Spartans Down PSU, 8-6, in Series Finale

March 29, 2015

East Lansing, Mich. -- Michigan State got home runs from Stephanie Sanders and Shanin Thomas to help propel the Spartans to a 8-6 victory over Penn State on Sunday afternoon. MSU (16-17, 1-5 B1G) took game three of the series after the Nittany Lions (17-16, 2-4 B1G) swept both ends of a doubleheader on Saturday.

Valerie Kaff got the final three outs of the game to pick up her first save of the season, after Kristina Zalewski went six innings to earn her 12th win of the season. Senior McKenzie Freimuth and Sanders each had two hhits on the day.

"We were much more consistent today - errorless ball, we got the hitting, and our pitchers gave us a chance to win the game," said head coach Jacquie Joseph. "It's frustrating in that I think we could have and maybe should have won the series, had we been more consistent on Saturday. That's a Penn State team that competes at the plate and in the circle and all over the field - they were the better team yesterday and will give teams a good game each time out. Now, we need to take some things from today and bring it into the Rutgers series."

After Zalewski worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the first, Freimuth led off the bottom of the inning with a double up the left-field line. Lea Foerster reached on an error - the third baseman dropped the bunt attempt - and she advanced to a coverage-free second. After Kassidy Kujawa lined out, Sarah Gutknecht brought home Freimuth with an infield groundout to give the Spartans the early 1-0 lead.

Zalewski stranded two more runners in the top of the second, and in the home half of the inning, the Spartans once again got a leadoff double, this time from the bat of Stephanie Sanders. Destinee Luna followed with a single up the right field line to move Sanders to third, and an attempt to catch a stealing Luna went over the head of the second baseman into center, scoring Sanders. Ellie Stoffer laid down a sac bunt to move Luna to third, and McBride brought her home with another bunt for a 3-0 Spartan advantage.

In the top of the third, the Nittany Lions generated a pair of runs to knot the score. After Zalewski got Mollie Sorenson to strike out swinging, and Shelby Miller singled up the middle, her hit nipping Zalewski's arm on it's way by. She stayed in the game, and gave up two consecutive singles to load the bases. Pond hit a sac fly to plate Sorenson, and Tupino flied out to center to strand two runners, pushing PSU's game total to seven.

After Monopoli drew a four-ball walk to start the fourth, a one-out double into the gap in left center by Lexi Knief put runners on second and third. A Sorenson single just past the diving McKenzie Long brought home Penn State's second run of the day, leaving runners at the corners for Shelby Miller. She singled up the right side, scoring the Knief from third to tie the game at 3-3. Zalewski enticed Jones into a groundout to second, stranding two more as the teams moved to the bottom of the fourth inning. The tie was short-lived, as the designated player Sanders hit a full-count pitch over the scoreboard in left field for her first home run of the season and a 4-3 Spartan lead.. Pitcher Jessica Cummings struck out Luna, and center fielder Knief made a nice grab to steal a hit from pinch hitter Sydney Heath.

Meanwhile, Zalewski continued to bend but not break - she walked Pond to lead off the inning, but then got three ground-ball outs to strand her at second and maintain a 4-3 Spartan lead. In the home half of the inning, Marlaina Laubach came in to pitch for the visitors. McBride and Freimuth legged out an infield single and a bunt single, respectively, and McBride stole third to put runners at the corners for Foerster. On a double steal, McBride stole home, and Freimuth took third on the throw after stealing second. Foerster grounded out for the first out of the inning, and Kujawa's bunt attempt allowed her to reach on a fielder's choice, but got Freimuth at the plate for the second out of the inning. Gutknecht kept the inning alive with a single up the middle, and pinch hitter Shanin Thomas took Laubach deep to left for her first home run of the season.

In the top of the sixth, the Nittany Lions cut it to a three-run deficit when Sorenson took a four-pitch walk with one out, and Shelby Miller homered to right to cut MSU's lead to 8-5. Zalewski walked Jones, and a single by Alyssa VanDerveer put a pair on with one out for pinch hitter Mary Ward. Zalewski got her swinging on a 1-2 pitch, and then got Tupino to ground out to short to strand two more runners.

Laubach hit Luna to start off the sixth, and got Stoffer and McBride on back-to-back fielder's choices to get to two outs in the inning. McBride stole second, and then Freimuth walked on four straight balls to put a pair on for Foerster, but she flew out to left to end the inning.

Zalewski returned to the circle in an effort to close out the game, and gave up a leadoff single to Monopoli and stand-up double to center to pinch hitter Megahan Bradley to put a pair in scoring position. The top of the order came up, and Knief delivered an RBI single to left to make it 8-6, which spelled the end of Zalewski's day (11 hits, six runs, three strikeouts) in favor of Kaff. With runners on the corners, the sophomore got Sorenson to pop out to short for the first out of the inning. Miller then grounded into a double play to end the inning, getting Miller to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end the game. It earned Kaff her first save of the season.

Michigan State returns to Big Ten play next weekend at Rutgers.