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Feb. 10, 2017
Boxscore vs. McNeese | Boxscore at LSU
BATON ROUGE, La. - The Penn State softball team split day one of the Tiger Classic after taking down No. 4 LSU in its second of two games to open the 2017 campaign Friday, Feb. 10.
The Nittany Lions (1-1) fell 4-1 to McNeese before taking a 7-3 victory over the Tigers at their home field. Penn State was led by senior Kristina Brackpool (Valencia, Calif.) who had three hits and one RBI on the day, while Tori Dubois (Mt. Vernon, N.H.) and Toni Polk (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) added one hit and two RBI a piece against LSU. Senior Shelby Miller (Sugar Land, Texas) also tallied two hits and two RBI with one apiece in each game.
Senior Marlaina Laubach (Northampton, Pa.) suffered the loss in game one, tossing six innings and tying a career-high six strikeouts, while Madison Shaffer (New Castle, Pa.) closed out the final inning in the circle. Sophomore Madison Seifert (Wildwood, Mo.) went the distance in game two against the No. 4 Tigers, giving up six hits and striking out three.
Tori Yanitor paced McNeese in game one with a three-run homer in the top of the fifth and brought in her fourth RBI of the game in the top of the seventh to secure the win for the Cowgirls. Baylee Corbello went the distance, tossing all seven innings and giving up four hits and striking out four.
Sydney Springfield led LSU with two hits, while Amanda Doyle and Constance Quinn had one hit and drove in one run each. Freshman Madison Gorsuch suffered the loss in the circle, hurling 2.1 innings before Carley Hoover came on in relief for the final 4.2 innings of the game.
Game One: McNeese 4, Penn State 1
The defense saw its first threat of the season in the top of the third inning when back-to-back singles put runners on first and second before a double steal moved them into scoring position with only one out. Laubach tallied her third strikeout of the game and second-straight before a foul ball to left field was caught to retire the Cowgirls before a run could cross the plate.
McNeese was the first to light up the scoreboard in the top of the fifth inning when it put runners on base with back-to-back singles before Yanitor launched a home run over the left field fence to give the Cowgirls a 3-0 lead over the Nittany Lions.
Penn State answered in the bottom of the fifth inning with a single from Brackpool, who would advance to second on a sacrifice bunt. Senior Jessica Haug (Jamison, Pa.) pinch ran for Brackpool and came around to score on a Miller single up the middle. Trailing by two, Mollie Sorenson (Stevenson Ranch, Calif.) followed up the Miller single with one of her own, but a pickle between third and home would prove to be the final out of the inning with Penn State trailing 3-1.
The Cowgirls tacked on one final security run in the top of the seventh inning and held onto in the bottom half of the inning to capture the 4-1 victory over the NIttany Lions.
Game Two: Penn State 7, LSU 3
A single and a walk for the Tigers in the bottom of the second put runners in scoring position before a high sacrifice fly to left field brought in a run. LSU threatened to tack on more runs in the bottom of the second when it loaded the bases but a big strikeout from Seifert kept the Tigers to just a lone run in the bottom of the second.
The Penn State bats came to life in the top of the third inning when Rebecca Zielger (Tucson, Ariz.) singled through the left side and Miller moved her into scoring position on a walk. Sorenson followed it up with a bunt single to load the bases before Polk singled up the middle to score two and Dubois followed it up with a single through the left side to extend the Nittany Lion lead to 4-1 with one out.
With the Blue and White stringing hits together and having a runner on second with one out, head coach Beth Torina made a pitching change. The pitching change did not prove to be in vein as Hoover struck out the first batter she faced to put two outs on the board for the Tiger defense. The Nittany Lion offense rallied with two outs and put one final run on the board when a Brackpool single up the middle scored Dubois from second base.
LSU chipped away at the Penn State lead in the bottom half of the inning using a two-out single to center field to come within three of the Nittany Lions, 5-2.
Miller answered the Tiger's run in the bottom of the third with a leadoff homer in the top of the fourth before Penn State capitalized on two passed balls and a wild pitch to extend its lead to 7-2.
The Tigers tacked on a third run in the bottom of the fifth inning when a walk and a single put runners in scoring position before Doyle ripped a double off the left center field wall to bring in the runner on second base.
The Nittany Lion defense shut down the powerful Tiger offense for the remainder of the game to earn the 7-3 victory over LSU.
Up Next
Penn State will be back in action Saturday, Feb. 11 as it will play two games on day two of the LSU Tournament. The Nittany Lions will take on Oklahoma State at 1:30 p.m. and close out the day against LSU at 6:30 p.m.