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