March 26, 2015
| PENN STATE vs. MICHIGAN STATE | |
| Saturday, Mar. 28 - Sunday, Mar. 29, 2015 | |
| Secchia Field | East Lansing, Mich. | |
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Now with more wins in 2015 than it had in all of 2014, the Penn State softball team (15-15, 0-3) travels to East Lansing, Mich., this weekend where it will square off the Spartans in a three game series.
Penn State is fresh off of its doubleheader sweep of Robert Morris on Wednesday and concluded its first home stand of the season at Beard Field with an even 3-3 record.
Michigan State enters the series also at .500 with an identical 15-15 mark and 0-3 record in the B1G.
The series is scheduled to get underway Saturday, Mar. 28 with a doubleheader at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. and then a single game on Sunday, Mar. 29 at 1 p.m.
SERIES NOTES
THIRD TIME'S A CHARM
This will be the third straight season PSU has played MSU at Secchia Stadium in East Lansing, having squared off in a two game set in 2013 and a three game series in 2014. In both cases, the series have been sweeps as the Spartans claimed both in '13, with the Nittany Lions taking all three in '14. 2015 will mark the sixth, seventh and eighth games that the two schools have played on MSU's home field during the past three seasons. The last time the pair of state schools played in Happy Valley was in 2012, when Penn State swept a three game series at Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field. The Lions lead the all-time series 30-24 dating back to the pair's first meeting in 1992.
BOMBS AWAY
With her three home runs in the last four games, freshman catcher/designated player Alyssa VanDerveer has taken over the team lead in home runs with six. Teammates Kristina Brackpool and Macy Jones are tied for second with five, but VanDerveer has caught fire of late, going 5-17 (.294) with three home runs, six RBI and four runs scored to go along with a pair of walks on the home stand.
CUTS LIKE A KNIEF
Junior Lexi Knief's ability to cut through opposing pitching this year has been remarkable. Despite missing four of the first five games of the season due to injury, she leads the team in batting average (.373) and is also tied for the team lead in doubles with five. Her on base percentage of .435 leads the team and she is slugging an impressive .482 on the season, third most among her mates.
PUT ME IN COACH
Kristina Brackpool and Macy Jones are the only two of Amanada Lehotak's squad to have played in and started all 30 contests this season. Brackpool has been used exclusively as a first baseman, while Jones has roamed the outfield and pitched in the circle in relief and as a starter. Freshmen Mollie Sorenson and Alyssa VanDerveer are the next closest iron women, as Sorenson has played in 29 of the 30 total contests in 2015. She has started 27 games while VanDerveer has started all 28 games she has appeared in.
LAYING DOWN THE LAW
Sophomore pitcher Marlaina Laubach leads her team in a number of different pitching categories including wins (8), strikeouts (45) and innings pitched (81.0). Her 2.59 ERA is second best on the team and she is just one win away from tying her career high for W's in a season. Laubach's ERA along with her victory totals places her in eighth and tied for eighth in the Big Ten.
TRAVEL TESTED
Penn State played its first 24 games on the road before returning to Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field before going 3-3 during its first home stand. Last season the Lions were 6-15 through their first 21 games on the road, featuring stops in Arizona, Mississippi, Florida and California.
NEW NAMES AND NUMBERS
2015 brings with it a new year but also some new names and numbers to the program. This season a half-dozen freshman litter the Lion lineup and roster as Jessica Cummings (#1), Mia Monopoli (#13), Rebecca Ziegler (#15), Gianna Arrizurieta (#21), Mollie Sorenson (#22) and Alyssa VanDerveer will all call Happy Valley home for the first time. Junior transfer Erin Pond (#2) also makes her debut in the Blue and White.
SOPHOMORE SEASON
Although it's been a while since head coach Amanda Lehotak was a sophomore playing at Ole' Miss, she enters her sophomore season on the bench as the leader of the PSU program. In her first season the Lions went 14-35 with a 5-18 B1G mark. Here's a look at how second year coaches have fared at Penn State over the years.
| Coach | Year | Record | Pct. |
| Pat McTarsney | 1966 | 2-2 | .500 |
| Pat McTarsney | 1975 | 8-7 | .533 |
| Sue Rankin | 1983 | 25-13 | .658 |
| Robin Petrini | 1998 | 21-28-1 | .430 |
| Amanda Lehotak | 2015 | 15-15 | .500 |
* Pat McTarsney returned to coaching after a one year hiatus in 1973
ROUGH ROAD
Penn State's 2015 schedule is a challenging one, with 56 games on the slate against opponents in conferences such as the SEC, ACC and the Big 12. The Lions will take on a total of four teams (Michigan, Georgia, Texas A&M and Missouri in the Pre-Season Top 25 as well as another four (Wisconsin, Mississippi State, James Madison, Northwestern) who are receiving votes in both the USA Today/NFCA and the ESPN/ USA Softball Top 25 polls.
NATIONAL PROGRAM
This season the Lions boast a total of 18 players from states other than the Commonwealth. Two from Hawaii, one from Washington and five from California dot the western edge of the States, while four from N.Y. and N.J. join other ones from Maryland, Ohio, Virginia and Florida to make-up the eastern part of the country. Three Pennsylvanians (Marlaina Laubach, Christy Von Pusch and Mary Ward) bring some instate pride to the program while, one from Arizona and another from Texas add unique flair to an already diverse group.
A HALF CENTURY OF TRADITION
Penn State softball is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2015, making it the oldest program among the schools in the power five conferences (ACC, B1G, Big 12, Pac- 12, SEC). The Lions started up in 1965 under head coach Pat McTarsney and went 2-2 in their first season with wins against Elizabethtown and Wilson colleges. PSU defeated both in-state schools by a combined 46-4 score. The second oldest program among the power five is Arizona State, which began play just two years later in 1967.