Yet to have a game at Happy Valley this season, Penn State traveled cross-country for its first-ever games in Oregon, with a sole matchup against Oregon State before facing then-No. 21 Oregon for a three-game series.
The Nittany Lions won a close 3-1 contest over the Beavers, but were then swept in their first Big Ten series of the campaign. Following the road trip, the blue and white now possess a 19-9 record entering its first home series against Wisconsin this weekend.
Here’s what went right and wrong for Penn State in its West Coast trip.
Staggering offense
During the Nittany Lions nine-game winning streak in February, their bats were on fire and ranked in the upper half of the conference in many categories. However, the blue and white’s offense couldn’t produce much over these four games.
Penn State fell behind in each contest with its bats starting slow. In the win over Oregon State, the Nittany Lions were shut out through the first four innings and tied the game at one in the fifth. While the squad rallied and plated two game-winning runs in the sixth, the offense needs to score runs earlier against tougher opponents.
The Ducks pounced on Penn State’s pitching early, and its bats couldn’t respond. On Friday’s 8-2 loss, the Nittany Lions were hitless through the first three frames and totaled just two hits. Down 5-0, junior Michela Barbanente broke the cold streak with a solo home run. Sophomore Natalie Lieto was the only other batter to record a hit as she also hit a solo dinger in the next inning.
It was the same story in the blue and white’s 10-1 loss in game two of the series. Oregon’s offense started hot and plated runs early while Penn State tallied just three hits. Junior Brooke Klosowicz accounted for two of them. The Johnsburg, Illinois, native homered in the second and singled later in her next plate appearance.
The series finale brought a slightly different result. In the 6-5 loss, the Nittany Lions were shut out through the first four innings, but came back from a three-run deficit and took the lead in the fifth off a grand slam by Klosowicz. Penn State also tied the game in the seventh before Oregon walked it off in the bottom half.
However, the blue and white made it difficult to stay in games against the Ducks’ explosive offense, with its bats not producing runs until the later innings. Now facing hard competition in the Big Ten, the Nittany Lions must get back to plating runs early and often.
Pitching struggles
Elite pitching was one of the main reasons Penn State was once ranked in the top 25 this season. Even after three rough pitching performances against Oregon, the blue and white still hold a low 2.96 ERA, which is fifth-best in the Big Ten.
However, the pitching staff struggled with containing the Ducks’ stacked lineup. Junior Bridget Nemeth started on the mound in Friday’s contest and allowed eight hits and five earned runs over just three innings. The bullpen wasn’t much better as junior McKenna Young surrendered five hits and three earned runs in three frames.
Freshman Brevyn Kellepouris has delivered multiple solid outings so far this season, but struggled in Saturday’s loss. The Olathe, Kansas, native threw four wild pitches while surrendering eight hits and eight earned runs over three innings. However, the left-hander allowed just one hit over three innings in the win over Oregon State and threw a hitless 0.2 innings against the Ducks on Sunday.
Sophomore Abigail Britton threw two good games against the Beavers and the Ducks. The LaVale, Maryland, native allowed just three hits and one earned run over three frames against Oregon State. In the series finale in Eugene, Britton surrendered just three hits and two earned runs while she also tallied four strikeouts.
Overall, there were some bright spots in the pitching performance last week, but the pitchers must limit runs against other talented lineups in future games.
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