Penn State Hits the Road for Three-Game Set at Iowa
Nittany Lions set for national television debut on Monday, April 21, with 5 p.m. (ET) start on BTN
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Penn State softball enters the home stretch of the Big Ten Conference regular season and hits the road for the first time in the month of April as the Nittany Lions travel to square off in a three-game league series against the Iowa Hawkeyes from Bob Pearl Field the weekend of Saturday through Monday, April 19 through 21.
Action is slated to begin Saturday at 6 p.m. (ET), with the second game of the series scheduled to begin on Sunday at 3 p.m. (ET). Both of the first two games in the series will stream via B1G+ and the B1G+ app on connected devices. Monday night’s tilt will begin at 5 p.m. (ET) and air to a national television audience via the Big Ten Network and FOX Sports App.
Follow the Action
The first two games of Penn State’s Big Ten Conference weekend series at Iowa will stream live to a worldwide audience of authenticated subscribers via B1G+ and the B1G+ app on connected devices, with AJ Reisetter calling the action from the Bob Pearl Field press box. Links to view all both of the first two contests live are available on the Penn State softball schedule webpage, or at BigTenPlus.com. Game three of the weekend series will air live to a national television audience via the Big Ten Network and FOX Sports App, with Sloane Martin and Sydney Supple slated to call the action from BTN’s studios in Chicago. Live stat links provided by StatBroadcast and the University of Iowa are available for all games on the Penn State softball schedule webpage or via the team’s StatBroadcast central hub at the link here.
QUICK HITS
The Blue & White look to return to their winning ways this weekend in Iowa, with the Nittany Lions fresh off a tough midweek loss to the in-state rival Pittsburgh Panthers on Tuesday night, April 15. In total, the PSU offense amassed 11 hits in the game highlighted by multiple-hit efforts from senior third baseman Maddie Gordon, freshman left fielder Natalie Lieto, fifth-year first baseman Meagan Ricks and sophomore shortstop Kaylie Walters. Sophomore designated player Brooke Klosowicz continued her climb in the Penn State record book against Pitt with a three-run homer that brought her within four RBI of the single-season program record. Klosowicz now owns 45 RBI on the year to rank fifth in a single season in school history. Klosowicz needs four to match and five to surpass the record of 49 set by Jennifer Tripken and Nan Sichler in the 2002 and 1988 seasons, respectively.
SO… ABOUT THE BATS
The Blue & White have elevated their game in the batter’s box this season, boasting the nation’s 15th best batting average with a .347 mark in the statistic to rank sixth among Big Ten Conference teams. Were the season to end this week, Penn State’s average would rank as a single-season program record, outpacing the 2016 team’s .314 finish by an impressive margin of .033. Power hitting has been a hallmark of PSU’s offensive success in 2025, with the Nittany Lions boasting the 15th-most home runs in college softball (64) while mashing the 13th-most homers per game in the nation with 1.56. The Blue & White also rank inside the national top 15 in slugging percentage (11th, .610) and doubles per game (15th, 1.76). The Nittany Lions are on record watch in multiple team statistics, with Penn State needing 15 RBI to surpass a single-season team record dating to 2015, while hunting for just eight more runs scored to surpass the program’s single-season best of 289 accomplished in 2016. In a record chase that felt inevitable from the first weekend of the season, the 2025 Penn State softball team etched its name in history atop the program record book with their 54th home run in the team’s win over Rutgers on April 5. The previous Nittany Lion record for home runs in a single season came in last year’s NCAA Tournament run, with the 2024 edition of the Blue & White cranking 53. This season’s squad is up to 64 homers heading into the weekend series at Iowa.
Penn State at Iowa
20-21 | 6-7 B1G
25-16 | 7-6 B1G
Introducing Iowa
ABOUT THE HAWKEYES
Under the tutelage of acting head coach Karl Gollan, the Iowa Hawkeyes enter the final three weeks of Big Ten Conference competition boasting a 25-16 overall record paired with a 7-6 start in league action. Iowa is fresh off a 9-5 midweek defeat at the hands of in-state rival Iowa State on the road in Ames Tuesday. The Hawkeyes have rebounded spectacularly from a challenging 2024 slate, with the squad boasting a number of marquee wins highlighted by a 7-4 upset of then-No. 5 UCLA at home in Iowa City. Iowa is fresh off a B1G weekend series win over the Maryland Terrapins on the road, with the team going 3-2 over their last five contests overall.
At the plate, Iowa is headlined by a trio of .300-plus hitters with Jena Young spearheading the charge with a .376 average that includes 13 extra-base knocks on the season. Soo-Jin Berry is the Hawkeye leader in home runs with nine, stands tied atop the team alongside Young with eight doubles and owns a team-best 26 RBI. Echo Mattiello rounds out the trio of Hawkeyes above .300 with a .353 mark. Iowa’s success in 2025 is largely attributed to the accomplishments of Jalen Adams in the circle, who leads the Hawkeyes with a 2.19 earned run average coupled with an eye-popping 18-5 individual record in 144.0 innings. Talia Tretton has seen the lion’s share of Iowa’s remaining frames, tossing 94.1 with a 4.01 ERA.
STORY OF THE SERIES
Penn State and Iowa renew a series that dates to the 1992 campaign this weekend in Iowa City, with the team’s set to square away in the 68th, 69th and 70th all-time meetings on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, respectively. Iowa maintains a 46-21 edge in the series, which began with a Hawkeye sweep in Happy Valley 33 years ago. The Hawkeyes have won each of the last two series, with those coming in the 2021 and 2023 seasons in Leesburg, Florida, and University Park, Pennsylvania, respectively. The neutral-site series on March 11 and 12, 2021 featured a pair of narrow extra-inning victories for Iowa in what finished as a three-game series sweep.
PSU will travel to Iowa City for the first time in nearly a decade, as the Blue & White prepare for their first series at Bob Pearl Field since taking two-of-three off the Hawkeyes on April 22 through 24, 2016. The teams split the first two fixtures before the Nittany Lions rattled off a strong 11-3 finish over six-innings in Sunday’s finale. This series in Iowa will mark the first meeting of the two programs since the 2023 campaign, a 2-1 victory for the Hawkeyes over the weekend of March 24 through 26. The Nittany Lions toppled Iowa by a 3-2 score in nine innings on Friday before dropping both games of a Sunday doubleheader.
Penn State at Iowa
20-21 | 6-7 B1G
25-16 | 7-6 B1G
Penn State at Iowa
20-21 | 6-7 B1G
25-16 | 7-6 B1G
Follow the Nittany Lions
Visit GoPSUsports.com for more information on Penn State softball. Fans can keep up to date with the Nittany Lion softball team on Facebook at /pennstatesoftball as well as Instagram and X @PennStateSB.