ORLANDO, Fla. – The Penn State softball team had solid efforts on both sides of the ball in Saturday's games of the Knights Classic, but fell to both Coastal Carolina, 3-1, and host UCF, 3-2, at the UCF Softball Complex.
Game 1: Penn State 1, Coastal Carolina 3
In game one of the day, Bailey Parshall and the Penn State defense held Coastal Carolina hit-less through 5.1 innings before the Chanticleers fired off three runs in the bottom of the sixth for the eventual 3-1 win.
On the first pitch in her first at-bat of the game, freshman Ally Kurland hit her second home run in as many games for the early 1-0 Penn State lead in the top of the second inning. Dani Fey also singled up the middle in that inning for the Nittany Lions' other hit of the game before getting stranded at second to end the inning.
Parshall stayed hot through the first five innings, striking out 12 of 20 Chanticleer batters faced.
Coastal then scored three unanswered runs off two singles and a double in the bottom of the sixth and took Penn State down in order in the top of the seventh for the win.
Game 2: Penn State 2, UCF 3 (8 innings)
In game two, the Nittany Lions got off to a hot start thanks to Chelsea Bisi's two-run bomb in the top of the first inning. That marks the first collegiate home run for the freshman and the fifth home run for Penn State this season.
Senior Tori Dubois also had a single up the middle in the at-bat before Bisi's to get on base.
Freshman Melina Livingston and senior Toni Polk had back-to-back singles in the top of the second but were eventually stranded.
UCF had four hits after five innings and then added two more plus a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at 2-2 with an inning to play.
Penn State had runners on the corners in the top of the seventh with two outs but were unable to convert any runs. UCF also stranded one runner in the bottom of the frame to bring the game to extra innings.
Playing with the international tie-breaker rule and starting the inning with a runner on second base, UCF was able to score on a sacrifice fly to win the game.
Penn State will play two more games in the Knights Classic on Sunday, against in-state rival Pitt at 9:30 a.m. and Louisiana Tech at noon.