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May 5, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State softball team put together a rally in the bottom of the sixth inning, loading the bases and scoring one run but were unable to overcome the 11-1 deficit in game one of the Big Ten Conference contest with the Golden Gophers of Minnesota at Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field Friday, May 5.
Senior Marlaina Laubach (Northampton, Pa.) suffered the loss in the circle, going six innings for the Blue and White. Laubach became the Penn State all-time career appearance leader, making her 136th career appearance as a Nittany Lion.
Freshman Destiny Weber (Grafton, Ohio) tallied the lone hit for Penn State in the bottom of the sixth inning with a shallow single into left field to load the bases. With two outs, a wild pitch strikeout allowed the Nittany Lions to score its lone run of the game before the final out was retired on a pop up to second base.
Sara Groenewegen earned the win in the circle pitching the complete game one-hitter, while Maddie Houlihan notched three hits and drove in three RBIs for the Golden Gophers.
The aggressive Minnesota offense opened up scoring in the top of the first inning putting runners on base when a double into left center and a sacrifice fly to the right field fence brought in two runs for the Golden Gophers.
Minnesota tacked on four more runs in the top of the second inning on two hits and a Penn State error to extend its lead to 6-0 over the Blue and White.
Back-to-back two-out hits in the top of the fifth inning helped Minnesota to a 7-0 advantage as the Nittany Lions struggled to find a base runner against Groenewegen. A two-out error with a runner on second proved costly for the Blue and White in the top of the sixth inning as it scored the eighth run of the game. The Golden Gopher offense continued with back-to-back home runs to give them an 11-0 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Nittany Lions started a rally in the bottom half of the inning, using two walks and a single from Weber to shallow left field to load the bases with no outs. Minnesota retired the next two batters before a wild pitch strikeout allowed the runner to reach first and scored Gianna Arrizurieta (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) from third base. A pop up to second bases ended the contest before the Nittany Lions were able to close the gap any further, falling 11-1 in six innings to Minnesota.
Next Up:
Penn State and the Golden Gophers will be featured on the Big Ten Network Saturday, May 6 at 2 p.m. for game two of the three-game Big Ten Conference series.