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March 24, 2018
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State softball team split with the University of Maryland in its Big Ten Conference opening doubleheader Saturday, March 24 at Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field.
The Blue and White jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in game one, going on to win 8-3 before falling 8-0 in five innings in game two of the doubleheader. The win over the Terrapins marked head coach Amanda Lehotak's 100th win at Penn State and her 289th career win.
"We did what we had to do today, we got the split," said Lehotak. "Obviously we would have liked to have played better game two, I didn't like that we only had two hits game two. I thought our effort was there, but I was more disappointed in our focus. We did what we had to do game one, I liked how we played game one. We just have to rebound and now it's all about tomorrow."
In game one against the Terrapins, the entire Penn State starting lineup tallied at least one hit, while four brought in at least one run and seven scored. Sophomores Kennedy Legg (Keller, Texas) and Destiny Weber (Grafton, Ohio) paced the lineup with two RBI each and Meghan Williams (Bethlehem, Pa.) had two hits with one RBI and scored once. Williams ended the day with a team-high three hits between the two games.
Senior hurler Jessica Cummings (Owings, Md.) tossed a gem in game one, striking out seven and not giving up a walk in the complete game appearance. In game two, Madison Shaffer (New Castle, Pa.) took the loss, throwing 3.2 innings before Ashton Mensinger (Nescopeck, Pa.) came on in relief to close out the contest.
Game One: Penn State 8, Maryland 3
The defense registered a three up, three down inning in the top of the first capped off with two strikeouts from Cummings before Dani Fey (Bangor, Pa.) led off with a single through the left side of the infield and slid into home on a shallow single into left field from Williams. The hitting continued for the Nittany Lions as a Toni Polk (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) single into center scored one and Legg laid down the suicide squeeze to extend the Blue and White lead to 3-0 with one out.
Penn State tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the first when Weber roped a double down the left field line into the corner to give the Nittany Lions a 5-0 lead after one complete inning. Cummings struck out two more batters to add to her total in the top of the second and complete the second-straight three up, three down inning before the offense scored two runs on three hits to take the 7-0 lead.
Maryland started to chip away at the Penn State lead in the top of the fourth inning scoring two runs on three hits. The Nittany Lions added a run to their line score in the bottom of the fifth inning when a hit to second and a Maryland throwing error allowed one to touch home and give Penn State the 8-2 lead.
The Terrapins tried to make a comeback in the top of the seventh inning scoring one run but Penn State secured the final two outs it needed to take the 8-3 victory in its Big Ten Conference opener.
Game Two: Maryland 8, Penn State 0 (5 innings)
A one out error proved detrimental to the Nittany Lions in the top of the second inning as Maryland strung together four hits to score four unearned runs and take a 4-0 lead over the Blue and White.
The Terrapins extended their lead to 8-0 in the top of the fourth inning, scoring four runs on three hits.
Penn State was unable to find an offensive stride in game two as Williams and Fey were the only two Nittany Lions able to find a hit in its five innings against pitcher Sydney Golden. Golden threw all five innings, giving up just two hits and walking one.
Up Next:
The Nittany Lions and the Terrapins will conclude the three-game Big Ten Conference series Sunday, March 25 at 1 p.m. at Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field.