Penn State Softball Falls As Wisconsin’s Pitching Stifles The Nittany Lion Batters
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- On a clear, cool Friday night at Beard Field, Penn State softball was not able to secure a second straight win.
In a defensive slugfest, Wisconsin won the first of a three-game weekend series against the Nittany Lions, 1-0.
Wisconsin rolled into the contest having won four of its last five games. The Badgers’ win gives them an extra win over the Nittany Lions in the Big Ten standings as Penn State has just five games to make up ground.
Pitchers Bailey Parshall and Maddie Schwartz, coming into the game allowing just a .170 and .237 ERA respectively, were the stars of the game. The two recorded 17 strikeouts while allowing just six hits combined.
The two’s dominance showed in the first four innings, as they combined for nine strikeouts and just two hits from the Badgers. The game got off to a slow start with only one hit in the first two innings. Parshall combined for three strikeouts.
The Nittany Lions struggled to make contact with the ball, grounding out to third in four of their first six at-bats.
Despite the Nittany Lions’ early woes, the Badgers were not able to capitalize in the second and third with a batter on base.
Penn State would get its first batter on base in the third, but it came off an error from Wisconsin’s third baseman Skylar Sirdashney.
After the third inning, a streak of three 1-2-3 innings for both teams began as the score remained scoreless going into the final inning.
The inning started with Parshall walking Wisconsin’s Lauren Foster. However, the Badgers were not able to capitalize after an unsuccessful stolen base attempt.
With a chance to win the game, the Nittany Lions grounded out three times to left in-field, sending the game into extra innings.
In the eighth and ninth inningd, Parshall gave up another two walks, but nothing would suffice. The Badgers left five runners on base for the game.
The bottom of the ninth would see Penn State record its first hit of the game off a single up the middle from Cassie Lindmark. It continued with a walk on Ally Kurland.
It ended a perfect game bid from Schwartz, but she would redeem herself with a strikeout on Michelle Leone to end the inning.
At the start of the tenth inning, fatigue from Parshall showed as Wisconsin’s Morgan Kummer’s first home run of the season proved to be the game-winning run.
After a 110-pitch game from Parshall, head Coach Clarisa Crowell said she will look at the game film to determine what to do for tomorrow.
“I have no idea what we’re going to do for tomorrow,” Crowell said. “You know we have some other great pitchers on staff. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.”
With one final chance to score their first run to tie the game, the Nittany Lions could not convert. Two ground-outs and a line-out left Penn State with just one hit on the day.
“Lack of adjustments,” Crowell said when asked about the Nittany Lions’ hitting woes. “We weren’t able to, you know, get any momentum and everyone had a bad night as a result.
Penn State will face the Badgers at 1 p.m. Saturday for the second game of the series.
Timothy Lonas is a third-year majoring in digital/print journalism. To contact him, email him at tpl5336@psu.edu
