Lions Get Past Behrend in AMCC Tournament Opener
BRADFORD, Pa. – The No. 1 seed Penn State Altoona softball team posted a comeback win in day one of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championship Tournament on Friday, when the Lions defeated No. 4 seed Penn State Behrend 4-3 at Pitt-Bradford's Kessel Athletic Complex.
Penn State Altoona (21-14) trailed 3-1 through four-and-a-half innings, but Madison Kennedy's (Williamsburg, PA/Central) first collegiate home run – a three-run shot – put the Lions in front in the bottom of the fifth. Penn State Altoona nursed its lead to the finish line to deal Behrend (15-21) the loss in day one of the conference tournament.
With its win, Penn State Altoona will face No. 3 seed Pitt-Greensburg tomorrow, Saturday, May 10, at approximately 1 p.m. Behrend moves on to play No. 6 seed Hilbert College at 11 a.m. tomorrow in an elimination game.
Gianna Hoppel (Lewistown, PA/Mifflin County) had three of Penn State Altoona's 10 hits, going 3-for-4 with the bat. Alyssa Fisher (Lock Haven, PA/Central Mountain) was 2-for-4 with a double, and Kennedy was 1-for-3 with her first career home run, the go-ahead three-run blast in the fifth inning.
Karli Storm (Chest Springs, PA/Cambria Heights) was 1-for-2 with two walks and a run scored, and Lauren Davidson (Clearfield, PA/DuBois Central Catholic) was 1-for-3 with a run and a walk. Hanna Lauck (Bellefonte, PA/Bellefonte) and Madalyn Maynard (Towanda, PA/Towanda) also had one hit apiece for the Lions, and Sidney Nihart (Ashville, PA/Cambria Heights) scored a run.
In the pitching circle, Josselyn Nau (Bellefonte, PA/Bellefonte) tossed a complete game to record her 13th win of the season. The right-hander limited Behrend to three runs while scattering seven hits and issuing no walks.
Penn State Altoona drew first blood in the bottom of the first inning. With one out, singles from Davidson and Hoppel put two runners aboard for the Lions. One out later, Storm drew a walk to load the bases, and a fielding error in the next at-bat allowed Kennedy to score from third.
Behrend tied the game on Athena Iverson's RBI single up the middle in the top of the second, and Karma Malcolm's two-run home run to left center in the fourth pushed Behrend into a 3-1 lead.
Penn State Altoona powered ahead in the bottom of the fifth with a big home run of its own. Lauck started the frame with a base hit through the right side, and Storm reached on another walk to put two runners on base. Kennedy came next, hitting a three-run homer to left to give the Lions a 4-3 advantage.
Nau and the Lions allowed just one Behrend base runner over the final two innings, and Penn State Altoona clinched a victory in day one of the AMCC Tournament.
Now, Penn State Altoona will take on Pitt-Greensburg tomorrow in a winners bracket game, the third matchup of Saturday's slate. A win would ensure the Lions a spot in the AMCC Championship game on Sunday, May 11, while a loss would drop the team to a losers bracket game later on Saturday.
