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April 18, 2018
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State softball team was unable to come away victorious in a mid-week non-conference doubleheader against Saint Francis Wednesday, April 18 at Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field.
Sophomore Kennedy Legg (Keller, Texas) paced the Nittany Lions at the plate with two hits and one solo home run in game two, while Gianna Arrizurieta (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) and Tori Dubois (Mt. Vernon, N.H.) had one hit each in both games of the doubleheader. Finally, freshman Haley Vallejos (Chandler, Ariz.) stepped in in both games as a pinch hitter, tallying a sacrifice fly in game one to bring in a RBI and securing a hit up the middle in game two against the Red Flash.
Sophomore Madey Smith (Washington, N.J.) took the loss in game one and junior Madison Shaffer (New Castle, Pa.) was issued the loss in game two against the Red Flash.
The McKee twins had big days at the plate against Penn State as Cheyenne drove in six RBI on four hits and scored twice, while Sierra had two hits and two runs for Saint Francis. Abby Trahan picked up the win in both ends of the doubleheader for Saint Francis, throwing 12 complete innings.
Game One: Saint Francis 8, Penn State 2
Penn State was the first to light up the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning when it put runners on first and third and used a double steal to push a run across the plate. Saint Francis answered in the top of the second when it loaded the bases and McKee hit a grand slam over the left center wall to give the Red Flash a 4-1 advantage.
SFU continued to build on its lead in the top of the third inning, capitalizing on a Penn State error to put runners on second and third and allowing a single to right center to score two and extend its lead to 6-1.
The Red Flash used their second home run of the game with a runner on first to take an 8-1 lead in the top of the sixth inning. Penn State put runners on the corners with singles from Toni Polk (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) and Christa Wagner (Plainville, Mass.), allowing Vallejos to hit a deep sacrifice fly into center field to plate one run for the Blue and White in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Nittany Lions secured the three up, three down defensive inning in the top of the seventh but were unable to find any further runs on the offensive side of the ball, falling 8-2 in game one of the doubleheader.
Game Two: Saint Francis 9, Penn State 1 (5 innings)
The Red Flash got out to a 3-0 lead in the top of second inning on three hits and a Penn State error. The Blue and White battled within two in the bottom of the inning with a solo home run from Legg. Saint Francis brought its lead back to three when a single up the middle scored a base runner from second base.
The Blue and White looked to add to its tally in the bottom of the third inning when Arrizurieta led off with a double and Delaney Elling (Washington, Pa.) battled to a walk to put runners on first and second with two outs. Penn State could not plate a run as it continued to trail 4-1 through three complete innings.
SFU added five runs on five hits in the top of the fourth to take a 9-1 lead into the fifth inning. The Nittany Lions once again tried to cut into the Red Flash lead in the bottom of the fourth inning, loading the bases with two outs but a groundout to second would close out the inning before a run could be pushed across the plate.
Penn State was unable to find any further run production, falling 9-1 in five innings.
Up Next:
The Blue and White take a trip to Bloomington, Indiana for a three-game Big Ten Conference series against the Hoosiers of Indiana. Game one of the series is slated for Friday, April 20 at 6 p.m., while game two will be played Saturday, April 21 at 3 p.m. and the series finale is set for Sunday, April 22 at noon.