Nittany Lions Set for Home Opening B1G Series with Wisconsin
Penn State ushers in 16th season at Nittany Lion Softball Park & Beard Field against Badgers
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State softball ushers in its 16th season of competition at Nittany Lion Softball Park & Beard Field this Friday through Sunday, March 20 through 22, as the Blue & White prepare to host the Wisconsin Badgers in their Big Ten home-opening weekend series. Games are slated to begin a 5 p.m., 2 p.m., and 1 p.m. (ET) respectively over the three days, with all three contests set to stream live to a worldwide audience of authenticated subscribers via B1G+ and the B1G+ app on connected devices.
PROMOTIONS AND PARKING
Penn State’s Big Ten Conference home-opening weekend will feature a wide array of promotions and attractions for fans in attendance. This weekend serves as Penn State’s Cancer Awareness Weekend, with student-athletes wearing colored ribbons to showcase their support for loved ones and community members battling cancer. Saturday’s contest will serve as Penn State’s annual THON Game. As always, fans of all ages are encouraged to attend to take part in a family-friendly weekend of college softball action, including poster giveaways, postgame autographs on Saturday, kids run the bases on Sunday, and the Penn State Softball Dino Race in the fourth inning of each game.
General admission seating is free for all Penn State softball home games at Nittany Lion Softball Park & Beard Field. Parking for all games in the 2026 Penn State softball season is now available online or via the ParkWhiz app, with fans encouraged to prepay for parking to avoid additional fees on game days. Click the link here to be directed to the parking hub for Nittany Lion Softball Park & Beard Field and select either a full season pass or single-game parking pass at the purchaser’s discretion. Parking is available in the Stadium West, Jordan East or Porter North lots at a rate of $5.50 per game, or $5 per game when purchasing a full season pass. Day-of event parking will be $10 without a valid permit or prepayment, with fans encouraged to pay at payment stations around the lot, or via the ParkWhiz app. Prepayment availability ends at 11:59 p.m. (ET) the night before each scheduled game day. Events will not be selectable on the site after that time, and payment must then be made on site upon arrival.
Follow the Action
Penn State’s Big Ten Conference home-opening series will stream live to a worldwide audience of authenticated subscribers via B1G+ and the B1G+ app on connected devices. Michael Siroty, Jeremy Rose and Chase Fisher will call the action from the Beard Field press box across the weekend. Links to view Penn State’s contests against Wisconsin live, or view replays of past PSU games at home or on the road in Big Ten Conference play are always available at BigTenPlus.com. Live stat links 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 Nittany Lions return to action following a three-game Big Ten weekend series against the No. 18 Oregon Ducks on the road in Eugene. Oregon managed to secure wins in all three matchups, but the Blue & White pushed the Ducks to the brink in Sunday’s matchup thanks to the first Penn State grand slam of 2026 off the bat of junior designated player Brooke Klosowicz. PSU will carry a 19-9 overall record paired with an 0-3 start in Big Ten Conference play into this weekend’s series with UW. Klosowicz has been a force to be reckoned with since the start of the 2026 campaign, now leading the Nittany Lion roster in batting average with a .362 mark in addition to a team-high-tying 10 home runs. The Johnsburg, Illinois, native has impressed in each of the last three seasons as a Nittany Lion, working into the No. 8 position in the Penn State career leaderboard with her 23 home runs. In terms of production this year, Klosowicz ranks fifth in the Big Ten Conference and 27th nationally with her 10 home runs, adding the No. 7 position in the B1G in terms of home runs per game with 0.36. Balance in the circle has been a calling card for the Nittany Lions in the 2026 campaign, with the Blue & White using all five pitchers relatively equally to generate the team’s early-season success. Freshman right-hander Mackenzie Duncan has been a standout for the team, leading the roster in ERA with a 1.41 mark in addition to strikeouts with 49 on the year.
HOME ON THE RANGE
Penn State kicks off its 16th season of competition at the Big Ten’s premier softball venue, Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field. The Blue & White have played and practiced in the facility in every season since the 2011 campaign. PSU will open the home slate with a Big Ten Conference series for the first time since doing so against the Ohio State Buckeyes during the COVID-adjusted 2021 spring campaign. PSU owns 53 victories at the facility dating to Crowell’s first season in 2021, with the Blue & White matching the program record for single-season home wins at Nittany Lion Softball Park in both 2022 and 2024 with identical 14-5 records apiece. PSU has played in 58 home-opening games in its 61 varsity seasons, with PSU playing zero home games in 1967, 1968 and 2020. The Nittany Lions are 37-21 in home-opening matchups all-time. Last season, the Nittany Lions rattled off an impressive 11-5 record in home games, highlighted by the first run-rule ranked upset in school history with an 11-2 drubbing of then-No. 22 Ohio State on Saturday, April 12 of last season.
Wisconsin at Penn State
Record | 14-10 | 0-3 B1G
Record | 19-9 | 0-3 B1G
Introducing Wisconsin
ABOUT THE BADGERS
Under the direction of head coach Yvette Healy, the Wisconsin Badgers head to Happy Valley boasting a 14-10 overall record coupled with an 0-3 start to Big Ten Conference play following a B1G series sweep on the road against No. 8 UCLA. UW has struggled as of late, clocking a 3-7 overall record in the last 10 games with a 1-4 mark in the last five. Wisconsin started the 2026 campaign strong with a 10-2 start that included a pair of power four conference victories over the Iowa State Cyclones at the Dream City Invitational in Arlington, Texas. The Badgers came up just short of a top-25 upset against Grand Canyon, dropping a 2-1 decision in extra innings against the Antelopes on March 5 in San Diego, California. Kendra Lewis has been an impressive two-way contributor for Wisconsin this season, leading the team in batting average with a .437 clip. Lewis owns 31 hits with seven of those going for extra bases, adding 10 walks against two strikeouts in the batter’s box. Wisconsin boasts two other hitters above .400 in terms of average, with Danielle Lucey (.406) and Emily Bojan (.400) rounding that group out. The Badgers have been relatively balanced in the circle through this point in the 2026 season, with a trio of pitchers throwing 30-or-more innings. Berritt Herr leads the roster in innings pitched with 58.1, logging a 4.68 earned run average with an impressive 45-to-14 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Shelby Jacobson owns a 4.23 earned run average with 46.1 innings pitched, while Kendra Lewis boasts a 4.43 ERA with 30.0 frames.
STORY OF THE SERIES
Penn State and Wisconsin get set to renew an ultra-competitive all-time series this weekend in Happy Valley, with the teams set for their 60th, 61st and 62nd respective contests in program history this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. PSU leads the Badgers through the prior 59 contests, boasting a 32-27 edge in a set that dates to the 1996 season. The Nittany Lions and Badgers have exclusively met as Big Ten Conference competitors, with all but two of those games coming in regular season competitions. Penn State owns victories over UW in both of the postseason contests, notching a run-rule 14-1 win over Wisconsin in the 2000 Big Ten Tournament, as well as a 3-0 decision over the Badgers in the 2002 event from Ann Arbor, Michigan. This weekend’s series marks the first trip to University Park by a Badger roster in four seasons, with the last contest between the two sides from Nittany Lion Softball Park & Beard Field coming on April 29 and 30, 2022. Penn State dropped the first two contests before coming back in the finale to record a 4-3 win. Penn State last faced Wisconsin on the road in Madison on April 19 through 21, 2024, with the Nittany Lions taking two of three off the Badgers from Goodman Diamond. PSU suffered a run-rule loss in the middle game but booked a 3-1 result and 10-2 victory to bookend the series en route to the program’s first NCAA Regional bid in over a decade.
Wisconsin at Penn State
Record | 14-10 | 0-3 B1G
Record | 19-9 | 0-3 B1G
Wisconsin at Penn State
Record | 14-10 | 0-3 B1G
Record | 19-9 | 0-3 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.
The 2026 Penn State softball season is presented by Highmark.