Photos by Tim Weight

courtesy of GoPSU Athletics

Blue & White combine for 10 home runs across two games, log 23-0 victory over Fairfield to book the third-most runs in a single game in Penn State history

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Bolstered by 10 combined home runs and an offensive performance that included a .548 performance at the dish, Penn State softball recorded a pair of home-opening victories over the Canisius Golden Griffins and Fairfield Stags from Nittany Lion Softball Park and Beard Field on Friday evening. PSU opened the day with a 12-4, six-inning victory over the Golden Griffins, followed by a 23-0 thrashing of the Stags that featured the third-most runs in a single game in Penn State history.

The Blue & White surpassed multiple offensive milestones in Friday night’s doubleheader sweep, highlighted by the team’s historic 23-run output in the second game of the day. PSU mustered 12 runs or more in back-to-back games for the first time since logging 13 and 15 runs, respectively, against Indiana on April 8 and 9, 2016. Penn State also combined to hit 10 home runs on the first day of the Penn State Softball Invitational, booking five apiece in each half of the twin-bill. The last time the Blue & White had at least five homers in a single game was on April 3, 2019, with PSU registering a half dozen in a 13-run showing against the Saint Francis Red Flash. As a team, Penn State logged 16 extra-base hits on the day split between their 10 homers and six doubles, slugging at a 1.129 rate as a team overall.

Individually, 10 different Penn Staters had multi-hit days, highlighted by sophomore designated player Brooke Klosowicz going 6-for-7 across both games with six runs scored, three homers and a double. Klosowicz matched the Penn State single-game home run record with a pair of long balls in the lid-lifter against Canisius and tacked on her sixth homer of the season in the second game of the day against Fairfield. Seven different Penn Staters added home runs on the day, with freshman catcher Macy Chamberlin, freshman left fielder Natalie Lieto, junior outfielder Jenna Nelson, senior right fielder Haylie Brunson, sophomore first baseman Gianna Poletti, sophomore second baseman Michela Barbanente and senior outfielder Lydia Coleman all leaving the yard in PSU’s banner day at the dish.

Penn State’s deluge of offensive firepower helped the Nittany Lions rise to 10-11 overall through the team’s first 21 games of the season with two contests remaining at this weekend’s tournament against Fairfield and Lafayette. The Nittany Lions are now riding a three-game winning streak and have won five of their last seven contests dating to last weekend’s Hokie Invite in Salem, Virginia. Following the day’s action, both the Stags and Golden Griffins moved to 3-9 with Fairfield taking the first game of the day between the two teams by a 6-3 tally. The Blue & White improved to 5-1 all-time against Canisius following the sixth meeting of the two programs, while the Nittany Lions secured their first-ever win over Fairfield in the inaugural fixture between the two programs Friday evening.

The Nittany Lions were similarly effective in the pitcher’s circle on Friday afternoon, holding their visitors to just four earned runs across both halves of the double header, with PSU’s pitching staff earning credit for a combined shutout in the 23-0 win over Fairfield. Senior right-hander Mady Volpe led the way for the Blue & White, earning the start against Fairfield while securing the win over Canisius after tossing a combined 4.0 frames while scattering two hits and striking out five. Senior lefty Lydia Spalding threw 2.0 innings with a single earned run allowed and two strikeouts, while freshman northpaw Abigail Britton added 4.0 frames of her own with six K’s against a single walk. Britton earned the win against Fairfield, marking her second collegiate victory overall. Finally, sophomore utility Jiselle Hernandez got to work in the circle for the final inning against the Stags, allowing a hit while adding a strikeout in her 1.0 inning of effort.

The Nittany Lions and Golden Griffins were in a back-and-forth donnybrook early in the contest, with the teams tied at 2-all through the first inning of competition. Canisius tacked on solo home runs in the visitor’s half of the second and fourth innings to take a 4-2 advantage as the Nittany Lion bats looked for a solid response. After a quiet home half of the fourth, Walters got the Nittany Lion offense rolling with a four-pitch walk in the fifth. Lieto promptly stepped up to the plate and took the first pitch of her at-bat for a ride over the fence in right field to deadlock the game at 4-all. Back-to-back singles from Brunson and Klosowicz placed runners on the right side of the infield just before the Golden Griffins engaged in a pitching change. Two errors on one play allowed Gordon to reach first while Klosowicz reached second and Brunson completed her journey home. From there, Chamberlin went to the dish and zipped her second collegiate homer over the fence in center to put the Nittany Lions up by four. Barbanente kept the party going with a double to right center, but a foul out put a second out on the scoreboard. A fielding error by the Golden Griffin catcher on a popup in the infield allowed Barbanente to round the bases to tack on another PSU score. Two more homers in the bottom of the sixth inning scored a total of three more runs for the Blue & White, closing out the 12-4, run-rule result.

In the second contest of the day, Ricks took a walk on four pitches to lead off the offensive portion of the game for Penn State, but a popup put one away. A single up the middle from Klosowicz allowed Ricks to trot 120 feet to place runners on the corners, and a steal by Klosowicz placed a pair of runners in scoring position. Gordon drew a hit by pitch to juice the bases, and Lieto kept things rolling for the Nittany Lions with a two-RBI single up the middle that plated Klosowicz and Ricks for the early 2-0 advantage. In the bottom of the second, Nelson provided PSU’s offense with a leadoff single to center. Ricks laced an infield single toward the Stag shortstop, and Brunson provided an RBI single to right that plated Nelson and saw Ricks move to third on the throw. Brunson proceeded to steal second, but Klosowicz made the steal a moot point after belting a moonshot over the fence in center to bring three more Penn State runs aboard. Fairfield made a pitching change that warranted a groundout, but a single to right by Lieto and a double to right by Seidel culminated in one more Nittany Lion tally.

Leading by seven runs heading into the bottom of the fourth, Penn State’s offense composed one of the most dominant single innings of offensive production in program history, with the team amassing 16 total runs on 14 hits. PSU’s run generation in the bottom of the fourth Friday nightwould stand as the second-highest scoring game by the Blue & White this season, trailing the team’s 18-6, five-inning win over Robert Morris last weekend. In the frame, PSU hitters combined to rake four doubles while Barbanente, Nelson, Poletti and Coleman all added home runs to their season tallies. The Blue & White batted around twice in the frame, with nine different Nittany Lion student-athletes mustering at least one hit in the inning. Gordon, Seidel, Nelson, Walters and Poletti all recorded multi-hit innings, while Coleman contributed her first home run since the 2023 campaign in a frame which saw the PSU lead balloon to 23 runs. The Nittany Lions held strong defensively in the top of the fifth, ensuring the 23-0 combined shutout would make its way into the PSU record book.