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Feb. 12, 2017
BATON ROUGE, La. - The Penn State softball team was topped by McNeese State, 6-0, on the final day of the Tiger Classic Sunday at Tiger Park Sunday, Feb. 12.
The Nittany Lions (1-4) were led by freshman Delaney Elling (Washington, Pa.), who tallied two hits on the afternoon, while Mollie Sorenson (Stephenson Ranch, Calif.) and Meghan Williams (Bethlehem, Pa.) had one hit apiece for the Blue and White.
Sophomore Madison Seifert (Wildwood, Mo.) earned her third start of the season throwing five innings and giving up three earned runs and striking out five. Senior Marlaina Laubach (Northampton, Pa.) tossed one inning for the Nittany Lions and gave up just one hit.
The Blue and White were plagued by errors against the Cowgirls as McNeese tallied three unearned runs on four Penn State miscues.
McNeese State was led by Tori Yanitor who went 1-for-3 at the dish and drove in three runs, while Erika Piancastelli had two hits and scored twice. In the circle, Jolie Trahan hurled all seven innings, giving up just four hits.
Penn State threatened in both the second and third inning, getting base runners to third base but were unable to plate a run as the game remained scoreless through three innings of play.
The Cowgirls broke open the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth inning when Piancastelli singled up the middle and Morgan Catron reached after being hit by the pitch. With runners on first and second Yanitor roped a three-run home run over the left field wall to give McNeese State the 3-0 advantage.
The same trio of players produced the fourth run of the game for the Cowgirls when Piancastelli hit a hard single through the left side and came around to score on a Penn State throwing error. McNeese State pushed its second run of the inning across home when the Nittany Lions committed their second-straight error of the inning, allowing the Cowgirls to go up 5-0 over the Blue and White.
The Nittany Lions continued to struggle in the fifth inning as the third miscue of the inning plated the sixth run and extended the McNeese State lead to 6-0.
Penn State was unable to get any offense going in the final two innings, going down in order and falling to McNeese State 6-0.
Up Next
The Blue and White will travel to Atlanta, Georgia for the 2017 Big Ten/ACC Challenge Friday, Feb. 17-Sunday, Feb. 19. The Nittany Lions will take on both Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech twice in the challenge.