April 28, 2015
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| Vartabedian Field | Pittsburgh, Pa. | | |
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| FINAL STATISTICS |
PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Junior Lexi Knief (Ramsey, N.J.) led off the seventh with a triple to the left field corner to spark the Penn State softball team's rally in their 2-0 win against the Pittsburgh Panthers on Tuesday night at Vartabedian Field. The Nittany Lions won their fifth straight game to improve to 28-24 this year.
Penn State, led by Head Coach Amanda Lehotak, recorded their fourth shutout of the season. The Nittany Lions also finished the season with a 10-2 mark in mid-week contests.
Knief and freshman Alyssa VanDerveer (Hillsborough, N.J.) each recorded two hits, while VanDerveer and freshman Mollie Sorensen (Stevenson Ranch, Fla.) drove in runs.
Freshman Jessica Cummings (Owings, Md.) and sophomore Marlaina Laubach (Northampton, Pa.) combined for the shutout.
Cummings pitched the first five innings, allowing only three hits, while striking out three and walking none. The sophomore, Laubach, took the circle for the final two innings, holding the Panthers without a hit, while striking out one and walking two. Laubach earned her 12th win of the year.
With the game still scoreless entering the top of the seventh, Knief lined the first pitch down the left field line and into the corner, allowing her to reach third on her fourth triple of the year. Sorenson followed Knief with a single through the left side to score Knief. Sophomore Shelby Miller (Sugar Land, Texas) reached on an infield single to third to move Sorensen to second. With one out, VanDerveer sent a groundball through the middle to plate Sorensen and give the Nittany Lions a 2-0 lead.
Penn State threatened to score in the top of the first, loading the bases on a walk by VanDerveer, but a pop out to second ended the inning. The Nittany Lions threatened again in the top of the third. After junior Macy Jones (Ashburn, Va.) singled through the middle, VanDerveer doubled to left, but Jones was thrown out at the plate. Junior Shannon Good (Horseheads, N.Y.) doubled to right center with two outs in the sixth, but a groundout to second ended the inning.
This weekend, the Nittany Lions ends the regular season in Ann Arbor, Mich. for a three-game series at No. 4 Michigan. The Wolverines are 45-6 overall and 18-2 in conference play. Michigan is currently on 14-game win streak. The series begins on Friday at 6 p.m.