Softball Swept by Behrend
ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona softball team suffered a pair of losses on Friday afternoon, when visiting Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Penn State Behrend swept the Lions in a doubleheader at Stewart Athletic Field.
Behrend (13-15, 8-4 AMCC) earned a pair of run rule wins over Penn State Altoona (19-11, 9-3 AMCC), posting a 14-4 victory in five innings in game one before winning 11-3 in six innings in game two.
Game One: Penn State Behrend 14, Penn State Altoona 4 (Final/5 innings)
Penn State Altoona fell behind early, as Behrend scored three in the first and two in the second before breaking the game open with a six-run third.
Karli Storm (Chest Springs, PA/Cambria Heights) went 2-for-3 with an RBI for the Lions. Gianna Hoppel (Lewistown, PA/Mifflin County) and Lauren Davidson (Clearfield, PA/DuBois Central Catholic) each had a double, and Alyssa Fisher (Lock Haven, PA/Central Mountain) and Hanna Lauck (Bellefonte, PA/Bellefonte) also had one hit apiece.
Josselyn Nau (Bellefonte, PA/Bellefonte) started in the circle and took the loss after pitching four innings. Sidney Nihart (Ashville, PA/Cambria Heights) pitched one inning in relief.
Trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the first, Penn State Altoona scored two runs on a Lauck sacrifice fly to left and a Storm two-out RBI single to right center.
Behrend answered in the second with a two-run home run to left by Jocelyn McNany, then expanded its lead to 11-2 after getting six runs across in the third. Alexia Brown's RBI hit in the fourth and Sierra Williams' two-run single in the fifth gave the visitors a 14-2 advantage.
Penn State Altoona scored two in the bottom of the fifth. Hoppel's RBI double to left brought home Davidson, and Hoppel later scored on an infield error to make it 14-4.
Game Two: Penn State Behrend 11, Penn State Altoona 3 (Final/6 innings)
Clinging to a 2-1 lead after four, Behrend totaled nine runs in the fifth and sixth innings and ultimately dealt the Lions an eight-run loss in six innings.
Lauck had a double and two RBI, while Madison Kennedy (Williamsburg, PA/Central) had a triple, a run scored, and a walk. Davidson, Hoppel, Allison Beeman (Tyrone, PA/Tyrone), and Madalyn Maynard (Towanda, PA/Towanda) also had one hit apiece.
Kennedy started at pitcher and suffered the loss, going five innings and allowing just two earned runs. Nihart tossed the sixth inning in relief.
Behrend took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third, when McNany hit an RBI triple, then scored on a wild pitch to give the visitors a two-run advantage.
Penn State Altoona got on the board in the bottom of the fourth, cutting its deficit in half when Kennedy tripled and Beeman followed with an RBI single to right-center field, making it 2-1.
But Behrend put together a five-run top of the fifth, then scored four in the top of the sixth, including a Meghan Petitte two-run inside-the-park home run.
Down 11-1 in the bottom of the sixth, Penn State Altoona picked up a pair of runs on Lauck's two-run double to right. But the Lions ended the frame down by eight, and the home squad took its second eight-run rule loss of the day.
Penn State Altoona softball returns to action on Tuesday, April 22, with a road doubleheader at nearby AMCC rival Mount Aloysius College. Game one of the two-game set is scheduled to start at 3 p.m.
