March 24, 2018
By Andy Kuros, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Despite splitting its doubleheader with Maryland Saturday afternoon to open up conference play, Penn State played arguably its most complete 7 innings of the year as they took game one 8-3 in commanding fashion.
"We did what we had to do today," head coach Amanda Lehotak said. "We got the split, but obviously we would have like to play better game two. I didn't like that we only had two hits in game two. Our effort was there but I was more disappointed in our focus. We did what he had to in game one, though. I really like how we played game one."
Although Penn State dropped game two 8-0, there were many takeaways from the Nittany Lions' first Big Ten win of the year.
Player of the Game- Jessica Cummings
Senior pitcher Jessica Cummings was firing on all cylinders in the circle, throwing a complete game with seven strikeouts and no walks. Cummings was perfect through three innings and only allowed Maryland to get a total of five hits.
"I thought she was dominant game one," Lehotak said. "I think that was her first game all year where she didn't have a walk. She was great. I thought she went right after them and she made great adjustments. (Maryland) also made adjustments in the 4th when they scored, but I thought she came back really well. She kept attacking whereas all year that's when she's gotten a little passive, so I was really proud of her."
Cummings improves her record to 3-7 on the year after notching her third complete game of the season.
Offensive Fireworks
Penn State pounded out eight runs, including five in the first inning, on 11 hits to match Cummings' great performance in the circle. Sophomore Destiny Weber had two hits, including a line-drive two RBI double down the left field line to push the score to 5-0. Eight different Nittany Lions registered a hit in what was a very balanced offensive attack.
"Offensively in the first game I thought we were great," Lehotak said. "We came out swinging. I thought we were well prepared for (that game) and we handled it well. We dipped a little bit, which happens when you have an explosion like that in the first two innings. It was good to see us answer again after they scored. The maturity of that was good. I liked that we had good at-bats and we were putting the ball in play."
The Blue and White's eight runs was the team's second-best offensive showing of the year, just behind the ten runs they scored against Kent State last Sunday.
Flashing the Leather
With Cummings forcing ground ball after ground ball on the mound, it was the Nittany Lions' infield defense that came up big. Penn State didn't record an error in game one and were almost flawless both in the infield and outfield, including junior Tori Dubois' impressive leaping catch in left field.
"I was really proud of them," Lehotak said about her team's great glove work in the first game of the doubleheader. "I was very hard on our infield this week. Last week I was really hard on offense, and this week I was really hard on our infield especially. I held them to a high standard and we did some things we haven't done before and their response was great. I was very pleased with how they played infield-wise in both games."
What's Next?
The Nittany Lions and Terrapins will play the rubber match of their conference series Sunday at 1:00 p.m.