Softball team huddle
Tyler Schueck
2
Penn State Berks PSBW 29-9
5
Winner Salisbury SAL 36-3
Penn State Berks PSBW
29-9
2
Final
5
Salisbury SAL
36-3
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Penn State Berks PSBW 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 3 2
Salisbury SAL 0 1 0 0 1 3 X 5 8 0

W: Johnson (21-2) L: Hafer, Casey (18-3)

Game Recap: Softball |

Nittany Lions give scare to Salisbury

SALISBURY, MD (May 9, 2014) - The Penn State Berks softball team took Salisbury University down to the wire, before a late rally gave the Seagulls a 5-2 win in the first round of the Salisbury Regional Tournament on Friday afternoon.

The Nittany Lions (29-9) tied the contest at 2-all when Casey Hafer hit a two-run home run to left field. Colleen Hoge led off the inning with an infield single and scored on the homer to pull even with the No. 4 ranked team in the country. The fourth ranked Seagulls are the highest ranked team the Nittany Lions have ever faced.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Sea Gulls (36-3) received a three-run home run from the number eight hitter in the lineup, Molly Simpson. Simpson entered the game batting .404  and the Sea Gulls collectively have a .383 average.

Hafer surrender five runs - three earned - and struck out one batter. In the bottom of the fifth, Salisbury had runners on second and third with no outs, but Hafer got help from Chelsea Bright, who snagged a line drive out of the air and nearly tug out the runner off the third base bag. But the next batter recorded a sacrifice fly to right that the Rhianna Roulston nearly got the runner at the plate. The following batter flew out to right to end the inning.

The defense rose to the occasion on the big stage of the tournament first round. Missy Lamm and Hoge twisted a 4-6-3 double play to end the first inning and Julia Moscato made to great catches on sacrifice bunts that popped up into foul territory. Kaylie Vrabel added a running catch on a line drive to end the sixth inning with a runner in scoring position.

Rachel Johnson, entered the game with a 0.78 earned run average, was able to keep the Nittany Lions offense quiet for most of the day. She finished the game with 14 strikeouts and allowed only three hits, two of which were by Hafer.

The Nittany Lions will play Manhattanville College, who lost 1-0 to William Paterson University in the other first round game, on Saturday, May 10 at 1:30 p.m. in an elimination game. The winner will play at 4 p.m. against the loser of Salisbury and William Paterson in another elimination game.
 
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