UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State softball pitcher Bridget Nemeth continued her illustrious start to her collegiate career, picking up a pair of major weekly honors in recognition of a dominant series of performances against Indiana last weekend. Nemeth earned D1Softball National Freshman of the Week accolades, as well as Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Week laurels according to both organizations' Tuesday releases.
Nemeth hauled in all three winning decisions for Penn State in the Nittany Lions' sweep of Indiana at home to open Big Ten Conference play. Nemeth, a native of Glendora, California, was the only pitcher in the Big Ten to earn all three victories for her team on the league's opening weekend, tossing an astonishing 16.0 innings over her three appearances against IU. Nemeth sat down eight batters by way of the strikeout last week, turning in a weekend-long ERA of 1.31 en route to her 3-0 record. Nemeth tossed a complete game in the weekend-opening pitcher's duel and came in to toss six innings in the second game of the series.
Overall, the freshman righty turned in an opponent batting average of .161 over the course of the weekend. Nemeth remains the only pitcher in the Big Ten Conference to boast double digits in the win column without surrendering a loss. She owns a 13-0 overall record in her collegiate career, needing just one more victory to work her way onto the Nittany Lion single-season leaderboard for victories in the circle. Nemeth boasts a season-long ERA of 1.09, the second-best mark in the league and 21st-ranked ERA nationally, while leading the conference and placing eighth nationally with her 13 victories.
Penn State, behind Nemeth's dominant weekend of performances in the circle, turned in its first series sweep to open conference play since 2016, in addition to its first series sweep of Indiana in a three-game set since 1999. The Blue & White are off to a 23-6 overall start to the season and currently stand tied for the lead in the Big Ten standings with Northwestern, Michigan and Nebraska, who all opened B1G play undefeated last weekend.
Nemeth added a new category in the Nittany Lion softball record book on Tuesday, becoming the first student-athlete in school history recognized by D1Softball as the organization's Freshman of the Week. D1Softball, one of the premier national outlets dedicated to covering the collegiate game, recognizes student-athletes from coast to coast each week, spotlighting impressive individual performances on the national stage. In the B1G, Nemeth added her third weekly accolade of the season and second B1G Freshman of the Week honor in her career, pairing both Freshman performances with distinction as the league's Pitcher of the Week following the first weekend of 2024.
The Nittany Lions return to non-conference action Tuesday night, March 26, as the Blue & White play host to the Bucknell Bison in a 6 p.m. (ET) start from Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field. PSU returns to competition in the Big Ten Conference this Friday through Sunday, March 29 through 31, with the Nittany Lions prepared for a three-game series against the Maryland Terrapins at home. All four PSU contests this week will stream live to a worldwide audience of authenticated subscribers via B1G+.
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