March 21, 2015
| 0 | 10 |
| 5 | 13 |
| Saturday, Mar. 21, 2015 | |
Beard Field | University Park, Pa. | Attn: 382
| POST GAME LINKS |
| Game 1: Box Score (HTML) | (PDF) |
Game 2: Box Score (HTML) | (PDF)
| FINAL STATISTICS |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State softball team dropped its first two games of B1G play at the hands of the Northwestern Wildcats Saturday night as NU took both games of the doubleheader by 10-0 (5) and 13-5 scores.
The Nittany Lions scored their first runs of the day in the second inning of game two as down 6-0, Shelby Miller (Sugar Land, Texas) plated Alyssa VanDerveer (Hillsborough, N.J.) with an RBI single to cut the `Cats lead to five.
After a four run NU third, PSU answered back in the bottom of the frame, scoring another two runs on a towering shot to left by VanDerveer for her fifth home run of the year. A Macy Jones (Ashburn, Va.) RBI single accounted for Penn State's fifth run, which brought home Mollie Sorenson (Stevenson Ranch, Calif.) to make it 10-3.
NU then tacked on two in the sixth and one in the seventh off reliever Jessica Cummings (Owings, Md.) who was helping spell starter Marlaina Laubach (Northampton, Pa.), before closing out the Lions in the bottom of the seventh.
In the first game, Northwestern plated single runs in the first and second off of starter Marissa Diescher (Livingston Manner, N.Y.), before scoring another three in the third. Cummings then entered the circle in relief getting the final three outs of the inning without allowing any more damage to be done on the scoreboard.
The Wildcats scored another run in the fourth and then tallied four in the fifth to end the contest early, after just five innings of play.
Despite the pair of losses, the Lions did crank out 13 total hits in the doubleheader, with four players having multi-hit nights. Miller and VanDerveer both went 2-4 in the second game, while Sorenson was 2-3 with a walk. Lexi Knief (Ramsey, N.J.) was the hottest hitter out of the group, going 3-5. The quartet accounted for the majority of PSU's offensive output on Saturday, knocking in four of its five total runs.
Penn State now 13-14 and 0-2 in Big Ten Play will will conclude its three game series with Northwestern Sunday at Nittany Lion Softball Park. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Beard Field