University Park Regional: Penn State

Penn State: The host Nittany Lions enter the 2011 NCAA tournament after being somewhat of a controversial selection. Coach Robin Petrini serves on the NCAA Softball Selection Committee, which caused some eyebrows to be raised. Penn State finished 29-22-1 overall and 11-8-1 in Big 10 play. Penn State has been solid, but rather unspectacular program over the past 15 years and the Nittany Lions have gone to Regionals 7 times in that stretch. The impressive part about what Coach Petrini has done with Penn State, is that she has done it with the worst field in the Big 10. Now that she has the field, it will be interesting to see what she is able to do with it.

Jackie Hill

Penn State's strength lies in the circle with Jackie Hill and Lisa Akamine. Hill is a 5th year senior and she is looking to go with out with a bang. Hill is Penn State's ace and workhorse, who will most likely get the ball in most of the games at regionals. Hill is a 5th year senior so she has seen it all, but this will be the 1st time that she is pitching at regionals. It will be interesting to see how Hill attacks these games, as they could be her last at Penn State. Hill will try to keep hitters off balance with her changeup, but she also needs to be careful about leaving pitches over the plate, as she has given up 14 HR so far. Hill is not the only pitcher that will see action for Penn State, as Lisa Akamine is a pretty solid pitcher as well. Akamine comes from a softball family, as she her older sister used to pitch for Arizona and her younger sister is headed to Tennessee on scholarship next year. Akamine is 11-9 on the year with a 1.92 ERA and 131 SO in 142 IP. Akamine gives the Nittany Lions a second arm that Coach Petrini can turn to if she needs to. Pitching has been the strength for Penn State and they will need to be lights out because their offense has been pretty weak.

Cassidy Bell

Penn State's offense hit a paltry .229 with 22 HR and just 30 SB so they are struggling for just about every run. Penn State's offense revolves around three players: Kailyn Johnson, Cassidy Bell, and Alyssa Sovereign. Those three players have combined to hit 16 of Penn State's 22 HR and they have combined to drive in 75 of Penn State's 130 RBI. Johnson is the top hitter on this squad, coming into regionals hitting at a .326 clip with 42 hits, 6 HR, and 28 RBI. Johnson has a solid eye at the plate and has over a quarter of Penn State's walks, although that may also be contributed to teams pitching around her. Bell is another Nittany Lion to keep an eye on, as she leads the team in hits, runs, HR, and steals. Bell will need to be on top of her game for this Penn State team to have any sort of short of advancing out of regionals. Sovereign is the one other Penn State player that packs a punch at the plate is Sovereign, who is third on the Nittany Lions in batting average, hits, homeruns, and RBI. As long as teams can limit the offensive production from these three players, the rest of Penn State's lineup shouldn't be able to do much. Penn State's defense much like it's offense hasn't been outstanding this year. The Nittany Lions do have a solid defense, but they do have some weaknesses most notably at catcher. Opposing basestealers are 62-75 against Penn State's catchers and that is a stat that the opposing coach at regionals are sure to exploit.

Kailyn Johnson

Outlook: The selection committee was buying the Penn State Kool-Aid, but they may be the only ones that are. Penn State does have some solid pitching, but honestly that only gives them an advantage over Albany. Fordham and Oregon both features staffs that give them a distinct advantage over Penn State. In addition, it is hard to see Penn State's offense scoring against either of these teams. Penn State's offense is dwarfed by all of the teams at this regional and they may be out after two games.  Penn State is lucky that they got it and they are very lucky to be playing at home. The Nittany Lions might not even be in the tournament if another Northeast team could host. It kind of seems like a cop out for the committee. Any win that Penn State gets should be celebrated because they are the worst statistical team at this regional. Let's what you can do Penn State