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Mark Selders

Penn State Returns to Play and Heads to Maryland for Weekend Series

Opens in a new window Game Notes

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State softball team, under first-year head coach Clarisa Crowell, returns to the field at Maryland for a four-game series in College Park against the Terrapins, April 23-25. Due to the likelihood of inclement weather, the series has been adjusted to a doubleheader on Friday and single games Saturday and Sunday. All the games will be streamed live on Big Ten Network+.

GAME INFORMATION

SERIES HISTORY

  • Playing a Big Ten-only schedule in 2021, Penn State will face familiar opponents all season long.
  • The Nittany Lions are set to play a four-game series against the Maryland Terrapins, with a Friday doubleheader starting at 4 p.m. and then single games on Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m.
  • Penn State leads Maryland in the all-time series, 18-9. With no Big Ten season in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the last time the Nittany Lions and Terrapins faced off was in 2019, also in College Park, in a traditional three-game series at Maryland Softball Stadium. Penn State won the series, 2-1.

SCOUTING MARYLAND

  • Maryland is 11-17 so far in 2021 with just about four weeks left in the regular season. The Terrapins are coming off a road weekend in Ann Arbor where they were swept by No. 22 Michigan in four games.
  • Freshman Jaeda McFarland is pacing Maryland offensively, batting .322 with 29 hits and 12 RBI. She was named Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week on April 13 after a big weekend at the plate in the Terrapins' series win over Michigan State.
  • Junior Taylor Okada is also batting over .300 at .313 with 26 hits and five RBI. Five other Terrapins also have double-digit hits on the season.
  • In the circle, the Maryland pitching staff holds a 3.50 team ERA. All four pitchers have seen at least 20.0 innings, with sophomore Trinity Schlotterbeck with the most frames at 66.0. She is 5-4 with a 3.39 ERA and 27 strikeouts.

LAST TIME OUT

  • Penn State had to postpone its series last weekend at Michigan State out of an abundance of caution surrounding the health and safety of the student-athletes, coaches and staff.
  • The weekend prior, the Nittany Lions hosted Rutgers for a four-game series at Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field. After dropping the first game, Penn State won the next three in a row to win the series.
  • It marked the first time Penn State won three-straight conference games since the 2017 season and the first time winning three straight against the same opponent since 2016.

KURLAND POWER AT THE PLATE

  • Junior Ally Kurland had a powerful weekend at the plate, both offensively and defensively, against Rutgers.
  • Kurland totaled five hits and four RBI in the series, holding a .500 batting average and impressive 1.300 slugging percentage. Three of the five hits were multi-base hits, including two home runs in the same game.
  • The catcher hit two home runs in game one of Saturday's doubleheader that scored three of the four total runs in the game. It marked the first multi-home run game for an individual player since Destiny Weber hit two at Alabama last season (2/22/20). It also ties a program record.
  • The Burke, Va., native also made 19 putouts through the series, and made a critical play at the plate to keep Rutgers from scoring another run in game three.

CLUTCH CROUTHAMEL

  • Junior Lilia Crouthamel is having the best season of her collegiate career so far, totaling career bests of 11 hits and 10 RBI, including three multi-hit games and three multi-RBI games.
  • The outfielder from Allentown, Pa. had a single game career-high three RBI against Rutgers in the final game of the series as she went 2-for-4 at the plate with the eventual game-winning two-out two-RBI double in the bottom of the sixth.

RECORD WATCH

  • Lefty ace Bailey Parshall has 68 strikeouts so far this season to total 381 in her career.
  • The junior from Belle Vernon, Pa. is seven strikeouts shy of moving into sixth all-time in the Penn State record books for career strikeouts.

ON DECK
Penn State returns to Happy Valley to host a ranked Michigan Wolverines team in a four-game series, April 30-May 2, at Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field.