Orangewomen Softball Set to Travel to Penn State
4/16/2002 4:08:38 PM | Softball
The Syracuse softball team will hit the road for a mid-week non-conference doubleheader at Penn State on Wednesday, April 17 at 3 p.m. The Orangewomen are 17-11 overall and 5-1 in the BIG EAST, while PSU is 20-20 and 5-7 in the Big Ten.
The Orangewomen are coming off a doubleheader split at Notre Dame on Sunday. Syracuse lost the first game, 3-1, but rebounded to take the nightcap, 3-0. The victory snapped the Fighting Irish's 14-game overall winning streak, 25-game home winning streak and 36-game BIG EAST regular-season winning streak.
Junior Tara DiMaggio (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay) threw a four-hit shutout to pick up her seventh victory of the season. DiMaggio scattered four hits and struck out nine. Since starting the season 0-3, DiMaggio has won seven of her last nine decisions.
Freshman catcher Katie Kaempfer (Las Vegas, Nev./Bonanza) was the offensive hero, hitting her second home run and scoring twice. In six conference games, Kaempfer leads the team with a .400 average, two home runs and seven runs batted in.
The Orangewomen are out to their best start in the program's three-year history, and have won seven of their last eight games.
Penn State is coming off two losses to 20th-ranked Iowa on Sunday. The Nittany Lions are 5-5 in their last 10 outings. Gina Bianchini leads the team with a .336 batting average. Jennifer Tripken is the squad's leading run producer 10 home runs and 31 runs batted in. Marisa Hanson leads the pitching staff with a 1.37 ERA and a 10-9 record.
The two teams have met once already this season. Penn State earned a 3-2 win on February 17 at the Seminole Classic in Tallahassee, Fla. Junior outfielder Christina Holowich (Castro Valley, Calif./Moreau Catholic) and redshirt sophomore Cheryl Julicher (Williamsville, N.Y./Williamsville North) each had two hits for SU. Erica Greenberg led PSU with two hits and an RBI. Missy Beseres was the winning pitcher, while DiMaggio took the loss for the Orangewomen.
Syracuse returns to BIG EAST play on Saturday, April 20, hosting a 12 p.m. doubleheader versus Boston College. SU will also entertain Providence at 12 p.m. on Sunday.
Last Saturday's scheduled doubleheader at Pittsburgh that was rained out has yet to be rescheduled. Check back to www.suathletics.com for details about the SU schedule as they become available.
