UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State softball team remains within the friendly confines of Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field to host Saint Francis for a midweek doubleheader on Wednesday, April 3. Game one between the Nittany Lions and the Red Flash is set for a 5 p.m. first pitch while game two will start approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.
FOLLOW ALONG
Live Stats: Both games
Live Video ($): Game 1 | Game 2
SERIES HISTORY
- Penn State has the all-time series advantage over Saint Francis, 31-8.
- However, Saint Francis has won the last four straight matchups in Happy Valley.
SCOUTING THE RED FLASH
- Saint Francis is 14-20 overall and 3-1 in Northeast Conference league play.
- Penn State and Saint Francis have 10 mutual opponents in the 2019 season, with each team having already faced Michigan State, Villanova, South Dakota State and Toledo.
- Saint Francis made the 2018 NCAA Tournament before falling to Arizona and Mississippi State in the first round.
- Senior Hayley Norton leads the Red Flash this season with a .386 batting average. Norton has 10 home runs and 39 RBI, both team highs.
- Meadow Uncapher, Christina Clark and Mikayla Bower have all seen 50-plus innings in the circle and hold ERAs of 4.88, 5.61 and 6.77, respectively.
DINGER CITY
- Penn State has hit 23 home runs through the first 34 games, including six multi-home run games.
- The 23 home runs surpasses the 2018 season total of 19.
- Against Robert Morris on March 20, the Nittany Lions hit three home runs in a single game for the first time since the 2017 season when they did against Rutgers at home on April 21, 2017.
- Those three home runs also all came in the same inning for the first time since the 2016 season when Penn State last did so against Maryland on April 15, 2016.
- Against Michigan State on March 23, both home runs in the game also came in the same inning.
- Chelsea Bisi leads the team with six home runs.
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 three free bases in 43.1 innings pitched.
MAGIC NUMBER 3
- Penn State is 15-2 this season when scoring three or more runs.
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).
10 RUNS IS A LOT
- Penn State has scored 10 or more runs in three games this season, the most double-digit scoring games since the 2017 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.
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 (132) 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 fourth in the conference and 27th in the nation in total strikeouts as of April 1.
- Parshall also has four saves on the season, the most in the conference and fifth in the nation.
SENIOR CLASS AWARD
- Senior Tori Dubois has been named one of 30 candidates for the 2019 Senior CLASS Award® in collegiate softball.
- To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.
ON DECK
Penn State returns to conference play, traveling to West Lafayette, Indiana to face the Purdue Boilermakers in a three-game series, April 5-7.