Penn State's offense roars in 15-3 win over Saint Francis

The Nittany Lions have had their share of ups and downs this season. Injuries have caused rotation issues in the pitching staff, and their schedule had them only playing at home for one weekend before April.

However, Penn State is now in the middle of a nine-game homestand, and the team has turned the corner on the season. It has won five straight after taking down Saint Francis (PA) by a score of 15-3 in five innings.

The game marked the second time in this win streak where the Nittany Lions have won via the run rule in five innings. “Our offense is feeling good collectively as a group,” head coach Clarisa Crowell said following the win.

The team registered eleven hits and drew five walks en route to victory.

In a game where a team scores 15 runs, there tends to be some offensive fireworks, especially for a team with a top-15 offense in the country.

Madison Seidel had two explosive opposite-field home runs and six RBIs. They were Seidel’s second and third home runs this season, and her first ones since February 21 against Nicholls.

“It’s super awesome to do that for the team. No matter what, in the box our goal is just to put good balls in play, and it’s super exciting to see that process pay off,” Crowell said.

The head coach was thrilled for the junior catcher, saying, “That young lady comes out every day, works really hard, so to see her have the success today is awesome.”

Jenna Nelson also had a big day offensively, as she hit her third home run of the season as well. She also added a single. Both hits came with two strikes.

“I’ve been trying to see more pitches lately. I’ve been chasing stuff, so today my approach was really just to see pitches and just work the count to try and do better at that,” Nelson said.

She also said their coaches tell them, “‘With two-strike hitting, you’re never out of it.’”

After the Red Flash took the lead on an RBI double from Olivia Ulam, the Nittany Lions sent 14 batters to the plate in the first inning. Penn State scored nine runs and secured a lead it would never surrender.

“They come out and score a run, and for us it’s ‘ok now it’s time for us to score some runs’ and every team we play, it’s they score, we score,” Coach Crowell said.

The game served as a Cancer Awareness game, where all the players took to the field with names written down of people they know who have battled the disease.

“You’re playing for something bigger than yourself, especially today with cancer awareness,” Seidel said when asked about what today’s game meant. “We have members of our own community going through it and fighting, so we came out, we wanted to play as a family and play for them more than anything, and just put on a performance.”

The Nittany Lions improve to 19-18 on the season and will face No. 24 Ohio State at home in a three-game series this weekend. Both players and coaches had a message for fans: be there and be loud.

Nate Johns is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jzn5275@psu.edu.