OKLAHOMA CITY – The Penn State softball team dropped a pair of games in Big Ten Conference competition Saturday, with the Nittany Lions experiencing a 10-2 setback to the Northwestern Wildcats in five innings before falling by a narrow 8-7 margin to the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the nightcap from Devon Park, the home of the Women’s College World Series.
The Nittany Lion offense combined to register 13 hits and tally nine runs, amassing a pair of homers and nine combined RBI on the day. Freshman left fielder Natalie Lieto hit .500 on Saturday, going 3-for-6 overall with a run scored and a walk drawn. Sophomore shortstop Kaylie Walters was a catalyst for PSU’s comeback attempt in the second game of the day against Minnesota, finishing the day 1-for-2 with two runs scored, an RBI, pair of walks and a stolen base to round out an all-around impressive day of work. Fifth year first baseman Meagan Ricks went 2-for-6 across both games and tallied a pair of runs scored, highlighted by an emphatic three-run bomb that marked her third dinger of 2025. Senior utility Maddie Gordon also contributed a home run on the day, marking her seventh of the season to lead all Penn State batters. Finally, sophomore infielder Brooke Klosowicz extended her reached base streak to 25 games after reaching safely in both contests. The Johnsburg, Illinois, native has reached base in every game since PSU’s second contest of the season against Texas Tech on the first day of the 2025 campaign, marking one of the longest stretches of its kind in Division I.
In the pitcher’s circle, seniors Mady Volpe and Lydia Spalding both appeared in both games, with Volpe saddled with both losses as Saturday’s pitcher of record. Volpe amassed 7.0 innings pitched against the Wildcats and Golden Gophers, scattering nine hits with seven runs allowed and just four going in the scorebook as earned. Freshman right-hander Abigail Britton booked the start in game two and tossed 3.0 innings with four hits and two strikeouts. Rounding out Penn State’s day in the circle was sophomore utility Jiselle Hernandez, who logged 0.1 innings and surrendered a single unearned run. Defensively, Penn State secured its 10th error-free game of the 2025 season and first since playing a perfect defensive game against Lafayette on March 9. The Nittany Lions are now 6-4 in contests when committing zero errors during the 2025 campaign.
After a grueling weekend opener on Thursday night against the Wildcats, Penn State looked to find an edge on their opponents from Chicagoland in the top of the first inning on Saturday. The Blue & White answered the call with an emphatic opening to the contest, logging a pair of runs to take an early 2-0 edge. After a pair of flyouts to right field to lead off the visitor’s half of the first, Klosowicz extended her reached-base streak to 24 consecutive games by drawing a walk on five pitches. Gordon stepped up to the plate in the next at-bat and delivered a no-doubt homer to the opposite field in right, providing the Blue & White with an early two-run advantage. Northwestern managed a one-run answer in the home half, but PSU preserved its lead through an inning and a half. Unfortunately for PSU, the Wildcats would take a lead with a four-run frame in the second, ultimately closing the game out by amassing 10 unanswered runs to finalize the 10-2 result in five innings of play.
Despite Minnesota getting out to a trying 7-1 advantage through four and a half innings of play in the second game of the day, Penn State’s bats remained resilient and embarked on a valiant comeback attempt. Walters got the Penn State dugout and offense fired up by drawing a leadoff walk, and Lieto sent a single to left field to place a pair of Nittany Lions on the basepath. After a flyout bumped Walters to third base, Klosowicz extended her reached-base streak and knocked in a run with an RBI single, advancing to second on the Golden Gopher throw home that failed to stop Walters. Gordon reached on a fielder’s choice to the Minnesota shortstop, scoring Lieto and moving Klosowicz to third. Gordon proceeded to steal second, but Ricks made that a moot point with an emphatic three-run homer over the fence in right center that made it a one-run ballgame. A sac fly to left by Klosowicz with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth deadlocked the game, but a one-run reply by Minnesota in the seventh could not be overcome as the Golden Gophers came away with the 8-7 win in the nightcap.
At the conclusion of Saturday’s contests in America’s heartland, the Nittany Lions moved to 12-14 overall and 0-3 in Big Ten play through the team’s first trio of neutral site opportunities in central Oklahoma. Northwestern rose to 12-9 through their Saturday doubleheader in OKC, including an unbeaten 3-0 start to Big Ten action, while Minnesota booked a split against Michigan State and PSU to move to 13-14 overall and 2-1 in the B1G. After the 71st all-time meeting with the Wildcats, NU improved to 56-15 against Penn State while Minnesota improved to 50-21 against the Blue & White after the 71st meeting in that series.
TOP NITTANY LION PERFORMERS (VS. NORTHWESTERN)
Maddie Gordon | 1-for-2, R, 2 RBI, HR
Natalie Lieto | 2-for-3, 2 1B
Lydia Coleman | 1-for-1, PINCH-HIT 1B
TOP NITTANY LION PERFORMERS (VS. MINNESOTA)
Meagan Ricks | 2-for-4, 2 R, 3 RBI,
Kaylie Walters | 1-for-1, 2 R, RBI, 2 BB, SB
Mady Volpe | 4.0 IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 5BB, 4K
KEY INNINGS (VS. NORTHWESTERN)
T1 | After a pair of flyouts to right field to lead off the visitor’s half of the first, Klosowicz extended her reached-base streak to 24 consecutive games by drawing a walk on five pitches. Gordon stepped up to the plate in the next at-bat and delivered a no-doubt homer to the opposite field in right, providing the Blue & White with an early two-run advantage. PSU 2, NU 0
B1 | Grace Nieto led the first inning off for Northwestern with a bunt single, and a successful sacrifice bunt from Kelsey Nader bumped the Wildcat runner 60 feet further. A fielding error on the PSU third baseman allowed Kaylie Avvisato to reach first while Nieto advanced to third, and a wild pitch during the ensuing at-bat allowed the latter to complete her journey home. PSU 2, NU 1
B2 | With a flyout on the scoreboard, Emma Raye stepped up to the plate and lined a homer over the fence in left on a 2-0 count to tie the game. Riley Grudzielanek drew a walk moments later, and a throwing error by the PSU first baseman resulted in Grudzielanek taking second while Avery Garden reached safely at first. Nieto walked to load the bases, and a triple down the right field line that bounced off the first base bag plated the two lead runners while Nieto was thrown out, 9-3-2. A single through the right side plated Nader to close out the four-run Northwestern frame. NU 5, PSU 2
B3 | With one away, Isabel Cunnea singled to left field and Raye singled through the right side to place a pair of runners on. Grudzielanek drew a walk to load the bases, and Garden lifted a sac fly to left to bring Cunnea home. NU 6, PSU 2
B4 | Nader led off the bottom of the fourth with a single through the right side, and Avvisato stepped up to the plate and lifted a homer over the fence in right to plate two more runs. Kansas Robinson made it back-to-back homers for the Wildcats, hitting a solo shot to right to make it a seven-run game. NU 9, PSU 2
B5 | With one out on the board, Nieto booked a bunt single to get the Northwestern offense started in the fifth. Nader was hit by a PSU pitch in the next plate appearance, and both runners were able to occupy second and third after a Nittany Lion passed ball. Avvisato ended the game with an infield single that ricocheted off the PSU pitcher, bringing in Nieto for the unearned tally. NU 10, PSU 2
KEY INNINGS (VS. MINNESOTA)
T1 | Margaret Tobias led the game off with a walk, and Taylor Krapf was hit by a PSU offering that placed runners on the right side of the infield. Nani Valencia loaded the bases with a single up the middle, and despite the PSU defense working for the first out of the game, Minnesota earned their way onto the board by scoring on a wild pitch. Jessa Snippes drew a walk to load the bases once more, and and RBI single to left by Jae Cosgriff made it a two-run game for the Gophers. MINN 2, PSU 0
B2 | Meagan Ricks led the home half of the second inning off for Penn State with a single to right field, and a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt from Nelson drove Ricks to second base. Aggressive baserunning from Ricks resulted in a steal of third base with one out on the board, and after a Nittany Lion strikeout put two outs on the board, Hernandez kept the inning alive by drawing a walk. From there, Walters stepped up to the dish and legged out an impressive infield single that drove Ricks in to score. MINN 2, PSU 1
T3 | With one out on the board, Snippes sent a single through the middle of the infield. Cosgriff walked to put runners on the right side, and a grounder bumped both runners up 60 feet. Kayla Chavez came to the dish for Minnesota and laced a three-run homer down the left field line to give Minnesota a four-run edge. MINN 5, PSU 1
T4 | Tobias drew a hit by pitch and Krapf took a walk to first to place a pair of runners on for Minnesota in the top of the fourth. Valencia stepped up and delivered a single to center that drove Tobias in and moved Krapf to second. Maggie Werner drew a walk to load the bases once again, and Snippes added an RBI walk to close out the two-run inning for Minnesota. MINN 7, PSU 1
B5 | Walters got the Penn State dugout and offense fired up by drawing a leadoff walk, and Lieto sent a single to left field to place a pair of Nittany Lions on the basepath. After a flyout bumped Walters to third base, Klosowicz extended her reached-base streak and knocked in a run with an RBI single, advancing to second on the Golden Gopher throw home that failed to stop Walters. Gordon reached on a fielder’s choice to the Minnesota shortstop, scoring Lieto and moving Klosowicz to third. Gordon proceeded to steal second, but Ricks made that a moot point with an emphatic three-run homer over the fence in right center that made it a one-run ballgame. MINN 7, PSU 6
B6 | With one down in the bottom of the sixth, Walters drew a walk and proceeded to steal second to reach scoring position. Lieto drew another walk to place runners on the right side, and a single toward third base by Brunson loaded the bases for PSU. Klosowicz stepped up to the plate and lifted a sac fly deep to left that brought Walters in to tie the game. PSU 7, MINN 7
T7 | With one away, Krapf hit a triple to right field and was able to score the game-winning run moments later on a wild pitch. MINN 8, PSU 7
UP NEXT
Penn State softball concludes its weekend stay in the Softball Capital of the World, as the Nittany Lions wrap up B1G Softball x Devon Park with a 1:30 p.m. (ET) matchup against the Minnesota Golden Gophers from the home of the Women’s College World Series. The game will stream live to a worldwide audience of authenticated subscribers via B1G+ and the B1G+ app, with live stats and updates available via the Penn State softball schedule webpage and team social media channels.
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