ROSEMONT, Ill. – Penn State softball freshman pitcher Bridget Nemeth picked up her second Big Ten Conference weekly accolade of the 2024 campaign, earning recognition as the league's Freshman of the Week in the conference office's release Monday afternoon.
Nemeth continued her blazing streak of successful performances in the circle through her third week as a collegiate athlete. The Glendora, California, native made three appearances, tossing a complete game in her only start of the weekend. Nemeth led the Nittany Lions in innings pitched with 16.0 through her three games played, allowing just one earned run for an ERA of 0.44. Nemeth yielded a stellar .197 opponent batting average on the weekend in Lynchburg, striking out 24 batters against just three walks. Nemeth earned the victory in all three of her appearances, bringing her individual record to 8-0.
The freshman phenom tossed one of her most impressive games of the year to date in a complete game against the Morgan State Bears on Saturday evening. Nemeth logged her second complete game of the year and allowed just one earned run across her 88 total pitches. Nemeth finished with a career-high 13 strikeouts and surrendered zero walks in the eventual 5-2 Nittany Lion victory Saturday night. In the resounding 12-5 win over Penn, she threw 4.2 innings, logging seven strikeouts and three hits allowed.
One of the most impressive freshmen in the nation through the first three weeks of the year, Nemeth stands in first place nationally with eight individual victories in the circle, tied for the national lead with Arizona's Aissa Silva. Nemeth's season-long ERA of 0.63 leads the Big Ten Conference and ranks 24th nationally, while also leading the B1G this season in innings pitched with 44.1 frames. Nemeth's astonishing 7.43 strikeout-to-walk ratio ranks second among all Big Ten student-athletes, while her 52 total strikeouts rank second in the conference and 14th in Division I.
Nemeth becomes Penn State's fifth Big Ten Freshman of the Week award winner all-time and joins current teammate Paige Maynard on the list of Nittany Lion recipients. Maynard earned the league's highest weekly accolade for a freshman after tossing a no-hitter last season in a 3-0 result against Bethune-Cookman, picking up that award on Feb. 20, 2023. Nemeth secured her second Big Ten weekly award, becoming the first Nittany Lion in program history to earn Pitcher of the Week and Freshman of the Week honors in the same year.
Led by Nemeth's outstanding work in the circle, Penn State softball returns to action this weekend at the Longhorn Invitational hosted on the campus of the University of Texas. The Nittany Lions square off against Hofstra, Northwestern State and host-Texas in addition to a pair of contests against Tarleton beginning on Saturday, March 2 and concluding on Monday, March 4. PSU's spring break trip continues with a three-game series scheduled against the Texas State Bobcats on the road in San Marcos. All eight PSU contests over spring break will be televised or streamed via the ESPN family of networks.
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