Strong hitting fuels a dominating 10-2 win for Penn State softball
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Strong hitting in the first and fourth inning was all Penn State needed to capture a 10-2 win in five innings on Sunday.
After the blue and white’s first game against Cornell on Mar. 18 went into extra innings where the Nittany Lions won 3-2, Penn State made quick work of Big Red scoring seven runs in the final two innings to force a mercy rule.
Penn State recorded its fourth straight win in the Penn State Invitational and the fifth straight overall.
The blue and white got the scoring started early with Lexie Black hitting a two-run RBI home run to left-center in the first inning to give the Nittany Lions a 2-0 lead. Black’s home run was her seventh on the season.
Black continued to make her presence felt in the second, hitting a fly-out to right field in the second inning. The flyout brought Melody Coombs home from third base for a sacrifice fly, making the score 3-0.
That was the only run in the second and third inning from Penn State as the bats fell silent for a short time.
After recording only one hit during the first three innings, Cornell woke up in the top of the 4th with a 2-run home run from Emily McKinney to make the lead 3-2.
Despite its lead being trimmed to just one, Penn State was not to be fazed, recording four runs in the bottom of the fourth to turn the game in the Nittany Lions’ favor.
Coombs hit an RBI double down the left-field line, bringing in two runners to make it 5-2.
Cassie Lindmark followed that up with a hit to center field, scoring two runners for an RBI-double to make the score 7-2.
After a quick 1-2-3 outs from Cornell at the top of the fifth, Maggie Finnegan finished the game off with a three-run RBI home run to left field making the final score 10-2.
Penn State finished with 11 hits compared to Cornell’s three. Finnegan, Lindmark and Lilia Crouthamel led all Nittany Lion batters with two hits each.
Black and Finnegan led in RBIs with three each. Nittany Lion pitchers Lydia Spalding and Kylee Lingenfelter combined for five strikeouts. Spalding allowed just two runs and a single walk in four innings.
After giving up four hits and two runs in the previous game against UMass Lowell in a rough outing for Lingenfelter, she bounced back by not giving up a hit in her lone inning pitching.
Along with strong pitching, Penn State played a clean game with zero errors.
The Nittany Lions’ official record improved to 15-11. The Nittany Lions have outscored their opponents 33-6 during the winning streak.
Penn State will face Rider for the second time in the Invitational on Sunday at 5:45 p.m.
Timothy Lonas is a third-year majoring in digital/print journalism. To contact him, email tpl5336@psu.edu.
