UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State softball team heads to College Park, Md. for a three-game conference series with the Maryland Terrapins, April 20-21 at Maryland Softball Stadium. First pitch times have been altered due to anticipated severe weather in the area. Friday's series opener has been postponed and instead will be played Saturday as a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Sunday is still scheduled for a 1 p.m. first pitch.
FOLLOW ALONG
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SERIES HISTORY
- Penn State holds the all-time series edge over Maryland, 16-8.
- Last season, Maryland won the series in University Park, 2-1.
SCOUTING THE MARYLAND TERRAPINS
- Maryland is 19-21 overall and 3-9 in Big Ten conference play.
- Sammie Stefan leads the Terps with a .339 batting average with 38 hits, including 11 doubles and six home runs.
- Anna Kufta is hitting at a .280 clip with a team-high 39 RBI.
- In the circle, Sydney Golden holds a 3.61 ERA and a 11-8 record.
DINGER CITY TURNED PROGRAM RECORD
- Penn State has hit 37 home runs in the 2019 season so far, setting a new program record for total home runs in a single season. The previous record was 31 set in 2006.
- Nine games this season have been multi-home run performances by the Nittany Lions, including a single-game program record six against Saint Francis on April 3.
- Penn State has had three games this season where multiple home runs in the same inning, including three in the second inning against Saint Francis on April 3.
- Freshman Melina Livingston's two home runs against Saint Francis in game two of the doubleheader on April 3 marked the first multi-home run game for a Penn State hitter since the 2016 season when Macy Jones did so against Michigan State (4/2/16).
- Chelsea Bisi and Toni Polk lead the Nittany Lions with nine home runs each.
NO WALK ZONE
- Junior transfer pitcher Hannah Shields leads the nation in walks allowed per seven innings.
- The State College area native has given up just six free bases in 63.0 innings pitched.
MAGIC NUMBER 3
- Penn State is 18-5 this season when scoring three or more runs.
10 RUNS IS A LOT
- Penn State has scored 10 or more runs in four games this season, the most double-digit scoring games since the 2016 season.
- The Nittany Lions' 10 runs in the third inning against Robert Morris on March 20 is the most in a single inning in the Amanda Lehotak era.
RUBBER MATCH TURNED CONFERENCE-OPENING SERIES WIN
- Penn State won its first conference-opening series since the 2016 season after taking the series from Michigan State, 2-1, in East Lansing, March 22-24.
- After a heartbreaking walk-off loss on Friday, the Nittany Lions rallied to score six runs in the seventh inning on Saturday to even the series.
- Penn State then shut out Michigan State, 3-0, in the Sunday rubber match to win its first conference series since the 2017 season (last - 4/28-29/17 at Maryland).
FRESHMEN DUO COMBINES FOR SHUTOUTS
- The Penn State pitching staff has shut out three opponents in 2019 via the work in the circle by freshmen Kylee Lingenfelter and Bailey Parshall.
- Lingenfelter and Parshall combined to shut out Duke, 6-0, in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Feb. 15, Florida A&M, 2-0, in the Madeira Beach Invitational on March 3, and Saint Joseph's, 6-0, in the USF Tournament Series on March 9.
- Parshall also picked up her first career complete-game shutout against Michigan State on March 23. It marked the first shutout against a conference opponent since the 2017 season when Penn State shutout Rutgers, 7-0 (4/22/17).
- Junior transfer Hannah Shields also owns a complete shutout this season against Robert Morris on March 20.
- The five shutouts this season is the most since the 2017 season, when the team also had five that year.
WE'RE PARSHALL TO BAILEY'S STRIKEOUT SUCCESS
- Freshman left-handed pitcher Bailey Parshall has made an immediate impact in the circle for Penn State.
- The Belle Vernon, Pa., native leads the team in total strikeouts (153) and has three games with 10+ strikeouts.
- Parshall struck out 15 Detroit Mercy batters on March 2 to tie the program record for most strikeouts in a single game.
- Parshall is fifth in the conference and 35th in the nation in total strikeouts as of April 15.
- The freshman is averaging 8.4 strikeouts per seven innings.
- Parshall also has five saves on the season, the most in the conference and fourth in the nation.
ON DECK
Penn State comes back to Happy Valley for a midweek non-conference doubleheader with Bucknell at Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field on Wednesday, April 24 starting at 5 p.m. The Nittany Lions will then head to Ann Arbor, Mich. for their final road conference series with No. 22/19 Michigan, April 26-28.