Softball Returns to Campus, Sweeps Greensburg
ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona softball team played its first games on campus since March 14 on Tuesday afternoon, when the Lions swept visiting Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Pitt-Greensburg in a doubleheader at Stewart Athletic Field.
Penn State Altoona (13-10, 6-2 AMCC) won game one 4-2, then prevailed 6-2 in the second contest to take both games from Pitt-Greensburg (11-11, 5-3 AMCC) and post its second straight AMCC doubleheader sweep.
Game One: Penn State Altoona 4, Pitt-Greensburg 2
The Lions trailed 2-1 after four innings, but a three-run fifth led to Penn State Altoona coming back to win by two.
Alyssa Fisher (Lock Haven, PA/Central Mountain) was 1-for-3 with a double and two runs scored. Brooke Colledge (Everett, PA/Everett) had a double, two runs batted in, and a run scored.
Gianna Hoppel (Lewistown, PA/Mifflin County), Cameryn Feathers (Martinsburg, PA/Central), Hanna Lauck (Bellefonte, PA/Bellefonte), Karli Storm (Chest Springs, PA/Cambria Heights), and Madison Sitarek (Sykesville, MD/Century) also had one hit apiece for the Lions, with Hoppel recording one RBI and Sitarek scoring a run.
Josselyn Nau (Bellefonte, PA/Bellefonte) pitched a complete game for her eighth win of the season, scattering nine hits, allowing just two runs, issuing no walks, and tallying a pair of strikeouts over seven innings of work.
Pitt-Greensburg scored a run in the top of the first on Hunter Taylor's RBI single.
But Penn State Altoona evened the score in the bottom of the third. Fisher doubled to left center with one out, moved up to third on a fly out, and scored on Hoppel's RBI single down the right-field line.
The Bobcats reclaimed the lead in the next half inning, when an RBI single to left from Kylie Karns put the visitors back in front, 2-1.
Penn State Altoona worked back in front in the bottom of the fifth, when the Lions put three runs on the board. Sitarek led off with a base hit before an error on a Fisher sacrifice bunt allowed her to reach safely in the next at-bat. Colledge followed with a two-run double to right center that gave her team the lead, and she scored on a fielding error in the next at-bat to make it 4-2.
Nau and the Lions allowed just one Pitt-Greensburg base runner over their final two frames, and Penn State Altoona prevailed by two runs in game one.
Game Two: Penn State Altoona 6, Pitt-Greensburg 2
The Lions got another balanced performance in game two, using some timely hitting and effective pitching and defense to seal the win.
Fisher was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate with a double, three runs scored, and a stolen base. Lauck finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and a stolen base, and Colledge was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI.
Feathers had a hit and an RBI, Storm recorded a hit and a walk, and Sitarek had one hit, one run, and one walk.
Madalyn Maynard (Towanda, PA/Towanda) got the nod in the pitching circle for game two, and the right-hander produced a complete game to notch her third win of the season. In seven innings, she limited Pitt-Greensburg to two runs while picking up one strikeout.
Pitt-Greensburg scored a run in the top of the first on a Makenzie Lang RBI single to center, but Penn State Altoona struck back with a run in the bottom of the first. Fisher led off with a double to center and found herself at third base following a pair of groundouts. Feathers came up with a two-out RBI, knocking in Fisher with a base hit to left to make it 1-1.
The Lions got the lead in the second on another two-out RBI hit, as Colledge's run-scoring single up the middle scored Sitarek from second to make it 2-1.
The Bobcats tied things up at 2-2 in the third, when Lang's two-out RBI single to deep center plated Jessica Dunn from first. But Penn State Altoona got another big two-out hit in the bottom of the fourth to reclaim the lead. With two runners on and two outs, Lauck's base hit to center scored them both to put the Lions up 4-2.
Penn State Altoona padded its lead by scoring two more runs in the fifth, ultimately closing the scoring for the game. Brianna Bone (Morrisdale, PA/West Branch) started the inning by reaching on an infield error, and after a groundout, Fisher singled to put two aboard. Colledge hit a double to left to score Bone, and a wild pitch in the next at-bat allowed Fisher to come home from third, making it 6-2.
Next up, Penn State Altoona softball travels to face AMCC opponent Pitt-Bradford in a doubleheader this Friday, April 19, at 3 p.m.
