University Park, Pa. – Robert Morris University freshman pitcher Dana Vatakis held Penn State in check as the Colonials softball team split a doubleheader with the Nittany Lions (14-13) Wednesday evening at Beard Field. Behind the strong pitching of Vatakis, RMU (4-16) won game one, 4-1, before suffering an 11-0 loss in game two of the doubleheader.
 
// GAME ONE // VS. PENN STATE // W, 4-1 //
 
// Inside the Circle
Vatakis was masterful in the circle for Robert Morris as she carried a shutout into the sixth inning. The rookie allowed just one run while picking up her third win of the season with a complete game effort. She struck out three and scattered five hits, needing just 98 pitches to finish her day. She threw 64% strikes and induced 12 ground ball outs.
 
Bailey Parshall was the losing pitcher for the Nittany Lions. She lasted 3.1 innings and was charged with four runs, two earned, and six hits. Kylee Lingenfelter finished out the game in relief, giving up just one hit and whiffing five in the final 3.2 frames.
 
// Rounding the Bases
The Colonials jumped on top in the first inning with a pair of hits and a pair of Penn State miscues. Erika Bell reached on an error to start the frame and moved all the way to third when Natalie Higgins doubled to right field. A single by Abrielle McCartney pushed home Bell for the game's first score. Higgins later crossed home thanks to an error on Madison Shiderly's grounder to third.
 
Briana Bunner led off the fourth inning with a double before moving up a base on Taryn Miller's single. Kristýna Malá scored Bunner with a bunt single. After another bunt single from a freshman – Brittney Seibert – Bell drew a bases load walk to put the Colonials ahead, 4-0.
 
Penn State's lone tally came with two outs in the sixth inning. A hit batter came back to haunt Vatakis when after the RMU hurler's unlikely miscue, Ally Kurland doubled to center field driving in Tori Dubois.
 
// The Batter's Box
Seven different Colonials were responsible for the team's seven hits. McCartney and Malá picked up single RBIs as did Bell who did so despite not having a hit. Both Higgins and Bunner had two-baggers, Bunner's being her fifth of the 2019 campaign.
 
Penn State had five hits by five players with Toni Polk's third inning triple the only one going for extra bases.
 
// GAME TWO // AT PENN STATE // L, 0-11 (5) //
 
// Rounding the Bases
After scoring a single run in the first inning, Penn State sent 14 batters to the plate – including 11 with two outs – in a 10-run third inning. The Nittany Lions hit three home runs off of three different RMU pitchers with two outs in the frame. Chelsea Bisi and Kurland went back-to-back with jacks to left field, the first by Bisi pushing home two runs. Claire Swedberg put an exclamation point on the big inning with a three-run blast to left center.
 
Robert Morris threatened in the first, but stranded Seibert and Higgins on second and third.
 
// The Batter's Box
Swedberg, Polk and Kurland each had two hits for the host Lions. Swedberg scored three times and drove in three runs with her homer. Bisi and Kurland also had homer while Delaney Elling picked up a pair of runs batted in.
 
The Colonials had three hits, all singles. Bell, Taylor Bartlow and Higgins accounted for the base knocks.
 
// Inside the Circle
Hannah Shields went the distance for Penn State, improving to 2-2 on the year. She scattered three hits and struck out four in 5.0 innings.
 
Laura Coulter dropped her seventh game of the season. She went 2.2 innings and was saddled with six hits and three earned runs. Kaitlin Ellzy face four batter, allowing three hits and three runs. Madison Riggle went 1.1 innings and was charged with four runs – one earned – and two hits.
 
// ON DECK //
The Colonials travel to Catonsville, Md., for the UMBC Retriever Classic from Friday, March 22, through Sunday, March 24. The Colonials will play Albany three times and UMBC twice during the event.