Penn State softball begins Big Ten play against Oregon
Brooke Klosowicz hit a three-run homer, and Breanna Hanik cleared the bases with a three-run triple over the weekend.
Week five proved to be another tough weekend for Penn State softball, as the team went 2-2 at the Hokie Invite.
The weekend started great for the Nittany Lions, securing two dominant wins on Friday. The team’s first came in a 15-4 win over Radford, which saw the game end in five innings.
Penn State jumped out to a 7-0 lead before the Radford bats even came up. Brooke Klosowicz delivered a three-run homer to start the scoring, while Breanna Hanik plated three with a bases-clearing triple.
Kaylie Walters would bring home the final run of the inning, scoring Hanik on a groundout to shortstop.
A quiet second inning led to an explosive third, where Penn State hit four singles, bringing in six more runs. Groundouts in the fourth and fifth innings would bring the game to its final score of 15-4.
McKenna Young was the winning pitcher for Penn State, throwing all five innings, giving up just five hits, and striking out five.
Friday’s second game against Boston College saw Hanik start the scoring in the second with a solo shot. Singles by Gabby Gradishar and Allison Oneacre saw three more runs cross the plate in the inning.
Oneacre would hit a solo home run of her own in the fourth, giving Penn State a 5-0 lead. Boston College would rally for two runs in the bottom of the fifth, but three runs for the Nittany Lions in the top of the sixth put the game away.
Brevyn Kellepouris got the win, scattering six hits across four and a third innings pitched, giving up just two earned runs in an 8-3 victory.
Saturday would not be as kind to Penn State, with the team losing two winnable games. Penn State would fall to James Madison 5-3 in the first game of the day.
James Madison scored two runs across the sixth and seventh innings to increase their lead to 5-2. Penn State’s rally in the bottom of the seventh would fall short, with the team scoring one run from a Oneacre RBI single.
Penn State’s loss against Virginia Tech was even more devastating, as the team held the lead numerous times.
A 3-0 lead in the first would disappear as quickly as it came, as by the second inning, the game was evened up at three apiece. Penn State would retake the lead on a two-run homer from Macy Chamberlin in the second, before it was erased thanks to two solo shots by Virginia Tech in the fourth.
Penn State would again take the lead in the fifth thanks to a fielding error, but solo home runs in the fifth and sixth innings gave Virginia Tech a lead that they would not relinquish.
Despite their loss to Virginia Tech, which is ranked No. 11 in the NFCA top 25, Penn State really gave them a run for their money. Combined with close games against No. 1 Tennessee last week, Penn State could break into the top 25 with success in its conference games next week.
Penn State softball secured an historic 3-1 victory over Oregon State at Kelly Field Wednesday night, marking the program's first win against the Beavers.
Now 19-6 overall, the Nittany Lions overcame an early 1-0 deficit with a game-tying RBI double by Hanik in the fifth and a go-ahead single by Gradishar in the sixth.
Offensively, the team totaled six hits from Hanik, Oneacre, Natalie Lieto, Klosowicz, Chamberlin, and Gradishar. On the mound, Abigail Britton and Mackenzie Duncan provided four solid innings before Brevyn Kellepouris threw three perfect relief innings to earn the win (4-1).
Penn State continues its road trip next against No. 18 Oregon. Wins against the Ducks could go a long way in securing Penn State a spot among the NFCA’s top 25.
Thank you for reading Female Athlete News. Carter Joseph Brooks is a student-intern at Penn State University.