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April 29, 2017
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Penn State softball team found itself on the losing end of an 11 inning Big Ten Conference contest against the Terrapins of Maryland Saturday, April 29 at Maryland Softball Stadium. After taking the early 1-0 lead over Maryland in the fourth inning, the Terrapins knotted the score in the fifth and took the 2-1 victory in the bottom of the 11th inning.
Senior Shelby Miller (Sugar Land, Texas) moved into a tie for the No. 2 spot in all-time RBIs for Penn State softball after driving in a run in the top of the fourth inning for the Blue and White. Miller now ties with Shannon Salsburg and Nan Sichler with 118 career RBIs.
Penn State drew four walks in the contest and had two hits, leaving nine batters stranded through 11 innings. Junior Jessica Cummings (Owings, Md.) threw a gem in her home state, going all 11 innings with six strikeouts and giving up just six hits.
Tori Dubois (Mt. Vernon, N.H.) hit a deep ball into right field that tipped off the glove of the field, allowing her to reach third and tag up to score on a sacrifice fly into center field from Miller, giving Penn State the early 1-0 lead.
Maryland knotted the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning when Kristina Dillard drove a solo shot over the left field wall.
Penn State put runners on first and second in the top of the seventh but could not plate a run heading into the bottom half of the inning. The Terrapins battled with a one out single up the middle and a walk to move runners into scoring position before Cummings came up with back-to-back looking strikeouts to send the game into extra innings.
Maryland placed runners on first and second in two extra innings before Delaney Elling (Washington, Pa.) started a two-out rally in the top of the 11th with a double into right center field and Kristina Brackpool (Valencia, Calif.) walked. The rally fell short for the Blue and White as a groundout closed out the inning before Penn State could plate a run.
The Terrapins used a one-out single up the middle before Kufta stepped in and drove a single through the right side of the field with two outs to plate the game-winning run from second base and allow Maryland to take a 2-1 11-inning victory.
Up Next:
Penn State and Maryland will close out its final Big Ten Conference road series Sunday, April 30 with a 1 p.m. contest. The game is set to be featured on BTN Plus with a paid subscription.