Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1462941
A P R I L 2 0 2 2 51 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M BASEBALL: Penn State struggled during a trip to the state of Virginia in early March. The Nittany Lions were swept by Virginia in Charlottesville, dropping three games by a combined score of 33-6, then falling to VMI in Lexington, 11-4. Other than that four-game skid, the nonconference season was an up- and-down affair for PSU. The Nittany Lions never lost more than two in a row, but they never won more than two in a row, either. Heading into their Big Ten opener against visiting Rutgers on March 25, they were 7-11 on the season. The Lions were having difficulties at the plate and in the field, ranking 11th in the Big Ten with a .249 team batting average and 12th with a .949 fielding percentage. Through 18 games, junior catcher Matt Wood was the offensive leader, ranking first on the team in batting average (.345), slugging percentage (.655), runs scored (16), hits (20), home runs (four), RBI (14) and walks (12). SOFTBALL: Penn State's hot streak con- tinued with a 2-1 victory over vising Saint Francis on March 22. It was the Nittany Lions' seventh consecutive win, marking the first time they had won seven in a row since the 2016 season. Junior catcher Cassie Lindmark extended her hitting streak to a season-best 12 games and scored the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly by junior infielder Lexi Black. On the mound, three pitchers combined to shut down the Red Flash. The last of those three was senior Bailey Parshall, who has been one of the stars of Penn State's season so far. Parshall got the win for PSU, improving her record to 10-3. During the nonconference season, Parshall compiled a 1.40 ERA with 112 strikeouts in 100 1 ⁄3 innings pitched. Heading into its Big Ten opener against Maryland on March 25, Penn State was 17-11 on the season. It was a dramatic im- provement over the Nittany Lions' showing a year earlier, when they went 7-34 in coach Clarisa Crowell's first season as head coach. MEN'S LACROSSE: It's been a hard-luck season for the Penn State laxers. The Nittany Lions had lost three in a row heading into their Big Ten opener against No. 1 Maryland on March 27 at Panzer Stadium, dropping their record to 2-6. But those three losses were by one goal apiece, and two of them were to top-10 opponents, with Penn ranked sixth when it edged PSU, 10-9, on March 5 at the Crown Classic in Charlotte, N.C., and Cornell ranked fourth when it slipped past the Lions, 16-15, on March 12 in Holuba Hall. Given how competitive the losses were, it's perhaps not so surprising that one of the team's wins was against fifth-ranked Yale. Redshirt fresh- man attackman Jeb Brenfleck had three goals, while redshirt junior goalie Aleric Fyock made 21 saves to help the Nittany Lions prevail, 10-6, on Feb. 26 at Panzer. The win was PSU's first victory in the five-game series, which dates back to 2013. WOMEN'S LACROSSE: Princeton put an end to Penn State's three-game winning streak with a 12-11 victory on March 19 at Panzer Stadium. The Li- ons had rallied back from a five-goal deficit against the 11th-ranked Tigers, getting three goals from sophomore midfielder Kristin O'Neill and taking an 8-7 lead in the third period. The score was tied, 11-11, in the final 30 seconds when Princeton tallied an unassisted goal. O'Neill tried to answer in the closing seconds, but her shot was wide of the net. "Kristin is a competitor, from getting the draw to making deep plays to coming up with huge goals for us," coach Missy Doherty said. "She's our leader, our competitive leader. And in a game like this, it was great to see her come up big. A couple more of us need to come up with the plays that she's making." Before facing the Tigers, Penn State had earned victories over No. 21 James Madison (14-10, March 9), Saint Joseph's (17-8, March 12) and Tow- son (15-6, March 15). Heading into their visit to Ohio State on March 26, the Nittany Lions were 5-3 on the season. WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD: Penn State middle-distance standout Allison Johnson was named Big Ten Indoor Track Freshman of the Year in mid-March. During the indoor season, Johnson broke the Penn State record in the 800-meter run with a time of 2 minutes, 2.84 seconds. She also posted the second-fastest times in program history in the mile (4:37.44) and 1,000-meter run (2:43.12). At the Big Ten Indoor Championships Feb. 25-26 at Geneva, Ohio, Johnson became the sixth consecutive Penn State runner to win the 800, finishing in 2:05.18, just ahead of senior teammate Victoria Tachinski (2:05.32). Johnson and Tachinski both qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 800. Tachinski ended up finishing 11th (2:05.39), while Johnson was 14th (2:08.69). Both were second-team All-Americans. MEN'S GYMNASTICS: The seventh-ranked Nittany Lions posted a season-best score of 401.800, but that wasn't enough to over- come fourth-ranked Michigan in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines finished with 408.400 points to win the March 18 dual meet. Sophomore Matt Cormier won the all-around competition (81.450), while classmate Michael Jaroh turned in a season-best score of 81.150. "We're headed in the right direction," coach Randy Jepson said after- ward, "but we're not where we need to be, and we're running out of time." Penn State will host the Big Ten Championships at Rec Hall April 1-2. WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS: Four Penn State gymnasts — seniors Alissa Bonsall and Lauren Bridgens, junior Cassidy Rushlow and freshman Isa- bella Salcedo — qualified for the NCAA Regional Championships March 30-April 2 in Norman, Okla. Bonsall, Bridgens and Rushlow were set to compete on the uneven bars, while Salcedo qualified on the floor exer- cise. Penn State finished last at the Big Ten Championships March 19 at Ohio State, posting a team score of 194.700. O L Y M P I C S P O R T S R O U N D U P Senior Bailey Parshall was leading Penn State's pitching staff with a 10-3 record and 1.40 ERA heading into the Big Ten season. PHOTO BY ERIC ESPADA/PENN STATE ATHLETICS