April 22, 2017
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April 22, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State softball team locked up its second Big Ten Conference series victory of the 2017 season when it shut out the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers 7-0 Saturday, April 22 at Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field.
The Blue and White (20-25, 6-10 B1G) notched 10 hits to mark the 12th time in the 2017 season and the third-straight game in which it notched 10-or-more base knocks. Moreover, Penn State earned its fourth shutout of the season and its second in the week as it defeated Bucknell 1-0 in game one of the doubleheader Wednesday, April 19.
Senior Kristina Brackpool (Valencia, Calif.) and Tori Dubois (Mt. Vernon, N.H.) tallied two RBIs apiece for the Nittany Lions as Brackpool scored once and Dubois touched home twice. Seniors Shelby Miller (Sugar Land, Texas) and Jessica Haug (Jamison, Pa.) brought in the final two RBIs of the game for Penn State, equaling the 112th of Miller's career and the first of Haug's. Junior Jessica Cummings (Owings, Md.) pitched the complete game victory with three strikeouts to earn her third win of the 2017 season.
Rebecca Hall and Sierra Maddox led Rutgers with two hits apiece and Taylor Atlee generated the only other hit of the game for the Scarlett Knights. Shayla Sweeney suffered the loss in the circle, pitching to just one out before she was relieved by Aubrie Levine for the remaining five innings.
In the bottom of the first inning, Toni Polk (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) doubled into the left center field gap and came around to score on a Dubois single up the middle to give Penn State the fast start against the Scarlet Knights. Penn State chased Sweeney in the first when Brackpool notched the second double of the inning, this time into the right center gap, to score two runs and extend the Blue and White lead to 3-0. The Nittany Lions batted through the order in the bottom of the first inning and tacked on one more run on a Christa Wagner (Plainville, Mass.) single to the pitcher to give Penn State the 4-0 lead.
A leadoff double and an infield single put runners on first and third with one out for Haug, who hit a sacrifice fly into left field that would allow a run to touch home and give the NIttany Lions a 5-0 lead after three complete innings.
Polk started a two-out rally after she was hit by a pitch in the top of the sixth inning and Dubois drove in her second RBI of the day with a double down the left field line. The Nittany Lions scored the final run it would need to earn the win in the bottom of the sixth as Miller laced a single up the middle to extend the Penn State lead to 7-0.
Rutgers used two pinch hitters in the top of the seventh inning to try to start an offensive push but Cummings struck out the first two batters of the inning. The Scarlet Knights mustered one single but a fly out to left field would end the game in favor of the Nittany Lions, 7-0.
Up Next:
Penn State will look for the series sweep Sunday, April 23 at Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field. The Nittany Lions and Scarlett Knights will start game three at 1 p.m.