March 28, 2015
| 7 | 4 |
| 11 | 10 |
| Saturday, Mar. 28, 2015 | |
Secchia Field | East Lansing, Mich.
| POST GAME LINKS |
| Game 1: Box Score (HTML) | (PDF) |
| Game 2: Box Score (HTML) | (PDF) |
| Play-By-Play: Game 1 |Game 2 |
VIDEO: Post Game (Lehotak/Jones/Tupinio)
| FINAL STATISTICS |
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Led by Macy Jones' (Asburn, Va.) two long balls and the clutch pitching of Marlaina Laubach (Northampton, Pa.), the Penn State softball team swept its doubleheader with Michigan State Saturday by 7-4 and 11-10 scores.
Trailing 10-9 in the top of the seventh inning of the second game and down to their final out, the Lions were given new life as Jones slammed a pitch over the right field wall for a no doubter, putting her team up 11-10 and creating a massive celebration at home plate, where her teammates greeted her with hugs and high fives.
The towering two-run shot was her second of the day and her team high seventh up the year and set up Laubach to pick up the win in the circle, which she did, slamming the door on the Spartans in the bottom of the seventh for her team leading ninth victory.
The second game saw a combined 21 runs, 26 hits and three lead changes in the wildest contest PSU has played all season. It began innocently enough in the first when the Nittany Lions plated just one run on a Shelby Miller (Sugar Land, Texas) single to make it 1-0.
Michigan State then put a six spot on the board in its home half of the first off of starter Marissa Diescher (Livingston Manor, N.Y.) and Jones who came into the circle in relief.
After MSU tacked on another run in the second, PSU surged back to take an 8-7 lead with seven runs in the top half of the third inning. A handful of hits off the bats of Mollie Sorenson (Stevenson Ranch, Calif.), Alyssa VanDerveer (Hillsborough, N.J.) and Maegan Tupinio (Wahiawa, Hawaii) accounted for four Blue & White runs, while three bases loaded walks were responsible for the other three.
The one run lead would not last for long though as the Spartans added another three in the bottom half of the third to take a 10-8 advantage. Laubach, the Game 1 starter entered the contest in the third to stop the bleeding and allow for Penn State's unbelievable comeback.
The sophomore hurler shut the door on the Spartan battery going 4.2 innings allowing no runs on just four hits, while striking out eight and having impeccable control, not issuing a single walk in her relief appearance.
In the top of the sixth, DP Mia Monopoli (San Francisco, Calif.) singled home her team's ninth run, setting the stage for Jones' eventual game winning shot the following inning.
In the first game, Penn State was also the first to score, plating three in the first off of a Jones home run to center field to make it 3-0.
The Spartans then tacked on one in the second and three in the third to tie the contest up after PSU plated one in the top half of the third off of a Sorenson triple and an RBI single by Miller. The Lions then retook the lead in the top of the fourth courtesy of an RBI double to center by Lexi Knief (Ramsey, N.J.).
Jessica Cummings (Owings, Md.) came in to spell Laubach in the bottom of the frame and pitched masterfully, allowing just two hits in four innings of work. She struck out seven and didn't walk a batter for her third win of the season.
Penn State added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the seventh to put the contest out of reach on a two RBI single off of the bat of Monopoli to make it 7-4.
It was an offensive outbreak for Amanda Lehotak's squad on Saturday as five of her players had multi-hit games in both the first and second contests. Knief, Jones, VanDerveer, Tupinio and Reina Furuya (Waipahu, Hawaii) went a combined 11-18 with 7 RBI in the second game while Knief, Sorenson, Miller, Jones and Monopoli were 11-19 with an identical 7 RBI in the first.
With the doubleheader sweep Penn State improves to 17-15 on the season with a 2-3 B1G mark. The Lions have now won four in-a-row for the second time this season and have successfully notched their 950th win in program history. They now stand at 950-925-3 (.507) and will look to get to .500 in conference play with a series sweep, Sunday. Game time is set for 1 p.m. at Secchia Field in East Lansing.