Poor pitching continues to plague the MSU softball team, which dropped both games in a doubleheader against Penn State Sunday.
The Spartans (24-19 overall, 4-8 Big Ten) lost, 6-1 and 11-6, to the Nittany Lions (18-25, 4-6) at Nittany Lion Field in University Park, Pa. In reference to the team's pitching, head coach Jacquie Joseph said, "we're in real trouble.
"The old cliché is true, that pitching and defense wins," she said. "We have glimpses of pitching, just no real consistency there. We're scoring enough runs, but we're giving up football scores and that's just not the way this game's supposed to be played."
Freshmen pitchers Christy McGrew (4-2) and Jackie Noble (0-2) were the losing pitchers in the first and second game, respectively.
In conference play, MSU has struggled to find a balance between good hitting and solid pitching. So far, it has been great hitting and sub-par pitching.
Going into the Spartans' matchup against Ohio State on Friday, the Spartans, with a conference-best .308 batting average, were the best-hitting team in the Big Ten. On the flip side, they had a conference-worst 4.49 ERA in Big Ten contests.
"I'd trade half of our offense for just a little pitching," Joseph said.
Freshman designated player Dayna Feenstra was a combined 3-for-5 Sunday with a team-high three RBI. Feenstra, however, said her day at the plate meant little because the team lost both games.
Senior Nat Furrow, who plays first base, said it was tough for MSU to keep up with Penn State's offense.
"Sometimes, you have bad days, and I think today was just one of them," she said.
Sunday's losses capped a four-game road trip for MSU that began as the Spartans split two games with Ohio State. Going into Friday's game, the Spartans were a half-game ahead of the Buckeyes in the Big Ten standings.
On Friday, the Spartans beat the Buckeyes, 4-2. Furrow led the early offensive production with her third home run in three games in the third inning. Furrow was 2-for-3 on the day with two RBI and a walk.
McGrew pitched five and one-third innings, striking out four Ohio State batters, and picked up the win for the Spartans.
On Saturday, the two teams combined for 15 runs and 26 hits in an extra-innings affair. Down, 7-5, in the bottom of the seventh - the last inning in softball - the Spartans rallied to tie the game and send it to extras.
The Buckeyes answered in the top of the eighth inning, hitting two doubles and scoring the go-ahead run. MSU failed to score in the bottom of the eighth and Ohio State won, 8-7.
