Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Penn State
Bucknell Softball Falls Twice to Penn State, 6-2 & 15-3
3/25/2008 8:00:00 AM | Softball
March 25, 2008
Game 1 Box Score: L, 6-2 | Game 2 Box Score: L, 15-3 (5 in.) |
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LEWISBURG, Pa. - Cassie Lloyd (Mifflinburg, Pa./Mifflinburg) hit two home runs for Bucknell, but Penn State pounded out 28 hits and scored 21 runs as the Bison were swept in a softball doubleheader by the Nittany Lions Tuesday afternoon. Bucknell lost the first game 6-2 after leading 2-1 late in the contest, and then dropped the five-inning nightcap by a 15-3 margin.
Lloyd, who entered the day with two career home runs, doubled that total as she hit a booming two-run home run to left in the first game and followed with a solo shot that just cleared the right-center field wall in the second contest.
Lloyd was one of three Bucknell players to tally multiple hits in the doubleheader. Ashley Beans (Hanover, Pa./Hanover), who was 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles in the second game, and Ashley Carlson (Fairless Hills, Pa./Pennsbury), who was 2-for-5, also registered two hits on the day.
Penn State started the doubleheader off slowly, managing just five hits and one run through the first five innings of game one. The Nittany Lions then scored 20 runs and registered 23 hits over the final two innings of game one and the five innings in game two.
Bucknell (5-17) had managed just one hit - that an infield single by Carlson - off Penn State (21-8) starter Ashley Esparza (9-5) entering the bottom of the fifth in game one. Sherry Finkel (Morgantown, W. Va./University) led off the frame with a single to right and Lloyd followed with her first home run of the day, putting the Bison up 2-1.
Penn State responded with four runs in the top of the sixth to retake the lead. Six of the first seven hitters in the frame reached base, with five of them reaching via a hit. An RBI triple by Sam Hovanec, the second hitter in the inning, tied the score, while Kayce Zielinski followed with a run-scoring single to put the Nittany Lions up for good. They added two more runs in the inning and one unearned run in the seventh.
Christie Wiest (Centre Hall, Pa./Penns Valley) pitched her 10th complete game of the season for Bucknell. She yielded 12 hits, seven of which came in the final two innings, and six runs, five of which were scored in the sixth and seventh frames. She also struck out four and walked two.
Esparza, who led off the game with a long home run to center, allowed the Bison just three hits and struck out 14. Eleven of the final 15 outs she recorded were strikeouts.
Game two featured Penn State jumping out to a 7-0 lead in the top of the first. It added three more runs in the second and five in the third. Bucknell scored single runs in the first, second and fourth innings.
In the pivotal first inning, the first four Nittany Lion hitters singled, and seven of the first eight scored before Bison starter Katie McDonald (York, Pa./West York Area) settled down and got Esparza and Ashley Griffith to ground out in back-to-back at bats, ending the inning.
A two-run home run by Desi Giordano, who was 2-for-2 with five runs batted in, was the big blow in the third, while Zielinski blasted a three-run home run to left in the third frame.
Bucknell's first run came after Carlson led off with a single up the middle. She then advanced around the bases on a wild pitch and a pair of passed balls. A sacrifice fly by Elyse Colmenero (Fresno, Calif./Central) and Lloyd's second home run of the day rounded out the scoring for the home team.
Penn State totaled 16 hits in game two, while Bucknell managed seven. Six different Bison recorded hits, led by the two doubles by Beans.
Each of the Nittany Lions' starters in game two recorded at least one hit, while four posted multiple-hit outings. Danielle Kinley was 3-for-3 with three runs scored and one RBI to lead the way. Giordano, Zielinski and Rebecca Bautista each had two hits in the contest.
McDonald (2-6) recorded the complete game in the circle for the Bison. Kimi Wong (1-0) fired the complete game for Penn State.
With her appearance in game one of the doubleheader, Wiest pitched for Bucknell for the 99th time in her career.
Lloyd's two home runs moved her to within one of 10th place on Bucknell's career list.
The Bison will be back in action Wednesday when they travel to UMBC for a doubleheader that was postponed from the last weekend in February. First pitch is slated for 3 p.m. in Baltimore, Md.
