March 29, 2015
| 6 | 8 |
| Sunday, Mar. 29, 2015 | |
Secchia Field | East Lansing, Mich.
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| FINAL STATISTICS |
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Despite knocking out 12 hits and scoring a half a dozen runs, the Penn State softball team fell to Michigan State Sunday 8-6 in the final game of a three game set.
After sweeping a doubleheader with MSU on Saturday, the Lions fell behind early to the home standing Spartans as they tacked on a run in the first and two in the second off of starter Jessica Cummings (Owings, Md.).
Playing comeback for the second time in as many days, PSU tied the contest up after plating a run in the third off of an Erin Pond (Lagrange, Ohio) sac fly and then two in the fourth after back-to-back RBI singles by Mollie Sorenson (Stevenson Ranch, Calif.) and Shelby Miller (Sugar Land, Texas).
The Spartans then retook the lead in the bottom of the fourth by way of a towering home run off the left field scoreboard by their DP and then broke the door wide open by plating another four in the fifth off of reliever Marlaina Laubach (Northampton, Pa.) to take a commanding 8-3 lead.
Undeterred, the Penn State offense surged back putting some crooked numbers on the board in the sixth off Miller's two-run shot to right, her third of the season, which kept the Lions within striking distance at 8-5.
Amanda Lehotak's squad tried to pull one more come from behind win out of their hats in the seventh after Mia Monopoli (San Francisco, Calif.) led off inning with a hit and pinch hitter Meghan Bradley (Santa Monica, Calif.) sent her to third with a double to the warning track in center.
Lexi Knief (Ramsey, N.J.) then singled to right which scored Monopoli and made it 8-7 but then a pop out accounted for the first out with runners at the corners and the tying run just 60 feet away from home.
Michigan State relief pitcher Valerie Kaff who entered just a batter earlier put an end to the Lion rally by getting Miller to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end it.
Even though the comeback attempt came up just short, the Blue & White offense stayed warm on a chilly Sunday afternoon in East Lansing. Four Lions had multi-hit games including Knief (2-5), Miller (3-5), Monopoli (2-3) and Alyssa VanDerveer (Hillsborough, N.J) who went 2-3. Penn State plated a total of 24 runs and knocked out 35 hits on the weekend.
Despite the loss Penn State claims its first B1G series of the season and moves to 17-16 overall and 2-4 in conference play. The Nittany Lions return home to Beard Field where they will take on Bucknell in a doubleheader, scheduled for Wednesday at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.