Feb. 17, 2018
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Feb. 17, 2018
DURHAM, N.C. - After battling back from a 5-0 deficit to knot the score in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Penn State softball team was defeated by Virginia Tech, who used a four-run inning to take a 9-6 victory over the Nittany Lions, on day two of the Big Ten / ACC Challenge Saturday, Feb. 17.
Four Nittany Lions tallied multi-hit games, while Delaney Elling (Washington, Pa.) and Amanda Grieco (Basking Ridge, N.J.) paced the Blue and White with two hits and two RBI each. Also tallying multi-hit games for Penn State were Tori Dubois (Mt. Vernon, N.H.) and Toni Polk (Niagara Falls, N.Y.), who had two hits each.
Junior Paige Johnson (Clarksville, Tenn.) laced her first home run as a Nittany Lion with a rope over the center field wall, and Haley Vallejos (Chandler, Ariz.) also drove in one run for the Blue and White.
In the circle, Madison Shaffer (New Castle, Pa.) earned her first start of the season and threw two innings, while Ashton Mensinger (Nescopeck, Pa.) tossed two in relief and Jessica Cummings (Owings, Md.) took the loss, throwing the final three innings for the Nittany Lions.
Virginia Tech quickly lit up the scoreboard in the top of the first inning using back-to-back hits and an error to load the bases before a slow roller to second brought a run in. A well-placed triple on the right field line scored three unearned run for the Hokies as they took a 4-0 lead in the opening frame.
A two-out walk came around to score on a two-out single through the right side of the infield to bring in the fifth run of the game for Va. Tech.
The Nittany Lions started to chip away at the Hokie lead in the bottom of the second inning when they juiced the bases with a single from Polk and two walks for Grieco. The sophomore stepped in with one out and dropped a single into shallow center field to score one for Penn State before a long sac fly to the warning track from Vallejos brought in the second run of the inning for the Blue and White. With two outs, Elling dug into the box and drove a single through the left side of the infield to plate the third run of the inning and force a Hokie pitching change. The pitching change worked in favor of Virginia Tech as it recorded the final out of the inning on a fly ball to center.
Penn State had two huge defensive innings, forcing Virginia Tech to strand four runners and came within one of the Hokies in the bottom of the fourth inning with a leadoff walk and a single from Elling through the right side of the infield.
Johnson led off the top of the fifth inning with a solo shot over the center field wall to knot the score at 5-5. The Hokies responded in the top of the sixth inning as they scored four runs on two hits to take a 9-5 lead over the Nittany Lions.
The Blue and White tried to come back in the bottom of the seventh inning when Fey walked and came around to score on a deep single to short from Grieco but the late rally fell short as Penn State fell 9-6 to Virginia Tech.
Up Next:
Penn State will wrap up the 2018 Big Ten / ACC Challenge Sunday, Feb. 18 with a 12 p.m. contest against Duke.