ROSEMONT, Ill. – Penn State softball freshman infielder Allison Oneacre secured the first Big Ten Conference weekly accolade of her collegiate career, garnering B1G Freshman of the Week distinction in a release from the league office on Monday afternoon.
The rookie third baseman made a monumental impact on Penn State’s success a week ago at the Houston Invitational, leading the Nittany Lions to a 4-1 record with a pair of run-rule victories over power four conference challengers. Oneacre, a native of Alpharetta, Georgia, raked in the batter’s box to the tune of a .583 batting average, mustering seven hits with six of those going for extra bases. The true freshman blasted a team-high four home runs over the fence and added a pair of doubles, racking up 21 total bases and a 1.750 slugging percentage. Her single-weekend OPS of 2.450 is the best by a Nittany Lion in 2026, and her team-leading 10 RBI helped power PSU to outscore its opponents by a 43-11 margin across the five-game tournament. On the defensive side, Oneacre was virtuosic at both third base and second base, amassing five putouts and 11 assists for an unblemished 1.000 fielding percentage.
Oneacre has been dominant for Penn State in each of her first two weekends of collegiate competition, pacing the Blue & White with a season-long .407 batting average. The first-year sensation has established herself as one of the most prominent power hitters in all of Division I through this early point in the 2026 campaign, sitting in third place in the Big Ten Conference with six home runs and fifth nationally in that statistic. In terms of runs batted in, Oneacre own 16 on the year to rank fourth in the B1G and 17th in major college softball. Her powerful start to the year also features a top-25 slugging percentage in Division I, with the rookie boasting an eye-popping 1.148 slugging percentage to rank fifth in the Big Ten and 24th nationally.
Penn State saw its sixth different student-athlete land Big Ten Freshman of the Week accolades in program history on Monday, in addition to the third different player under the direction of sixth-year head coach Clarisa Crowell. Oneacre becomes PSU’s first B1G Freshman of the Week honoree since current Nittany Lion right-handed pitcher Bridget Nemeth secured her third of the 2024 campaign back on April 8 of that season. Oneacre’s B1G Freshman of the Week honor marks the eighth such award in Penn State history, with Nemeth serving as the only Nittany Lion to earn more than one in a single season in school annals.
With Oneacre anchoring the Nittany Lion lineup, Penn State returns to action this Friday through Sunday, February 20 through 22, as the Blue & White travel to Orlando, Florida, to take part in the SpaceU Classic hosted by UCF. PSU will challenge the Charleston Southern Buccaneers in a pair of matchups on Friday and Sunday, with single games scheduled against host-UCF, Ohio and Notre Dame over the three-day event from the UCF Softball Complex. All five PSU contests will stream live to a worldwide audience of authenticated subscribers via ESPN+ and the ESPN app on connected devices.
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The 2026 Penn State softball season is presented by Highmark.