PITTSBURGH -- When the Penn State softball team arrived at Trees Field only half an hour before the first pitch of yesterday's doubleheader against the University of Pittsburgh, the Nittany Lions were forced to rush through warm-ups and could only take a limited amount of batting practice.
The result was an offense that appeared sluggish at times during the first game. Though Penn State escaped with a win in the opener, head coach Robin Petrini called for extra batting practice during the 20-minute intermission between games in an attempt to revive the Lion offense.
The Penn State bats heated up during the second round of batting practice and continued to sizzle during the entire second contest. Penn State reeled off four straight hits to begin the nightcap of the twin bill en route to a 6-0 blanking of the Panthers to go along with a 3-2 extra-inning win in the opener.
"They're great hitters," Petrini said. "But they just weren't comfortable because they didn't have a chance to loosen up."
The players knew they hadn't played to their potential in the opener either. Right fielder Meghan Wolfer, who drove home the winning run in the first game, said the extra batting work allowed the players to settle down and refocus.
"It was nice just to take a few cuts and kind of get things back together for the second game," Wolfer said.
The offensive outpour, six runs on 10 hits, provided Lion starter Jen Reynolds with more than enough support to record her third shutout of the season.
Reynolds said pitching with a lead -- Penn State was ahead 2-0 before she entered the circle -- allowed her to relax and concentrate on throwing strikes.
"It helped a lot [having a lead]," Reynolds said. "I didn't have to worry about letting runners on, walking them or getting behind a batter. I could just go after the batters, and if they happened to hit it, oh well."
With her worry-free approach, Reynolds controlled the Panther bats from the outset. She mixed pitches, changed speeds and hit sports, which kept the Pitt hitters off-balance. She allowed four hits, and thanks to the defense behind her, Reynolds only faced 23 batters, two more than the seven-inning minimum.
But perhaps the most impressive number in the box score, other than the doughnut in the run column, was the zero walks Reynolds surrendered. Petrini said her pitcher's control was the key to success and gave her teammates something to feed off of.
"J.R. pitched great today and the big difference, no walks," Petrini said. "For J.R., no walks is absolutely significant, so that was a great outing for her and a great outing for the whole team behind her as well."
