UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Senior center fielder Liana Jones stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the 12th and delivered a walk-off double to right center that plated senior right fielder Maddie Gordon, with the Penn State softball team turning in a 1-0 win in the weekend finale to clinch its second consecutive B1G series victory on Sunday afternoon at Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field.
With Sunday's win, the Blue & White saw their overall season record improve to 26-7 with a 5-1 start to Big Ten Conference competition. The Nittany Lions clinched consecutive series to open a league year for the first time since the 2016 season, also booking their best start to Big Ten play through six games since that team embarked on a 6-0 opening with wins over Rutgers and Michigan State. In the all-time series against Maryland, PSU rattled off its second straight series win and climbed to 24-16 against the Terrapins following the teams' 40th all-time meeting Sunday.
Pitching was the story of the contest for both teams in the weekend finale, with PSU's junior righty Mady Volpe earning the start against Maryland's Courtney Wyche. Both pitchers were immaculate through the first six innings of play, with neither tosser allowing a score through the early going. Volpe's day ended after the sixth, with the Lansdale, Pennsylvania, booking six innings of shutout work with one hit allowed, three strikeouts and two walks. Originally intended as a short relief stretch, freshman Bridget Nemeth entered the circle and finished the 12-inning duel out with 6.0 innings of her own, logging eight strikeouts and no walks with just one hit allowed in the 11th. Nemeth picked up the victory, rising to 15-1 this season after earning the decision in all three of the weekend's contests.
In total, the Nittany Lions finished the day with six combined hits, outpacing Maryland's pair of knocks in the game. Junior designated player Haylie Brunson was the only individual on the PSU roster to book a multi-hit outing on the day, finishing the game 2-for-4 with a pair of singles for the Nittany Lions. Gordon and Jones combined for the only extra-base hits in the game from the Blue & White, cranking consecutive doubles in the bottom of the 12th inning to walk the game off. Senior second baseman Kaitlyn Morrison and senior catcher Gaby Garcia added the other two knocks for the Nittany Lions with a pair of singles.
Gordon, a native of Shenandoah, Virginia, cranked her 12th double of the 2024 season and moved into a tie for first on the team in the category with Morrison. Her slugging percentage of .632 ranks third on the roster behind Garcia and Morrison. Jones, meanwhile, tallied her 15th extra-base hit of the campaign and recorded the second walk-off hit for the Nittany Lions in the last week, joining Gordon's RBI single against Bucknell Tuesday night that ensured the 10-2, six-inning victory for PSU.
Both pitchers and defenses escaped the first inning with one-two-three frames, but Maryland was able to book the game's first baserunner in the top of the second with a fielding error against the Nittany Lions. After extinguishing the early Terrapin threat, both teams allowed hits in the third inning, but the scoreboard remained clean as play continued from a cloudy Beard Field. Outside walks drawn by both teams in the fourth and sixth innings, neither squad was able to generate any offensive success, with the score remaining knotted at zero at the end of regulation.
The eighth inning passed with another set of one-two-three frames, and despite a two-out rally attempt sparked by a Garcia single in the home half of the ninth, both pitchers remained in complete control of the affair. Brunson tacked on her second hit of the game to no avail in the bottom of the tenth, and Maryland added a two-out double in the top of the 11th that was wiped out by a flyout to center in the next at-bat. After Nemeth cranked out a pair of strikeouts in the top of the 12th en route to another one-two-three inning, the Nittany Lion bats returned to the plate. With one out on the scoreboard, Gordon breathed new life into the Nittany Lion offense, driving a double toward the wall in left field. On a 1-1 count in the next at-bat, Jones stepped up to the plate and crushed an RBI double to right center field that walked the game off in the bottom of the 12th.
TOP NITTANY LION PERFORMERS
Liana Jones | 1-for-5, GAME-WINNING RBI, 2B
Maddie Gordon | 1-for-5, R, 2B
Mady Volpe| START, 6.0 IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 2BB, 3K, 79TP
Bridget Nemeth | WIN, 6.0 IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 8K, 60TP
KEY INNINGS
B12 | With one out on the scoreboard, Gordon breathed new life into the Nittany Lion bats, driving a double toward the wall in left field. On a 1-1 count in the next at-bat, Jones stepped up to the plate and crushed an RBI double to right center field that walked the game off in the bottom of the 12th. PSU 1, UMD 0
UP NEXT
Penn State softball continues Big Ten Conference competition with a nationally televised midweek doubleheader on the road against the Ohio State Buckeyes this Tuesday, April 2. PSU and Ohio State get things started on the Big Ten Network and FOX Sports App at 5 p.m. (ET), with the second game scheduled for 7:30 p.m. (ET) at Buckeye Field.
FOLLOW THE NITTANY LIONS
Visit GoPSUSports.com for more information on Penn State softball. Fans can keep up to date with the Nittany Lion softball team on Facebook at /pennstatesoftball as well as Twitter and Instagram @PennStateSB.
