Softball Sweeps Juniata for First Home Wins
ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona softball team notched its first home wins of the 2025 season on Tuesday, when the Lions swept non-conference opponent Juniata College in a doubleheader at Stewart Athletic Field.
In game one, Penn State Altoona (9-7) nursed an early lead to the finish line to defeat Juniata (5-15) by a score of 3-2. The Lions rallied to victory in game two, using a three-run seventh inning to post an 8-7 walk-off win over the Eagles.
Game One: Penn State Altoona 3, Juniata 2
The Lions and Eagles scored all of the game's runs in the first inning, as Juniata put a pair on the board in the top half before Penn State Altoona jumped ahead with a three-run bottom half. The Lions held their narrow advantage the rest of the way to beat the Eagles.
Josselyn Nau (Bellefonte, PA/Bellefonte) pitched a complete game in her sixth win of the season. Across seven innings, she allowed just four hits, one earned run, and one walk while punching out five batters.
Gianna Hoppel (Lewistown, PA/Mifflin County) went 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored, and Hanna Lauck (Bellefonte, PA/Bellefonte) was 1-for-3 with a double, an RBI, and a run. Allison Beeman (Tyrone, PA/Tyrone) had a hit and an RBI, Lauren Davidson (Clearfield, PA/DuBois Central Catholic) had a hit an scored a run, and Karli Storm (Chest Springs, PA/Cambria Heights) contributed an RBI.
Juniata took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, when a Jessie Hunt RBI single and an error got two runs in for the visitors.
Penn State Altoona answered with three in the bottom of the first. After base hits from Davidson and Hoppel put runners aboard for the Lions with one out, Lauck's RBI double down the left-field line and Storm's fielder's choice tied the score at 2-2. Beeman, the next batter, singled to left center to bring in the go-ahead run.
Both teams' offenses were quiet the rest of the way, however, and the Lions clinched a one-run victory in game one.
Game Two: Penn State Altoona 8, Juniata 7
The Lions saw a 3-0 lead disappear in the third, when Juniata put together a seven-run inning to power its way into the lead. But Penn State Altoona chipped away with two in the fourth, then rallied for three in the seventh to win on a walk-off hit from Davidson.
Hoppel went 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI, and a run scored, while Alyssa Fisher (Lock Haven, PA/Central Mountain) was 2-for-4 with three runs scored, a walk, and a stolen base. Lauck was 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Madalyn Maynard (Towanda, PA/Towanda) went 2-for-4 with a run scored.
Davidson was 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored, Madison Kennedy (Williamsburg, PA/Central) had the game-tying hit, two RBI, and a run scored, and Storm was 1-for-3 with two RBI. Carly Hutchinson (Wayne, PA/Conestoga) had a pinch-hit double and a run scored.
In the pitching circle, Maynard tossed the first two innings and Sidney Nihart (Ashville, PA/Cambria Heights) pitched the next two. Kennedy finished the game with three scoreless, hitless frames and was rewarded with her second win of the season.
Penn State Altoona scored the first run of the contest in the bottom of the first, after Fisher drew a leadoff walk and later scored on Lauck's RBI single to center. In the second, a two-out error by Juniata allowed Fisher to score from second base, and Hoppel followed with an RBI single to right center to make it 3-0.
But Juniata stormed ahead in the top of the third. Morgan Brumbaugh's RBI single, Kay Magill's sacrifice fly, and a wild pitch that plated Chelsea Williams tied the score at 3-3. Later that inning, Ashley Robuck's RBI infield hit, Eva Johnson's two-run triple, and a Hunt RBI base hit put the Eagles up 7-3.
Penn State Altoona got a pair back in the fourth to narrow its deficit to two. After singles by Fisher, Hoppel, and Lauck loaded the bases with one out, Storm's two-run single to center brought the Lions to within 7-5.
Juniata held its lead until the seventh, when Penn State Altoona posted a comeback to win the game. With one out, an error allowed Maynard to reach safely, and Hutchinson followed with a pinch-hit double to put two runners in scoring position. The next batter, Kennedy, drove both in with her single up the middle, knotting the score at 7-7. Later, with two outs and Kennedy at third base, Davidson's RBI single to right gave Penn State Altoona the clutch hit it needed and finished the day with a walk-off win for the Lions.
Penn State Altoona softball will travel for its next games, as the Lions are slated to hit the road to face non-conference opponent Elizabethtown College this Sunday, March 30, at 1 p.m.
