Feb. 17, 2016
By ANNA PITINGOLO, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - After a weekend filled with triumph and disappointment, the Nittany Lions headed home to Happy Valley from Florida hungry for their next chance to prove themselves.
That chance comes this weekend, when Penn State travels back down to the Sunshine State to participate in the Jacksonville Tournament. The Nittany Lions enter the tournament 1-4 on the season, but head coach Amanda Lehotak isn't letting that damper her players' spirits.
Making their second big road trip in under a week, Lehotak has had her team's own performance be the main focus in practice, and hasn't spent too much time worrying about their upcoming opponents.
"Our focus is just on us," Lehotak said. "We do a little preparation for the teams we're playing this weekend without the team even knowing. But really this past weekend we played well but there was things that we failed in our game so we just really focused on Penn State this week."
There was a lot to learn from the "Kick-Off" Classic in Boca Raton, but the main takeaway for junior Shelby Miller is that this team still has a lot to prove to itself and to the competition.
"We feel like we have something to prove that we did not prove [last weekend] and we're very excited to get back out there," Miller said. "[Last weekend] was a big learning experience, we obviously know we didn't do as well as we should have. We know that this weekend we really have to execute on different things and do our jobs more than we did last weekend."
Penn State struggled offensively throughout the tournament, including a tough outing against Wright State when they averaged two runners on base every inning and couldn't get big hits to bring them in. Despite the struggles, the pitching staff kept the Nittany Lions close in all their games.
"We've said all along that to reach our goals this year we had to have good pitching," Lehotak said. "Typically in the past our offense has kept us in the games, so it was fantastic to see our pitching keep us in the games and it was just ironic that it was our offense that couldn't do it for us. We tell our pitchers all the time they don't need to win a game for us, they need to manage a game for us and they did exactly that this week."
Freshman pitcher Madison Seifert notched her first collegiate win when the Lions defeated Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) in their third game. While it was exciting for her to get the win under her belt, she was the third pitcher to come in for the Nittany Lions and credits the entire pitching staff for helping her get there.
Lehotak loves what she's seeing from her pitchers, and is hopeful that they will build upon their performances as the season continues.
"It helps [with their mentality] a lot," Lehotak said. "This is probably the most confident pitching staff I've seen since I've been here, which is huge."
As the Nittany Lions get ready for their second trip down south, Lehotak has faith that her team will get back on track.
"We're right there, we're knocking on the door. We're confident and taking it one step at a time. As a coach, it's difficult to see them not get their goals in for this weekend, but we have 49 games left."