Penn State softball (17-4) went 2-1 in the Penn State Softball Invitational held at Beard Field from Thursday to Saturday.

The Nittany Lions defeated UMBC 4-1 in game one on Thursday, March 16 before dropping their second game to Cornell 4-3 later that night. After a day off, Penn State came back and crushed Canisius in a 7-0 rout at Beard Field.

How It Happened

Game One

Penn State opened the tournament with a smooth 4-1 victory over UMBC on Thursday.

The Nittany Lions started off hot in the first inning when Kaitlyn Morrison drove in the game’s first run with a single, as Melody Coombs crossed home plate to give Penn State a 1-0 lead. Morrison and Lydia Coleman then later scored when Lexie Black launched a double to left center field, extending the lead to 3-0 in the first inning.

Penn State pitcher Bailey Parshall managed to keep the Retrievers off the board until she gave up a solo home run in the top of the fifth inning to cut the Nittany Lions’ lead to 3-1. Penn State’s Michelle Leone responded quickly with a double to bring Morrison across the plate in the bottom of the fifth to give the Nittany Lions another three-run lead at 4-1.

After two more scoreless innings, Penn State was able to close the game out with a 4-1 victory.

Game Two

Later on Thursday night, Penn State took on Cornell and suffered a close 4-3 defeat.

The game started out well for Penn State again, with Lexie Black driving in a run to give the Nittany Lions an early 1-0 lead in the first inning. Black struck again in the third inning to give Penn State a 2-0 lead, and then Lilia Crouthamel reached on an error in the fourth inning to drive in a run, extending the lead to 3-0.

Things were looking good until Penn State pitcher Kylee Lingenfelter gave up a three-run triple that tied the game at 3-3. Vanessa Oatley replaced Lingenfelter and gave up a run on a wild pitch in the sixth inning, giving Cornell a 4-3 lead. The Nittany Lions were unable to put a rally together, and they ultimately lost the game 4-3.

Game Three

Penn State got back in action on Saturday, March 18 to take on Canisius.

Once again, Penn State started off hot with a home run by Morrison to take a 2-0 in the first inning. Liana Jones then homered in the second inning to extend the lead to 3-0.

Two innings later, Maggie Finnegan reached on an error, which drove in Black to make the score 4-0 in favor of the Nittany Lions. Another error brought in Leone later in the inning to give Penn State a 6-0 lead. Amanda Mack then piled it on in the sixth inning with a double to left field, giving Penn State a 7-0 lead.

The Nittany Lions held on and won the game 7-0.

Takeaways

• Penn State started each of its three games with runs in the first inning, scoring a combined six runs in the first inning over the last three games.
• All in all, the Nittany Lions performed very well this weekend. Despite dropping a close 4-3 game to Cornell, Penn State had the lead for the majority of that game, and its other two games against Canisius and UMBC weren’t even close.

What’s Next

The Nittany Lions will stay home to take on Pitt at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 21.