Penn State comes up short to Maryland, losing three-game series
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- Another snowballing inning by Penn State allowed four runs at the top of the third to score which gave Maryland enough room to take game three in this series.
Maryland beat Penn State 6-4 improving its record to 15-15 winning the series 2-1 while Penn State fell to 18-13.
After a quiet first inning, Liana Jones got the scoring started at the bottom of the second with a home run for Penn State bringing in Lilia Crouthamel. This was Jones's second home run of the season.
Maryland rallied back at the top of the third inning scoring four runs taking the lead 4-2. Mackense Greico and Haley Ellefson brought in runs early in the inning.
Greico had a great game recording two RBIs and batting 2-3. Another star for the Terrapins was lead-off hitter Megan Mikami. Mikami efficiently got on base, batting 3-4 with one RBI.
Allowing big innings has proven to be the problem for Penn State as their game before they allowed six runs in one inning.
“When you look at those innings, I think errors were made,” coach Clarisa Crowell said. “We have to figure out a way to stop the snowball effect.”
Penn State didn’t go away tying the game at four after three innings.
A Penn State pitching change didn’t not slow Maryland down as they scored two more runs at the top of the fourth inning taking a 6-4 lead.
Penn State's pitcher, Bailey Parshall, finally settled into the game not allowing runs in the final three innings. Parshall has proven to be Penn State's best pitcher with a 12-3 record and a 1.33 ERA.
Maryland found a way to stop Penn State's retaliation with relief pitcher Trinity Schlotterbeck. Schlotterbeck recorded five strikeouts and only allowed one hit through four innings.
In what looked like a high-scoring game, Penn State did not get another run for the final four innings. The Nittany Lions started the game batting aggressively, swinging at almost every pitch.
The game closed with the Nittany Lions only recording one hit through the final half of the game.
“Game three, as you can see, is typically you got to hit,” Crowell said. “We just have to get better in all three facets.”
Penn State will look to get back on track as they will stay home to face Bucknell on Tuesday night. A struggling Bucknell team could show to be a good confidence booster for Penn State before they get into a three-game series with Purdue.
“I’m just excited for our team to just get back out and compete against Bucknell,” Crowell said. “The one great thing about our sport is we play so many games that we can’t dwell on what happened this past weekend.”
Kyle Schmidt is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email kyle.schmidt1025@gmail.com.
