April 19, 2015
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The Penn State softball team was within an extra base hit of completing a late inning comeback against Maryland, Sunday but the rally fell short in the sixth and the Lions were edged by a final score of 5-3.
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| Maryland Softball Stadium | College Park, Md. | |
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Down 5-0 in the sixth Penn State began a one-out rally sparked by pinch hitter Mia Monopoli (San Francisco, Calif.) who drew a bases on balls, setting the table for another walk a batter later by Reina Furuya (Waipahu, Hawaii).
With two outs and runners on first and second Lexi Knief (Ramsey, N.J.) lined a laser off the Maryland shortstop's glove which caromed all the way to the warning track, allowing Monopoli and Furuya to score and Knief to slide into second with a double.
With the score now 5-2, Mollie Sorenson (Stevenson Ranch, Calif.) sent a pitch right back up the middle for a single, putting runners on the corners. Then Shelby Miller (Sugar Land, Texas) reached on a fielding error by the Terrapin shortstop which allowed Knief to score and make it 5-3.
The rally would end there though as a fly out to left ended the sixth and the Lions would go 1-2-3 in the seventh to secure the series sweep for the Terps.
The game started out as a stalemate for the first two and a half innings but Maryland got on the board first in its half of the third with a three spot off of starter Macy Jones (Ashburn, Va.).
The Terps added to their lead the following inning with two more before Jessica Cummings (Owings, Md.) entered the contest in relief.
A pair of players in the Blue and White had multi-hit days in the final game of the series as Knief (3-4) and Miller (2-4) accounted for five of the nine hits Amanda Lehotak's amassed Sunday. In the process, Sorenson extended her hitting streak to a team high 18 games.
Jones was tagged with the hard luck loss going three and two thirds and giving up two earned runs on five hits, while issuing a walk and striking out a pair. She fell to 6-3 on the season while the Nittany Lions are now at an even 23-23 and 6-11 in the B1G.
Penn State will next play Commonwealth rival Saint Francis on Wednesday, Apr. 22 at Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field. A doubleheader is scheduled with the Red Flash with the first game to start at 5 p.m. and the second at approximately 7 p.m.