UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State softball (23-31, 6-16 Big Ten) dropped the completion of the series opener, 2-0, and game two, 5-2, to Indiana (35-19, 10-12 Big Ten) Saturday afternoon at Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field.
The series opener was completed after it was suspended Friday evening due to severe thunderstorms while game two was played an hour earlier than originally scheduled to beat potential rain in the area.
Game 1: Penn State 0, Indiana 2
After the series opener was suspended in the top of the fifth inning Friday evening due to severe thunderstorms, play resumed Saturday afternoon with the first pitch at 11:54 a.m.
Prior to the game suspension, both teams had two hits, with Penn State's being extra-base hits by Destiny Weber and Ally Kurland.
Saturday afternoon started off similar to the way Friday had gone, with each team recording a hit in the fifth inning before stranding runners.
Indiana cracked the scoreboard in the top of the sixth after a lead-off single and hit-by-pitch put runners on before two costly walks and another single scored two runs for the 2-0 advantage.
Penn State tried to answer with a double from Chelsea Bisi in the bottom half of the inning and two walks in the bottom of the seventh but could not convert.
Lefty Bailey Parshall struck out a conference career high seven batters in the contest.
Game 2: Penn State 2, Indiana 5
In game two of the day, the visitors got off to a hot start, scoring in each of the opening three innings to take an early 5-0 lead.
Penn State kept fighting however, scoring two runs on two hits in the bottom of the fourth to get within distance of Indiana.
Chelsea Bisi led off with a double to the center field wall before classmate Ally Kurland followed it up with a single up the middle to score the runner and make it 5-1. Senior Meghan Williams then drew a walk to put two runners on with no outs before both runners advanced on a wild pitch to get in scoring position.
Senior Tori Dubois then hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Kurland and put Penn State back three after four.
The Hoosiers were able to slow Penn State's momentum in the next half of the game to close out the game with a 5-2 victory to clinch the series.
On Deck
The series concludes on Sunday with first pitch at Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field set for 1 p.m. The program will honor its five seniors in Tori Dubois, Paige Johnson, Toni Polk, Madison Shaffer and Meghan Williams prior to the start of the game.
