Michigan’s Beaubien Dominates in Win Over Penn State
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The only thing that was more stifling than the cold and windy weather in State College on Sunday afternoon, was Michigan’s Meghan Beaubien’s pitching.
The freshman recorded her 23rd win of the year, allowed only one hit and tallied five strikeouts in just three innings of play.
Beaubien paved the way for a dominating performance by the No. 17 ranked Michigan Wolverines (31-7, 7-1 BIG) as they cruised past the Penn State Nittany Lions (6-26, 2-7 BIG) 11-1 in five innings.
Penn State dropped all three games of the series to the Wolverines and tallied only two runs through three games.
Penn State head coach Amanda Lehotak, who has yet to beat the Wolverines in her five years with the Nittany Lions, was disappointed in Sunday afternoon’s result, but still thinks the team is in the right direction.
“It was a tough day, I was disappointed that we couldn’t give them a better game, but we are slowly closing the gap,” Lehotak said.
“We are doing things that from my first year we weren’t even close to doing, so there is gap being closed and we are definitely getting there as long as we keep working at it.”
The Nittany Lions struggled all game long with producing any offense, as they were only able to collect two hits the entire game.
The Wolverines, on the other hand, were not only dominant on the mound, but also from the batter’s box.
Michigan had 11 runs on nine hits, with second basemen Faith Canfield playing a large part in the Wolverines offensive production as she went 2-4 with 4 RBIs.
Haley Hoogenraad and Tera Blanco each had two hits and two RBIs as well with Blanco recording a double and Hoogenraad adding a triple.
Madison Shaffer started the game on the mound for the Nittany Lions, but the junior right hander struggled against the tough Michigan lineup.
Shaffer pitched just 1.2 innings and allowed six runs on six hits in her short stint in the pitching circle. Shaffer was replaced by Jessica Cummings, who despite the score, pitched very well in relief for Shaffer going three innings and only allowing three hits. She did let five runs score though.
Penn State’s first hit came in the second inning with a Meghan Williams single that just hopped over the shoulder of Michigan third basemen Madison Uden.
The Nittany Lions finally put a run on the scoreboard during the fourth inning when left fielder Tori Dubois showed her power by driving one deep into left-center over the fences for a solo shot home run, her fifth home run on the year.
However, the home run would fail to spark any energy for the Nittany Lions as the team would fail to record another hit the rest of the game.
Lehotak will be looking to make some quick changes and adjustments before the team travels to take on a good Ohio State squad on Wednesday.
“Our biggest thing is for us is that our infield came to play in this series, and if our defense can sustain where they are at now we should be good,” Lehotak said.
“We just need to find a way to put the ball in play and take the changeup away from pitchers, so we can get more of the pitches we want at the plate.”
Gregory Merchlinsky is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism and minoring in Political Science. To contact him, email glm5163@psu.edu.
