UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State softball team heads to Bloomington, Indiana for the 2019 Big Ten Softball Tournament, May 9-11, on the campus of Indiana University. The No. 10 seeded Nittany Lions will face No. 7 seed and tournament host Indiana in the first round on Thursday, May 9 at 4:30 p.m. at Andy Mohr Field. The entirety of the Big Ten Tournament will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network.
FOLLOW ALONG
Live Stats: All games
TV: Big Ten Network | First Round
PENN STATE IN THE BIG TEN TOURNAMENT
- Penn State returns to the Big Ten Softball Tournament after missing the field in the 2018 season.
- The Nittany Lions are 13-17 overall in the tournament and 3-4 in the Amanda Lehotak era.
- Penn State enters the tournament as the No. 10 seed, its highest seed since the 2016 season when it was No. 4.
SERIES HISTORY
- Indiana holds the all-time series advantage, 42-32.
- The Nittany Lions and the Hoosiers will match up for the fourth-straight game after concluding the 2019 regular season with a three-game series in Happy Valley.
- Penn State and Indiana are meeting for the first time in the conference tournament since it started in 1999.
SCOUTING THE INDIANA HOOSIERS
- Penn State is familiar with Indiana after concluding the regular season with a three-game conference series with the Hoosiers at Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field.
- Indiana finished the regular season at 35-20 overall and 10-13 in Big Ten play, and remain in the top-50 in RPI standings at 48.
- They boast wins over two top-10 teams this season in Georgia and LSU and were ranked as high as No. 16 in the NFCA poll.
- Maddie Westmoreland leads the Hoosiers at the plate, batting .320, while Taylor Lambert is batting .291 and leads the team with 51 hits.
- The Hoosiers hold a team ERA of 2.22 while Tara Trainer is the ace in the circle with a 1.79 ERA of her own with 225 strikeouts in 207.0 innings.
TRIO GARNERS BIG TEN SEASON ACCOLADES
- Three members of Penn State softball earned Big Ten postseason accolades as announced by the conference office on May 8.
- Senior Toni Polk was named Second Team All-Big Ten, freshman Chelsea Bisi earned a spot on the Big Ten All-Freshman Team, and senior Madison Shaffer picked up Penn State's Sportsmanship Award.
DINGER CITY TURNED PROGRAM RECORD
- Penn State has hit 48 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.
- 13 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 five 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).
LEAD-OFF LEGEND
- Toni Polk is having a fantastic senior season batting in the lead-off position for the Nittany Lions, currently leading the team with a .324 average.
- The Niagara Falls, N.Y., native has hit a tied team-high 13 home runs after having only hit one each of the previous three seasons.
- Polk also has a .325 batting average and .610 slugging percentage in conference play, showing her strength of taking on even the best pitchers in the Big Ten.
- Polk earned her first career Big Ten season honors for her efforts as she was named Second Team All-Big Ten.
AIN'T NO PARTY LIKE A HOME RUN PARTY
- Senior Toni Polk and freshman Chelsea Bisi continue to pace the Nittany Lions with 13 home runs each.
- The duo has combined for eight of Penn State's 13 multi-home run games.
- Their 13 home runs each ties the No. 3 spot on Penn State's single-season home run record Alyssa VanDerveer (2015).
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 seven free bases in 69.0 innings pitched.
MAGIC NUMBER 3
- Penn State is 21-7 this season when scoring three or more runs.
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 (182) and has three games with 10+ strikeouts.
- Parshall's 182 strikeouts is enough for No. 9 in the program's single-season strikeout list, passing Ashley Esparza who struck out 166 in 2007.
- Parshall struck out 15 Detroit Mercy batters on March 2 to tie the program record for most strikeouts in a single game.
- Parshall is sixth in the conference and 38th in the nation in total strikeouts as of May 6.
- The freshman is averaging 7.7 strikeouts per seven innings.
- Parshall also has five saves on the season, the most in the conference and 12th in the nation.
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 owns two complete-game shutouts in conference play against Michigan State (March 23) and Indiana (May 5).
- Junior transfer Hannah Shields also owns a complete shutout this season against Robert Morris on March 20.
- The six shutouts this season is the most since the 2011 season.
ON DECK
The winner of the first round game will move on to play No. 2 seed Northwestern in the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals on Friday, May 10 at 4:30 p.m.