With an All-Region shortstop playing to her right, second baseman Kayce Zielinski hasn't seen much action at shortstop this season.
In fact, Zielinski hadn't played much at shortstop, her natural position, during her Penn State career. The Nittany Lions already have someone there with Jen Acunto -- or they did until 10 days ago. Acunto hasn't played since March 16.
"Jen Acunto is serving a suspension, and then she had her knee scoped since, so she will be out for a couple more weeks," Penn State coach Robin Petrini said. Petrini did not comment on the specifics of the suspension.
So, with Acunto out, Zielinski stepped into Acunto's clay at shortstop last night at Nittany Lion Field against Saint Francis (Pa.) as she has for the last five games. It was a flashback for the junior from Arlington, Texas, considering she came to Penn State as a shortstop and moved to second base because Petrini already had a shortstop in Acunto.
Zielinski adjusted to that move three years ago, and she has adjusted to the most recent one, as well.
Even though she did commit her eighth error of the season, Zielinski bounced back, going 1-for-2 with a RBI and a run scored.
The second game went a little smoother for Zielinski, going 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.
"I played shortstop my whole life, and then coming here I changed to a second baseman," Zielinski said. "I got really comfortable at second base, so going back to shortstop is a bit of a switch."
She's also taken her at-bats in stride, coming into last night's game with a .347 batting average.
Zielinski's move to short has forced Petrini to find not just a replacement for Acunto but also for Zielinski at second. Jackie Hill played second in Oxford, Ohio last weekend and Tuesday at Bucknell.
With Hill pitching yesterday's first game and playing first base in the second game, Petrini turned to Rebecca Bautista, who had played in only 14 games prior to last night.
With her moment in the spotlight, Bautista stepped up, going 1-for-3 in each of game of the doubleheader.
"Kayce's doing a great job. She's worked in at shortstop at practice a bunch of times," Petrini said. "We made sure that all of our gaps were covered in the event that someone gets injured."
