadium. The Nittany Lions downed the host Hornets in Game 1 by a 9-1 six inning affair and then put away Loyola Marymount in the second contest 4-0.
Laubach went six against Sacramento State, only surrendering four hits on one unearned run, while striking out four and walking three. She only allowed four Sac State batters to reach base through the first five innings and picked up her sixth win of the season on a walk-off home run off the bat of Erin Pond (Lagrange, Ohio) in the bottom of the sixth for the run rule victory.
Amanda Lehotak's squad made no bones about who would be the victor on the Hornets' home field as they plated four runs in the first and three in the second for the early and commanding 7-0 lead.
Lexi Knief (Ramsey, N.J.) started the PSU party off with a leadoff triple in the first and then Macy Jones (Ashburn, Va.) brought her home on a two-run homer to left. Next it was Pond's turn as she doubled down the left field line to drive in Shelby Miller (Sugar Land, Texas) and Maegan Tupinio (Wahiawa, Hawaii) even got in on the action, sending home Kristina Brackpool (Valencia, Calif.) on an RBI grounder to first.
The Lions added to their lead the very next inning off of an RBI triple by Jones and two-run shot off the bat of Brackpool.
Sacramento State tacked on its only run in the top half of the sixth before Pond stepped to the plate and walloped the game winning homer over the left field fence.
In the second game, Penn State got out to a quick 2-0 lead over Loyola Marymount after back-to-back RBI doubles by Pond and Brackpool in the first.
From there Cummings held the LMU offense at bay, working out of trouble in the fourth when she induced a 3-2-4 double play with the bases loaded to get out of the one out jam. The DP was the Blue and White's second of the game and third of the afternoon, turned routinely by Brackpool, Mia Monopoli (San Francisco, Calif.) and Mollie Sorenson (Stevenson Ranch, Calif.), who was covering first.
PSU plated another pair of runs in the sixth when pinch hitter Shannon Good (Horseheads, N.Y.) doubled home her first two collegiate RBI to make it 4-0.
Cummings then shut the door on any hopes of a Loyola comeback with an easy seventh to secure her second win of the season and her first ever complete game shutout.
The trio of Pond, Jones and Brackpool had hot days in the warm California sun as they went 5-7, 4-8 and 4-6 respectively. Combined they accounted for 11 RBI and seven runs scored on the afternoon.
Penn State is now back at the .500 mark with an even 12-12 record and looks forward to its first home game at Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field this season as the Lions will welcome in intrastate rival Pittsburgh to Happy Valley, Wednesday, Mar. 18 at 6 p.m. in the 2015 home opener.