Lady Lions Lose Softball Opener in Florida

On Sunday, March 8 the Penn State Beaver Lady Lions softball team opened their 2009 season by dropping two games to the Beavers of Bemidji State University (Bemidji, MN), 4-3 and 11-3, in Fort Pierce, FL.

In game one, Lady Lions senior Melissa Swoager (South Side High School, Hookstown, PA) hit a one-out double and scored on an error one batter later. Bemidji answered with three runs in the bottom of the fourth for a 3-1 lead.

The Lady Lions tied the game in the sixth when junior Alonna Verrico (Rochester High School, Rochester, PA) ripped a two-out, bases-loaded single, scoring two and tying the game, 3-3m, but Bemidji plated one in the bottom of the sixth to take a 4-3 lead. The Lady Lions stranded the tying run on first in the bottom of the last inning and lost the game.

Lady Lions Swoager, Verrico, and senior Taylor Rzeczkowski each had two hits, sophomore Kayla Chambers (South Side High School, Hookstown, PA) pitched six innings, gave up eight hits, had no walks, and struck out one.

Game two belonged to the Bemidji Beavers who scored two in the second and third innings to build a 4-0 lead. After Bemidji added one in the sixth, Beaver got on the board with three in the bottom of the sixth, bringing the score to 5-3. Bemidji responded by scoring six in the seventh for the win.

Swoager was tagged with the loss, gave up six hits, walked four, and struck out four in six innings while Verrico added two more hits to her daily total.

Beaver will return to action on Tuesday, March 10 when they travel to Cocoa Beach to take on Skidmore College (Saratoga Springs, NY) and Finlandia University (Hancock, MI) in a split game double header beginning at 9 a.m.