| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
March 18, 2017
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Penn State softball team took home two wins to start the GW Capital Classic Saturday, March 18 at George Washington Softball Field. The Nittany Lions first opened the morning with a 13-4 victory over the Purple Eagles of Niagara before earning a 4-2 win over host George Washington.
In its opening game against Niagara, Penn State tied its season-high, knocking 14 base hits and was one run shy of a season-best, touching home 13 times against the Purple Eagles.
Senior Shelby Miller (Sugar Land, Texas) moved into a tie for the No. 8 spot in Penn State career RBI laurels after driving in four RBI on the day and bringing in 103 career runs donning the Blue and White. Miller ties with Michelle Turk and needs just one RBI to move into a tie for the No. 7 spot with Megan Humphrey.
Sophomore Toni Polk (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) paced Penn State with four hits on the day, including two triples and driving in three runs, while Miller, Mia Monopoli (San Francisco, Calif.) and Rebecca Ziegler (Tucson, Ariz.) all had three hits on the day. Monopoli drove in two runs for the Blue and White and Ziegler brought in one.
Sophomore Madison Seifert (Wildwood, Mo.) notched the start in game one, going three innings and Marlaina Laubach (Northampton, Pa.) garnered the win, throwing three innings in relief. Freshman Amanda Ferlisi (Hamilton, N.J.) also threw one inning in relief in her first career appearance in the circle.
Freshman Madey Smith (Washington, N.J.) earned her first career start in game two at George Washington, pitching a complete game with a career-high eight strikeouts. Smith threw all seven innings, giving up just three hits and two runs.
Game One: Penn State 13, Niagara 3
The Nittany Lions wasted no time getting on the scoreboard when Mollie Sorenson (Stephenson Ranch, Calif.) singled and worked her way around the bases before a two-out single on the right field line from Miller allowed the junior to touch home. Penn State continued its two-out rally as back-to-back infield singles and a Purple Eagle error allowed the Blue and White to take a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
Niagara responded in the bottom half of the inning with three-straight singles to load the bases and a two-out double off the left field wall to bring the score to 4-2 after one complete inning.
Miller extended the Nittany Lions lead to 5-2 in the top of the third inning when she blasted a solo home run over the right field wall. An error on the leadoff batter in the top of the fourth proved to be detrimental to the Purple Eagles when Kristina Brackpool (Valencia, Calif.) doubled into right field and Miller followed it up with a double into center field to bring in two runs for the Blue and White and extend the Penn State lead to 7-2.
The Nittany Lions continued to expand their lead in the top of the sixth inning bringing in a pair of runs on a pickle situation and a sacrifice fly to center field to hold onto a 9-2 advantage. The Blue and White tacked on four final runs in the top of the seventh inning, while Niagara added two final runs en route to a 13-4 Penn State victory.
Game Two: Penn State 4, George Washington 2
The Blue and White bats picked up where the left off when a leadoff walk to Ziegler came around to score on a Brackpool double into the left center field gap in the top of the first inning to give Penn State the 1-0 lead. Polk laced her second triple of the day as she drove the ball off the right field wall to put herself in scoring position for Monopoli, who ripped a single through the right side and plated Polk for the 2-0 advantage.
Polk and Monopoli combined for the second time in the game when Polk got on base and scored when Monopoli waited on the pitch and drove a double into the left center field gap to extend the Nittany Lions lead to 3-0.
George Washington answered in the bottom of the fourth inning on a two-run home run over the left center field wall to come within one of the Blue and White, 3-2.
After two scoreless innings, Penn State used a Monopoli double and a Zielger single through the right side to take a two-run lead heading into the final half inning of the game. Smith tallied one final strikeout to end the game and allow the Nittany Lions to earn the 4-2 win over the Colonials.
Up Next:
Penn State concludes the GW Capital Classic Sunday, March 19 when goes up against Niagara at 11 a.m.a and George Washington at 1:15 p.m.