Liana Jones Leaves No Doubt, Walks Off Penn State Over Iowa
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - In a softball game that went the distance of baseball, left fielder Liana Jones hit a walk-off home run off the scoreboard in the bottom of the ninth inning to propel the Penn State Nittany Lions over the Iowa Hawkeyes, 3-2.
This was the second straight walk-off for the blue and white as they move to 19-4 on the season and 1-0 in the Big Ten.
The game started off slow, not seeing its first run until the top of the fourth when shortstop Tory Bennett hit an RBI single giving the Hawkeyes the lead. The Nittany Lions tied the game two innings later in the bottom of the sixth when Lexie Black hit a triple off the top of the wall in right field, and Michelle Leone’s sac-fly to left brought Black home.
Penn State’s ace, Bailey Parshall would start the game for Penn State in the circle and record four strikeouts bringing her season total to 99 before being replaced in the top of the sixth by Kylee Lingenfelter.
The super senior went on to give up five hits and one run. This allowed Iowa to establish a 2-1 lead in the top of the eighth.
The bottom of the eighth started with Emily Maddock being hit by a pitch, followed up with Kaitlyn Morrison hitting a sacrifice bunt that moved Maddock to second. Leone came to bat and knocked a hard single into left field that brought Maddock home. Leone was then replaced with Lauren Marcotte coming in as a pinch runner.
Nothing would transpire further as the Nittany Lions would fly out but with the game tied at two.
The top of the ninth saw Parshall re-enter the game and you could hear a murmur among the crowd. Parshall struck out Iowa’s Brylee Klosterman and the crowd erupted as the Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania native has now collected the triple digit strikeout margin for four out of her five seasons.
“My game plan changed a little bit going into the last inning trying to add a few more off speed pitches, and getting that on the off speed felt really nice,” Parshall said. Parshall was able to shut down the remaining Hawkeyes with pitches that led to a ground out and fly out to close out the top of the ninth.
The stage was set for Liana Jones to be the first and only batter Penn State would need to take down Iowa.
Patience and the right pitch was all it took for Jones to hit an absolutely monstrous shot into left field that rang off the scoreboard making all of Beard Field scream in complete blissful pandemonium.
“It was awesome,” Jones said. It was a team win and I was just looking for something that I could hit hard, but it's always awesome to be able to come out with a W.”
Head coach Clarisa Crowell could not have been prouder of her team, the chants and chirps all game long from the dugout even when Penn State was down by a run twice, and the grittiness they showed.
“Our mindset right now, I think, is pretty gritty. We go down by a run and you can’t even tell by the dugout because all they know how to do is fight,” Crowell said.
Penn State resumes action on Sunday in a doubleheader date with the Hawkeyes.
“That's a great team, and going into this we told the kids what it's going to take, strong pitching, strong defense, and were got to find ways to get on base and take time to hit because we know how good their pitching staff was,” Crowell said. “My staff and I will go back to the film and figure out how to go in on Sunday.”
Penn State will be seeking a sweep of the Iowa Hawkeyes on Sunday with the first game of the doubleheader scheduled for 11 a.m. at Beard Field.
Chris Machado is a junior studying broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email cvm6238@psu.edu.
