SB: Penn State Splits Doubleheader with Ohio State

Story posted April 13, 2017 in CommRadio, Sports by Joe Esquivel-Murphy

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.— Penn State entered the doubleheader against Ohio State needing a good result after a bit of a struggle on the weekend against. The team responded with a great 2-1 win in the opener, silencing the Ohio State bats.

Entering the game, Ohio State had been hitting .307 as a team and had three players with at least 25 RBIs. The Buckeye offense was unable to produce any RBIs and was limited to only seven hits during the contest.

The poor offensive play by the Buckeyes was attributed to the outstanding play of Penn State senior Marliana Laubach, who pitched the Nittany Lions out of trouble at every turn. Laubach went the distance, only allowing one run and striking out four.

Trouble arose for the Nittany Lions in the fourth when the Buckeyes had the bases loaded and the dangerous leadoff hitter Anna Kirk was at the plate. Laubach struck her out, ending the scoring threat for Ohio State.

Penn State head coach Amanda Lehotak talked about the performance of her pitcher.

“It was probably one of the best games Marly has played in a long time,” Lehotak said.

Senior pitcher Shelby Hursh came into the game with a great reputation against the Nittany Lions as she had an ERA of 1.05 in her career. Last year, she no-hit the Nittany Lions in Columbus.

Hursh did not have that type of success in this game, as she allowed two runs and five hits in four innings of work. The big hit came by freshman catcher Destiny Weber, who entered the game hitting .167.

With two outs and Gianna Arrizurieta and Delaney Elling on base, Weber hit a double off the wall to clear the bases. The double was her first extra base hit of the year and probably the biggest hit for her this year.

The second game did not go as well as the first as the Buckeyes fought for a 10-7 win. The dormant bats in the first game came alive in the opening inning, scoring five runs to open the contest.

Taylor White was a force on the base paths for the Buckeyes as she scored two runs and stole two bases, while going 1-3 at the plate. Ashley Goodwin dominated the Penn State pitching staff as she went 3-4 with 4 RBIs and a run scored. The Buckeyes were very aggressive on the base paths, collecting seven stolen bases.

Freshman Madey Smith goy the start in the second game and struggled to get batters out, allowing five hits and four runs in only .2 innings of work. Madison Seifert filled in her for her and stopped the momentum for a bit, only one earned run and five hits.

The Penn State offense exploded as well in the second game with 15 hits over the course of the game. Toni Polk and Tori Dubois were the top hitters for the Nittany Lions, going 6-8 with three runs scored and three RBIs.

Lehotak talked about how proud she was of her team to fight back after being down 9-2 early in the game.

“Really to see them do that is something they’ve done all year,” Lehotak said. “Some balls are starting to fall in.”

Penn State’s record goes to 16-22 and 4-7 in the conference. The Nittany Lions continue their conference schedule with a road series against Nebraska starting on Friday

 

Joe Esquivel-Murphy is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism and Spanish. To contact him, email jje5139@psu.edu.