WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Eleventh-seeded Penn State softball concluded its 60th anniversary season on Thursday afternoon, with the Blue & White dropping a Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal decision to the third-seeded and 19th-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers by a 9-1 margin in five innings of play from Bittinger Stadium on the campus of Purdue University.
The Blue & White closed the book on their 61st varsity season after securing the program’s 16th-ever win in the Big Ten Conference Tournament, finishing the year with a 16-22 overall mark in the event since the first PSU appearance in 1999. Penn State completed the year with a 25-27 overall record, coupling that with a 10-12 finish in Big Ten regular season play and a 1-1 mark in the league’s postseason event. Nebraska reached the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament following its win over PSU, rising to 39-12 overall and 1-0 in the league’s postseason. Following the 24th all-time meeting between the two squads, Nebraska improved to 16-8 overall against the Blue & White.
On the offensive side of the ball, Penn State saw a pair of student-athletes muster hits on the day, with senior right fielder Haylie Brunson and sophomore second baseman Michela Barbanente leading the offensive charge for the Blue & White. Both Nittany Lion players went 1-for-2 in the batter’s box with a single apiece. Brunson, a native of Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, recorded the only Penn State run batted in on the day, with her two-out single in the top of the first driving in senior first baseman Meagan Ricks, who scored the final run of her collegiate career in the battle with the Cornhuskers.
In the pitcher’s circle, senior right-hander Mady Volpe booked the final start of her collegiate career and ensured her spot in Nittany Lion history with her 48th appearance of the 2025 season to mark the most single-year pitching appearances in program history. Volpe, a Lansdale, Pennsylvania, native, oversaw all five PSU unearned runs in the top of the first and was saddled with the bad-luck loss as a result, finishing the year with a 10-16 individual record at the pitcher’s rubber. Sophomore Jiselle Hernandez and freshman Abigail Britton entered to close out Thursday’s quarterfinal matchup, with both student athletes working together to close out the final 4.1 frames.
In the top of the first inning, Ricks took a strike as the first pitch of the ballgame but wore the 0-1 offering from Ball as a hit-by-pitch to reach first base. A productive Nittany Lion grounder bumped Ricks to second, and a wild pitch brought the Nittany Lion to third base. After working a 2-1 count, Brunson smacked an RBI single to left to bring Ricks aboard for the lid-lifting tally. From there, Penn State was able to put a pair of outs on the board with one runner on, but an untimely error paved the way for the Cornhuskers to tally five unearned scores and take a commanding 5-1 run through the opening inning of play. Nebraska went on to tally four more runs over the remainder of the contest and take the quarterfinal matchup via the run rule, 9-1, in five innings of action.
TOP NITTANY LION PERFORMERS
Haylie Brunson | 1-for-2, RBI, 1B
Michela Barbanente | 1-for-2, 1B
Meagan Ricks | 0-for-2, R, HBP
KEY INNINGS
T1 | Ricks took a strike as the first pitch of the ballgame but wore the 0-1 offering from Ball as a hit-by-pitch to reach first base. A productive Nittany Lion grounder bumped Ricks to second, and a wild pitch brought the Nittany Lion to third base. After working a 2-1 count, Brunson smacked an RBI single to left to bring Ricks aboard for the lid-lifting tally. PSU 1, NEB 0
B1 | With two away, Ava Kuszak drew a walk and advanced to third moments later after a ground ball and fielder’s choice turned into a two-base throwing error against the Nittany Lions that saw runners on the corners. A wild pitch plated Kuszak, while Olivia DiNardo advanced from first to second. Hannah Camenzind walked, and both runners advanced 60 feet further on another wild pitch. Abbi Squier cleared the bases with a triple to right, and a Bella Bacon walk with an ensuing base resulted in a pair of Cornhuskers in scoring position. Ava Bredwell singled to left moments later, tallying a pair of extra scores with all five Nebraska tallies going in the book unearned. NEB 5, PSU 1
B2 | Jordy Bahl drew a walk to lead off the bottom of the second, and despite a strikeout putting one away, another walk drawn by Kuszak put runners on the right side. A DiNardo single through the right side of the infield plated Bahl while Kuszak advanced to third. Kennadi Williams entered to run for DiNardo at first base just before a Camenzind fly ball to left resulted in a sacrifice fly that plated Kuszak. NEB 7, PSU 1
B5 | Bella Bacon led off the home half of the fifth with a double to right, and Katelyn Caneda entered to run for her at second base. Ava Bredwell followed that up with a first-pitch RBI double to center that brought Caneda around. A groundout put an out on the board, and an intentional walk saw Bahl take over at first base with runners on the right side. A fielder’s choice culminated in a force out at third base to put two down, but a single up the middle by Kuszak put an end to Thursday’s game via the run rule. NEB 9, PSU 1
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