Tripken finished the game with an unusual line — 0 at-bats, 0 hits, 3 runs. She was walked three times and was also hit by a pitch.
Lions senior Kelly McCann picked up the shutout victory, her 11th win and fourth shutout of the campaign, by going the distance while giving up just five hits, walking two and striking out six.
Penn State again was the first to score in the second game, plating two in the bottom of the fourth on a Barbie Pierce suicide squeeze where St. Francis pitcher Candi Ciotti overthrew her catcher Jamie Krusinsky, allowing Allison Medellin and Humphrey to score.
The Flash answered with one in the fifth, then opened up the sixth with a single, and after a strikeout, a double.
The hits forced Penn State coach Robin Petrini to pull sophomore pitcher Marisa Hanson and insert McCann. Back-to-back RBI singles followed, and the Lions found themselves in an unusual position against the Flash, behind.
However, with one out in the bottom of the sixth, the Lions hit back-to-back groundballs at Flash shortstop Sarah Rebar — she bobbled them both, contributing to the three Flash errors committed in the inning and six committed in the game.
Energized with new life, the Lions looked to start a rally, and after a flyout to centerfield, freshman catcher Erica Greenberg stepped to the plate. She drove the ball into the left-center field gap, scoring a pair and giving the Lions the lead. Adrienne Manzo then drove her home on a RBI single.
"I was just looking for a pitch," Greenberg said of her hit. "It was a 2-0 count so I figured it would be a near the plate and easy to hit. I kind of picked out a hole where I wanted to hit it and it happened to go there."
The Flash would load the bases in the top of the seventh, but McCann closed the door, earning her second victory of the night.
"It's very disappointing," St. Francis coach Brock Radaker said. "That's been the story of our season to this point. We keep ourselves in the game, playing solidly, then one inning breakdown defensively and it's tough to get it back.
"Any game you make six errors, you're not going to win many of those. Definitely, I thought this was the time. What it essentially came down to is we gift wrapped it and handed it to them, but that's going to happen I guess."
Petrini said the win was nice because it would give the team momentum heading into the opening weekend of Big Ten play.
"Anytime you get some wins, it's big," she said. "I think what's more significant was the way we ended up winning that second game with some big time clutch hitting. And, that just builds confidence going into the Big Ten season."
McCann had an almost perfect night, pitching eight and two-thirds innings, giving up no runs and striking out eight.
"I knew our hitting would come through no matter what happened," McCann said. "This team has a lot of fight and we showed it a lot more tonight than we have in some past games, so I was confident. I wasn't really worried. I actually like coming in in relief anyhow."
For the Flash, beating the Lions was not as important as gaining experience.
" That's the reason we come up here and are grateful Penn State does play us and is willing play us," Radaker said. "We'll come up here and play them every year as long as it takes because it does prepare us so well for the season.
"To face pitching like that and to face competitors like that who know how to win like their players know how to win, that prepares us for our conference schedule."
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