Softball Battles until Final Out of the Season

Mont Alto, PA - The Penn State Beaver Softball team battled until the final out of their season was recorded this Saturday, April 29th against Penn State New Kensington in the 2023 PSUAC Playoffs. Beaver went into the playoffs as the 6 seed, playing in the second bracket with the #2 seed Mont Alto, and the #3 seed New Kensington. After battling not only the rest of the PSUAC to get there but the weather during the weekend, the team was finally set to play at 2pm. In this double elimination bracket, Beaver took on Penn State New Kensington first, and lost after 7 hard fought innings, followed by a game break where New Kensington played Penn State Mont Alto, and lost, to which Beaver had to play New Kensington again at 6pm where their season ended after a tough battle.

The first game started with Sophomore, Bre Thomas (Ambridge, PA) on the mound. Thomas pitched 3.1 innings and was relieved by Freshman, Leeanna West (Milford, NY) who pitched 2.2 innings. Both teams were scoreless until the 3rd inning where Penn State New Kensington scored 1. Beaver remained scoreless this whole game while Penn State New Kensington was able to score again in the 5th. The final score of game 1 was 2-0 in favor of Penn State New Kensington. Beaver only had 2 hits this game coming from Sophomore, Elena Denezza (New Brighton, PA) and Freshman, Selene Lopez (Simi Valley, CA). Seniors, Cassadie Speed (Cranbury, NJ) and Valentina Sandoval (Miami, FL) were the only other palyers to reach base this game. Denezza reached base 2 times and had 1 stolen base as well this game.

Game 2 was much better than game 1 on the side of hitting though Beaver was unable to secure the victory and make it to day two of playoffs. Beaver was able to make this a close game with a final score of 5-4 but it still leaned in favor of Penn State New Kensington. Beaver had 8 hits this game, Junior, Kylie Magnotta (Monaca, PA), Senior, Chloe Coleman (Moon Twp, PA), Senior, Taylor Harper (Elk Grove, CA), Sandoval, and Denezza all had 1 hit this game, while Speed had 3 hits. Lopez walked twice, while Sandoval and Harper walked once. Coleman, Sandoval, Lopez, and Speed, all scored 1 time this game. Denezza and Speed both had RBIs as well with 1 and 2 respectfully. West started on the mound for Beaver pitching 3 full innings and was relieved by Thomas who threw the final 3. Beaver came out hot scoring in the 2nd inning, 3rd inning, and 5th inning with 1, 2, and 1 respectfully.

After a hard fought season Beaver had learned to battle and overcome anything that was thrown in their way. Though this is not the way they wanted their season to end they battled through a grueling 37 games, battled the weather, fought through injuries, and still made a run at the post-season. Just becasue the season has come to an end does not mean that Beaver Athletics stops. Make sure to stay up to date on the lastest, camps, information, and next season updates through beaverathletics.com and through all our social medias @psubeaverathletics (Instagram) and @PSUBeaverSports (Twitter), and search Penn State Beaver Athletics on Facebook. The team was so glad to have your support this season and cannot wait until next season!