Penn State softball (10-3) continues its road slate to start the 2023 season as it travels to Tampa Fla. for the USF Invitational, hosted by USF. The Nittany Lions are slated to face Florida Gulf Coast (twice), Marist, Saint Francis and USF.
SERIES HISTORY
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Penn State and Florida Gulf Coast have faced off three times before with their last matchup ending in a 2-1 loss for the Nittany Lions in 2019. The Nittany Lions are 2-1 all time vs FGCU.
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Penn State will face Marist for the first time this weekend.
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Penn State and Saint Francis have a long, 31-game history with each other but this will be the first time that they face off outside of Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions are 22-9 all-time against the Red Flash. This will not be the only meeting for Penn State and Saint Francis this season, as the Red Flash will travel to University Park in early April for a mid-week contest.
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Penn State and USF have played nine times previously, the last of which USF edged out the Nittany Lions 1-0. USF holds a slight advantage against Penn State overall in the series, 5-4.
SCOUTING THE FIELD
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Florida Golf Coast has had an up and down season so far as they enter the tournament at 11-9. They have won their last four games entering the tournament.
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Marist enters the weekend at 7-9 after a 3-2 weekend in Charleston playing Cleveland State and the College of Charleston. Their highlight win of the season came against Cleveland State in a 10-1, six inning dominant performance over the Vikings.
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Saint Francis comes into the USF Invitational 6-10 overall after facing several quality opponents. This past weekend at the Palmer Park Clash, the Red Flash struggled exiting the tournament with one win in their three matchups, which came in a 1-0, 10-inning victory over George Mason.
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USF is 9-10 on the season, but has also faced several quality opponents. The Bulls began the year by beating Michigan in a 2-1, eight-inning thriller and have also played No. 16/19 Duke, No. 8/9 Virginia Tech and Texas A&M close.
HOT START
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The Nittany Lions began the season 7-0, matching their best start in program history with the 1974 team.
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Penn State shut out five of its first six teams that it faced. The five shutouts were consecutive, which is a school record for most consecutive shutouts.
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Penn State is 10-3 for the first time since the 2006 season in which the Nittany Lions won 16 consecutive games following a 2-3 start.
SWINGING HOT BATS
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Melody Coombs had a strong weekend at the Pirate-Spartan Classic, hitting .600 with a double and an RBI. She also stole four bases.
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Kaitlyn Morrison has also been hot with the bat lately. In her last two tournaments (Pirate-Spartan Classic and Queen City Classic) she has hit .520 with 13 hits, 11 RBIs, three doubles and three home runs.
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Senior Lexie Black leads the Nittany Lions in several different categories including batting average (.400), hits (16), doubles (6) and RBIs (13).
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Three Penn State players have hit three home runs in ten games for the Nittany Lions: Black, Liana Jones and Morrison. Morrison hit three home runs at the Queen City Classic two weekends ago which led the charge for the Nittany Lions on offense.
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The Nittany Lions have only struck out 36 times compared to the 108 times that their opponents have been fanned.
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In addition, Penn State has walked (51) more times than it has struck out (36).
BASE ROBBERS
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Penn State is 27-for-30 during the early season when attempting to steal bases.
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Junior Melody Coombs leads the team with 11 steals on 12 attempts. Coleman, Jones and Finnegan have three aside.
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The Nittany Lions have out swiped their opponents on the base paths, 27-8.
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Penn State's 2.08 stolen bases per game are good for second in the Big Ten and 30th nationally.
DOMINANT IN THE CIRCLE
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The Nittany Lions have been dominant in the circle all year, as the team has a combined ERA of 1.56 compared to their opponents whose ERA is at 5.54.
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The Penn State pitching staff paces the Big Ten in strikeout-to-walk ration (6.25; 7th nationally) and is second in ERA (1.71; 22nd) and shutouts (5).
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Kylee Lingenfelter's 17 strikeout performance against Norfolk State this past weekend was a program record for single game-strikeouts.
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Bailey Parshall leads the team in innings pitched (45), wins (6) and strikeouts (57)
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions will begin their home schedule after the USF Invitational as they host the Penn State Classic facing off against Cornell, Canisius, Binghamton (twice) and UMBC.