Softball Heads to Penn State for Non-Conference Doubleheader

LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Bucknell softball team kicks off a week of non-conference action on Wednesday when it makes the short trip to University Park for a doubleheader against Penn State on Beard Field in the Nittany Lion Softball Park. The Bison, who have a bye from Patriot League play this weekend, and the Nittany Lions will take the field for the first game of the evening at 6 p.m., and the second contest is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. The twin bill will be streamed live on the Big Ten Digital Network.

Bucknell has compiled a 15-18 mark this season and currently sits in second place in the Patriot League with a 7-5 conference record. The Bison squared off against first-place Lehigh this past weekend, going toe-to-toe with the Mountain Hawks for three contests. Lehigh took a 6-1 victory in the first game of the series, but Bucknell rallied back to take a 2-0 win in the second outing. The third contest was a pitching battle, but a pair of Mountain Hawk runs in the first two innings proved to be the decision maker, allowing Lehigh to escape with the 2-0 win, and a 2-1 edge in the series.

Junior Cydnee Sanders leads the team and the Patriot League with her .449 batting average, a number that ranks her 18^th nationally, and classmate Kristen Zahn has also been a force at the plate, hitting .363 with a team-high .618 slugging percentage. Sanders, who has scored 28 runs and has tallied 48 hits this season, has connected at least once in 29 of the team's 33 contests, and had recorded multiple hits on 12 occasions. Zahn leads the team in all power hitting categories with nine doubles, a triple and five home runs to her credit, and has also had brought in 27 RBI in her 102 at-bats. As a team, the Bison rank 10^th nationally with 1.67 doubles per game, while senior Mallory Lyons ranks sixth with 0.67 sacrifice hits per outing.

Bucknell's young pitching staff ranks second in the Patriot League with a 2.90 ERA and leads the conference with 180 strikeouts. Sophomore Cindy Cherness has a conference-best 2.26 ERA, while freshman Lara Bean, who was selected as the Patriot League Rookie of the Week on Monday for her two performances against the Mountain Hawks, ranks third with a 2.39 ERA. Bean is holding her opponents to a league-best .190 batting average, while sophomore Dana Nielsen leads the Patriot League with 88 strikeouts.

The Bison and the Nittany Lions have played 28 contests since 1986, and Penn State holds a 22-6 advantage in the series. Bucknell is 3-14 when playing in University Park, but has not played there since April of 2007. The two teams last met for a doubleheader in Lewisburg on March 25, 2008, with Penn State taking a 6-2 win in the first game and a 15-3 victory in the five-inning second contest.

Penn State currently holds a 12-23 overall record and a 5-7 mark in the Big Ten, most recently taking a 2-1 series win at Indiana this past weekend. The team's top four hitters are all batting over .300, led by Lexi Knief's .394 batting average and .550 slugging percentage. Kasie Hatfield (.354), Karlie Habitz (.337) and Shelby Miller (.325) round out the formidable offensive quartet. The four-member pitching staff has combined for a 5.65 ERA, with Marlaina Laubach, who is 8-10 on the season, leading the way with her 3.46 ERA. She has allowed 115 hits in 93.0 innings of action, permitting 46 earned runs and striking out 54.

After the mid-week doubleheader, Bucknell will continue non-conference play with a three-game home series with Coppin State this weekend. The Bison and the Eagles will meet for a 5 p.m. contest on Friday evening before squaring off twice on Saturday. First pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 12 p.m.