Michigan
36-14, 15-3
Penn State
33-14, 11-8
Wolverines Use Late Power Surge to Run-Rule Penn State, Clinch Weekend Series
4/27/2024 5:22:00 PM | Softball
» Michigan rallied from an early deficit then pulled away late, earning a 14-3 win in six innings to clinch the weekend series at Penn State.
» U-M tied its season high of 15 hits with multi-hit games from six players; Keke Tholl posted three hits, while Lilly Vallimont registered four RBI and one of three Wolverines homers in the game.
» Hannah George won in relief, allowing one run on just three hits and a walk through 4.2 innings.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- The University of Michigan softball team rallied from an early deficit then used an offensive explosion late to roll to a 14-3, six-inning decision at Penn State on Saturday afternoon (April 27) at Nittany Lion Softball Park. With the win, the Wolverines clinched their fifth Big Ten Conference series.
Michigan tied its season high with 15 hits, including three doubles and three home runs, and earned multi-hit efforts from six different players. Senior first baseman Keke Tholl went 3-for-3 with two runs and an RBI, while freshmen outfielders Ella Stephenson and Jenissa Conway both posted two hits, three runs and two RBI in the middle of the order. Sophomore/freshman Lilly Vallimont boasted a career-best four RBI, most off a three-run homer to highlight U-M's seven-run sixth inning.
Graduate student right-handed pitcher Hannah George (6-1) earned her sixth win in 10 games for the Wolverines, entering in relief in the second and allowing just one run on three hits and a walk over the final 4.2 innings.
PSU took the early lead with a two-out, two-run homer in the first inning, but the Wolverines answered immediately to take the lead -- for good -- in the next half inning. Michigan loaded the bases, scored one on a sacrifice fly, then went ahead on junior shortstop Ella McVey's two-out single down the left-field line that got past the PSU left fielder to plate two. McVey also drove in the winning run in yesterday's series opener.
The Nittany Lions answered with based loaded and one out in the home half of the second. George entered and got a huge swinging strikeout -- her only of the game -- then forced a groundout to short on the next pitch to strand all three.
The rest of the game was all Michigan. Sophomore third baseman Maddie Erickson pounded a solo homer -- her second of the series and 10th of the season -- off the scoreboard in left field in the third, and Vallimont followed with a sac fly to center for her first RBI of the game.
Conway crushed a no-doubt two-run homer to straightaway center field with one out in the fifth before the Wolverines pushed into run-rule territory with its sixth-inning seven spot. Michigan used two singles and a walk to load the bases and scored runs in the next four at-bats -- all before the first out. Tholl looped an RBI single into shallow center, and Stephenson roped a two-run double -- her second two-bagger of the game -- off the right-field wall. U-M scored another on a fielding error, then Vallimont ripped a line-drive, three-run shot over the left-center field wall for her fifth homer of the season.
Returning to the field with an 11-run advantage, George retired the final three Nittany Lion batters with groundouts on just six pitches in the bottom of the sixth to end the game early.
Michigan (36-14, 16-3 Big Ten) will wrap up its weekend series at Penn State at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 28 at Nittany Lion Softball Park.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: George, Hannah (6-1)
L: Mady Volpe (8-6)
Batting:
2B: Sieler, Ellie 1 ; Stephenson, Ella 2
HR: Erickson, Maddie 1 ; Conway, Jenissa 1 ; Vallimont, Lilly 1
RBI: Erickson, Maddie 1 ; Tholl, Keke 1 ; Stephenson, Ella 2 ; Conway, Jenissa 2 ; Vallimont, Lilly 4 ; Costales, Ava 1 ; McVey, Ella 1
SH: Langford, Indiana 1
SF: Vallimont, Lilly 1 ; Costales, Ava 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Sieler, Ellie 1 ; Langford, Indiana 1 ; Erickson, Maddie 1 ; Ramey, Madi 1 ; Tholl, Keke 2 ; Stephenson, Ella 3 ; Conway, Jenissa 3 ; Vallimont, Lilly 2
HBP: Tholl, Keke 1
Batting:
HR: Liana Jones 1 ; Gaby Garcia 1
RBI: Liana Jones 1 ; Gaby Garcia 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Liana Jones 2 ; Gaby Garcia 1
HBP: Liana Jones 1
