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March 10, 2018
HOUSTON, Texas ââ'¬" The Penn State softball team did not come away victorious on day two of the Houston Hilton Plaza Classic falling to Lipscomb and Northwestern Saturday, March 10.
Junior Toni Polk (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) tallied a multi-hit game against Lipscomb with two base knocks and scored one run in game two against Northwestern. Junior Tori Dubois (Mt. Vernon, N.H.) lined the second home run of the season for the Nittany Lions with a two-run shot against the Wildcats and sophomore Kennedy Legg (Keller, Texas) brought in two runs of her own with a single against NU.
Freshman Dani Fey (Bangor, Pa.) extended her reached base streak to 13 games as she drew a walk in game on against Lipscomb and reached on a fielder's choice against Northwestern. Junior Meghan Williams (Bethlehem, Pa.) reached three-straight games with a hit as she had a single against both Lipscomb and Northwestern.
Junior Madison Shaffer (New Castle, Pa.) took the loss in both games for Penn State, throwing five full innings.
Game One: Lipscomb 9, Penn State 1
The Lady Bisons used five hits and one walk to score four runs in the top of the first inning to light up the scoreboard first against the Blue and White. The Nittany Lions looked to have an answer inning in the bottom half of the first as it loaded the bases with two outs but an infield ground out closed out the inning before Penn State could push a run across.
Lipscomb used a two run home run in the top of the second and a double in the third with a runner on third to push its lead to 7-0 after three complete innings.
Sophomore Delaney Elling (Washington, Pa.) led off the bottom of the fourth with a shallow single to left field and pinch runner Christa Wagner (Plainville, Mass.) reached second on a slow roller to second to move runners to first and second with no outs. Legg stepped in and laid down a sacrifice bunt just inches in front of the plate. With two outs on the board and bases loaded, Fey dug in, worked the count to full, fouled off two extra pitches, and then drew a walk to bring in the RBI for the Blue and White and cut the Lipscomb lead to six.
The Lady Bisons loaded the bases in the top of the sixth inning for Graysen Gladden, who placed a shallow single on the edge of the left field grass to score the runner on third to allow Lipscomb to take the 8-1 advantage. LU added one final run in the seventh and shut down the Penn State offense in the bottom of the inning to earn the 9-1 win.
Game Two: Northwestern 6, Penn State 4
The Nittany Lion offense came to life in the top of the first inning when Polk reached on a walk and touched home on a two-run homer off the scoreboard from Dubois to allow Penn State to take a 2-0 lead in the opening frame.
With two outs recorded, Elling walked and Williams singled to shallow left field to put runners in scoring position for Legg. Legg stepped into the box and laced a double into the left center field gap to extend the Nittany Lion lead to 4-0 in the first inning.
Northwestern loaded the bases with a walk and back-to-back bunt singles before two walks and a Penn State error allowed the Wildcats to come within one in the bottom of the third inning. Following a scoreless inning, the Wildcats put together a three-run fifth inning that included a suicide squeeze to go up 6-4 over the Nittany Lions.
Penn State was unable to get their offensive going again in the final two innings, falling 6-4 to the Wildcats.
Up Next:
The Nittany Lions conclude the Houston Hilton Plaza Classic Sunday, March 11 when it takes on Iowa State at 12:30 and finishes the day with Houston at 3 p.m.