Box Score
IOWA CITY, Iowa - Penn State opened up an early 3-0 lead and held on to defeat Northwestern,3-1, at the Big Ten Softball Tournament in Iowa City. The loss eliminated theWildcats from the tournament and left them at 28-24 overall as they await apotential NCAA Tournament bid.The Nittany Lions used their speed to manufacture a run in the first inning, opening with a pair of infield singles and then stealing thirdand second on successive pitches. A ground ball to third failed to bring home a run, but the next hitter followed with a ground ball to second that plated the first PSU run.Penn State tacked on two more runs in the third. After retiring theleadoff hitter, NU starter Brie Brown (Nashville, Tenn./Harpeth Hall)allowed back-to-back singles. The runners moved up on a groundout before awalk loaded the bases for Lion third baseman Jen Tripken, who hit a groundball to short that was booted for an error. Penn State added another in theinning to open the 3-0 lead.Northwestern responded in the fourth. ErinJancic (Houston, Texas/Alief Elsik) led off with a double to left. Two outslater, Tami Jones (West Hills, Calif./El Camino Real) legged out an infieldsingle to score Jancic. The Wildcats put two on with two out in the sixthbut could not score.