March 18, 2015
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| Beard Field | University Park, Pa. | 275 | |
| POST GAME LINKS |
| Box Score (HTML) | (PDF) |
VIDEO: Post Game (Lehotak/Laubach/Jones)
| FINAL STATISTICS |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Led by another strong pitching performance by Marlaina Laubach (Northampton, Pa.) and a long ball from Macy Jones (Ashburn, Va.), the Penn State softball team defeated Pittsburgh 3-1 Wednesday night, in its 2015 home opener at Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field.
Laubach went the full seven, allowing just one run, which was unearned on six hits while walking a pair and fanning a half a dozen. She secured her seventh win of the season and in the process helped hand the Panthers just their sixth loss of the year.
Pitt put the first run on up the Beard Field scoreboard this season in the top of the third off after a two-out double, but Penn State answered in the bottom half of the inning with a two-out rally if its own.
That's when Lexi Knief (Ramsey, N.J.) got things going with a single to left and Jones sent her home with a towering shot to center field to quickly give the Lions a 2-1 lead.
From there Laubach found her groove retiring the Pitt battery in order during the fourth and fifth innings before her team added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth courtesy of a Shelby Miller (Sugar Land, Texas) RBI single.
Pittsburgh mounted rallies in both the sixth and seventh innings but Laubach shut the door, getting a swinging strike with the bases loaded in the sixth and a grounder to short with two on in the seventh to send Pitt back to the steel city with its second loss in three games.
Jones was the only player on Amanda Lehotak's squad with a perfect day the plate, going 2-2 with a walk. She is now tied for the team lead in home runs with Kristina Brackpool (Valencia, Calif.), as the pair has five apiece.
With the win, PSU moves to 13-12 on the season and the Lions improve their all-time home opening record to 33-16.
Penn State next opens up B1G play with a three-game set against Northwestern slated for Friday, Mar. 20 - Sunday Mar. 22 at Beard Field.