April 4, 2015
| 15 | 5 |
| Saturday, Apr. 3, 2015 | |
Goodman Diamond | Madison, Wisc. | Attn. 245
| POST GAME LINKS |
| Box Score (HTML) | (PDF) |Play-By-Play |
VIDEO: Post Game (Lehotak)| Two Grand Slams
| FINAL STATISTICS |
MADISON, Wisc. -- The Penn State softball team took its rubber game with Wisconsin in convincing fashion Saturday afternoon, walloping two grand slams in one inning on its way to a 15-5, five-inning, run rule victory against the Badgers.
After scoring two-dozen runs in a doubleheader the day before, the Nittany Lions again broke out the hot bats, saving their offensive explosion for the fourth inning, when with no outs and trailing 5-4, Shelby Miller (Sugar Land, Texas) came to the plate with the bases loaded and drilled a pitch over the right center field fence to give PSU an 8-5 lead.
Not satisfied with a three run lead, Amanda Lehotak's offense kept pouring it on as Erin Pond (Lagrange, Ohio) singled home her team's ninth run and then Reina Furuya (Waipahu, Hawaii) pulled off the rarest of feats, stroking a pitch over the center field wall with the bases loaded yet again for her team's second grand slam home run of the inning to make it 13-5.
Ironically enough, Furuya led off the inning with a double to left to start the hit parade that would eventually amount to nine runs on seven hits in a wild fourth frame.
The feat was in fact so rare that it had only been accomplished five times previously according the NCAA Division I softball record book. The last time a team hit two home runs with the bases loaded in one half-inning was Feb. 8, 2014 when UTSA slammed a pair vs. Lamar in the game's second inning. Saturday's occurrence marked the first time it had happened in a contest during the fourth inning.
From that point, Penn State retained its commanding lead and relief pitcher Macy Jones (Ashburn, Va.) went into lock down mode, allowing just two more hits the rest of the way as the Lions plated a pair in the fifth off a throwing error in the Badger infield.
The game started much differently from how it ended as UW jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first off of starter Marissa Diescher (Livingston, Manner, N.Y.).
PSU surged back, adding a pair of runs in both the second and third innings to take a 4-3 lead before Wisconsin retook the lead in the bottom of the third with a pair of its own off of Jones, who came into the inning to relieve Diescher following a leadoff walk.
PSU tallied its early inning runs off of yet another long ball from Alyssa VanDerveer (Hillsborough, N.J.), who now leads the team with nine as well as a jones triple and a Kristina Brackpool (Valencia, Calif.) single.
That set the stage for the historic and most memorable fourth as Penn State positioned itself to take the five inning victory with its offensive outburst.
Jones ended up earning the win in relief and moves to 6-1 on the season, while the Lions improved to 21-17 with a 4-5 B1G record.
The Nittany Lions now have the unique distinction of having hit an eye popping total of five grand slams in the last five games. VanDerveer can stake her claim to two, while Brackpool, Miller and Furuya each have one dating back to the doubleheader with Bucknell on Wednesday.
Even though Miller and Furuya made noise with their respective slams, three other from the Blue & White battery had multi-hit days as VanDerveer (2-2), Tupinio (2-3) and Pond (2-4) had a pair of hits on the day to go along with Furuya's 2-3 afternoon.
PSU will next welcome