Feb. 27, 2015
| 6 | 1 |
| 7 | 11 |
| Friday, Feb. 27, 2015 | CITRUS CLASSIC | |
ESPN's Wide World of Sports | Orlando, Fla.
| POST GAME LINKS |
| Game 1: Box Score (HTML) | (PDF) |
| Game 2: Box Score (HTML) | (PDF) |
| Play-by-Plays: Game 1 | Game 2 |
VIDEO: Postgame Interviews (Monopoli)
ORLANDO, Fla. - The Penn State softball team split its day/night doubleheader with Fordham and No. 20 Missouri Friday at the Citrus Classic hosted by ESPN's Wide World of Sports in Orlando. The Nittany Lions downed Fordham 6-1 in the day game but then fell to Mizzou 11-7 in eight innings during the night cap.
In the first game, the Lions left no doubt as to who the superior offensive club was on field No. 15 at ESPN's softball diamondplex. That's because redshirt freshman Mia Monopoli's pair of RBI led the way as the Lions added to an early lead and coasted through the seventh thanks to the steady pitching of Marlaina Laubach (Northampton, Pa.).
Monopoli (San Francisco, Calif.) came to the plate to lead off the fourth inning with the Lions up 3-1 and gave her team all the breathing room it would need as she stroked her first collegiate home run deep beyond the left center field wall. She then added to her career day as she knocked in another run with a single in the fifth to make it a 5-1 game.
The Lions did not start off the game with a comfortable lead however as Fordham actually lead PSU early by a 1-0 score.
A three run second, highlighted by an RBI double by Macy Jones (Ashburn, Va.) and a run scoring single courtesy of Alicia Walker (Los Alamitos, Calif.) made it 3-1 and set the stage for Monopoli's insurance runs.
In the circle Laubach was masterful, going the full seven and surrendering just one earned run on six hits while striking out three and walking no one. For her efforts, the sophomore hurler picked up her third win of the season.
In the second game it looked as if head coach Amanda Lehotak's squad was headed for its second upset of a Top 25 team this season as the Lions quickly got out to a 5-0 lead after two.
Shelby Miller (Sugar Land, Texas) got PSU on the board with a 2 RBI double and then Kristina Brackpool (Vaencia, Calif.) added to the Lion lead with a base hit, which scored Miller to make it 3-0.
Not finished with its scoring, Penn State added two more from the same two players, Miller and Brackpool. First Miller plated another run off of a fielder's choice to make it 4-0 and then Brackpool promptly made it 5-0 with another RBI single.
Undeterred, the 20th ranked Tigers stormed back, putting crooked numbers on the board in both the third and seventh innings. MU plated three in their half of the third and then tacked on another in the fourth to make it 5-4 heading to the fifth.
That's when Jones, who came into relieve starter Jessica Cummings (Owing, Md.) helped her own cause with a home run to right, her second of the season to make it 6-4.
The insurance run would not prove to be the cushion PSU needed though as Blue and White pitching surrendered two runs in the seventh to send it to extra innings.
Missouri quickly loaded the bases with no one out in the top of the eighth and then batter-by-batter unloaded them by putting up a five spot in their half of the first extra frame to make it 11-6.
The final out of the lengthy contest was recorded on a grounder back to the pitcher but not before a Lexi Knief (Ramsey, N.J.) single scored Monopoli who was the runner placed on second due to the international tie break rule to make it the final 11-7 score.
Despite the loss in game two, the Penn State bats were alive in both games as Jones, Knief and Walker each had four hits apiece during the doubleheader. Miller led the way with her three RBI, while her and Brackpool also chipped in with three hits each.
With the split, Penn State stands at 7-8 on the season and will continue its tour of the SEC with a game against the eighth ranked Georgia Bulldogs. The PSU vs. UGA contest is set to get underway at 1:15 p.m., following its first game of the day against Nebraska-Omaha which starts at 11 a.m. in Orlando.