The Daily Collegian Early deficit too much By Ryan Loy COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER The Nittany Lion pitchers struggled early to throw strikes, while the Lion hitters couldn't avoid them in TUesday s 9-8 loss racerai i at Kent State. BASEBALL The Golden " Flashes took advantage of two walks and a hit batter in the bot tom of the first, when David Lyon hit a two-run double to left field to give the Flashes the early lead. The next inning. Jared Humphreys hit an RBI double and later scored on an error to give Kent State a 4-1 advantage. Penn State's Mario Eramo was the lone Lion to have early sue Ettl handles pressures on uneven bars By Jared Shanker COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER There was a myriad of'thoughts running through Natalie Ettl's head. The anchor on —— the uneven bars WOMEN'S Penn* 16 women’s gym- nastics team, Ettl was the last Nittany Lion to perform Saturday at the Big Ten championships. Caught in a close battle with Michigan, Ettl wondered if her routine could be the deciding fac tor between Penn State's first ever Big Ten title or Michigan’s fourth straight. She recalled all the trials and tribulations throughout her career, including enduring multi ple knee surgeries. And to top it all off, Ettl knew the Olympic gym nast who made one of her bar skills famous was not only in the house but was critiquing her in front of a live TV’ audience. The sophomore handled the pressure from all directions, and Ettl saved the best for last as the final bar routine performed at the Lions begin tough road stretch against Kent State By Tom Kinslow COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Cassidy Bell's schedule isn't exactly wide open. The freshman has two exams Thursday, includ- ing one at 8 am. , but before that. SOFTBALL Bell has some other business to attend to. The outfielder and her team mates are taking on Kent State tonight as the Penn State softball team continues its nonconference schedule. Despite having all that on her plate, the freshman isn't worried about handling it all. Understanding Peace of mind Improved grades This is the power of quality notes. OUMA Semester Packs now available! College Awe. • ® cess against Kent State starter Kyle Hallock, who struck out seven of the first 11 batters he faced. "He did a good job of locating in and out and had good speeds,’’ Kent state Eramo said of Hallock. “When you have some one like that, offensively you p enn state just have to fight him. and we did that." Eramo connected on a pitch up in the zone and hit a solo home run for the Lions' first run. The Lions (9-13) took a brief lead after a five-run fourth inning that caused the Flashes to go to Big Ten championships was the winning one. Ettl scored a 9.925 to secure Big Ten uneven bars gold and help the Lions take second place for the first time since 2005. "Natalie did a great job." said Lions coach Steve Shephard. “She handled [the pressure]. She was awesome and deserved to win." It didn't look as if Ettl would find herself on the medal stand a few hours earlier during warm-ups. Having trouble with the landing mats, calling them “dead,” Ettl struggled with her dismount. She didn't land one dismount. To pro tect her surgically repaired right knee, she doesn't practice her dis mount during the touch warm-ups before bar routines start. That did n't matter, though, as Ettl landed the onlv dismount that counted. As she stood waiting to hear the results. Ettl couldn't help but reflect on how easily this moment could have been taken from her just a few years earlier. In high school, Ettl tore the anterior cru ciate ligament (ACL) in her right knee twice and also suffered a torn meniscus. She never thought she would be competing at Big "It's going to be tough," Bell said of the time crunch. "But it’s just, stay focused and get done what you have to get done." With the warning about her exams, Bell's plan to juggle every thing is simple. "Study a lot beforehand,” the outfielder said with a laugh. Adding to the stress on the team is the extra travel the team has to go through this year. The team has been busing to and from adjacent airports adding hours onto road trips and following two doubleheaders this past week, the Nittany Lions know the trip will be taxing. 238-0623 NittanyNotes.com SPORTS their bullpen. Michael Glantz had a double with the bases loaded that scored two runs. Elliot Searer followed with a two-RBI triple and later scored on a wild pitch to give the Lions a 6- 4 lead. While Searer was on deck, he knew he’d get a chance to bat with runners on base — an area he said he’d struggled with in past situations. When he stepped to the plate, Searer used an observation to his advantage. “With runners on second and third, I knew he’d be hesitant to throw off-speed stuff,” Searer said. Tens following the procedures and stumbling blocks and was taken aback when Ettl found out she had not only placed, but won. “It was amazing to go from all of my previous setbacks to over come all of that and actually win a Big Ten bars title,” Ettl said. “I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do that, let alone be here doing gym nastics for Penn State. My par ents said when they saw me up on that awards ceremony, ‘You’ve persevered through all those set backs and to say you won a Big Ten bar title, that’s pretty cool.’ ” Ettl’s winning routine, which Shephard has referred to as “world-class” multiple times, con sists of a release move originated by 2000 Olympian gymnast Elise Ray. In 2004, Ray, a former Michigan Wolverine, won the Big Ten bars title with a perfect 10. Saturday, Ray was on the floor commentating for the Big Ten Network and got a first-hand look at Ettl’s personal touch on her extremely difficult skill. “To actually see it in competi tion and done so well, it was so sweet,” Ray told Gymnastike.org fol lowing Penn State’s tri-meet with “I just hope that we can get rest Penn State's toughest road on the bus and when we can,” stretch of the season. The Lions catcher Danee Collett said. “It’s take on the Golden Flashes all about mindset. tonight, returning to Happy Valley If you go in think- after the contests, only to head to ing that it’s going Purdue this weekend as Penn to be hard, then it State continues conference play, will be.” Thinking about it, Collett could Though the only let out a sigh, team had two twin “It doesn’t sound fun to me right bills in the last now,” Collett said. Tm not looking week, coach . . forward to it." Robin Petrini ’ >e * nnl As the Lions hit the road after a made the decision quick stint at home, they do so try to hold practice Monday in prepa- ing maintain a consistency they’re ration for the Golden Flashes. just starting to find. Penn State This series with Kent State is struggled to produce runs in the just the first leg of what looks to be first half of its two doubleheaders Key Church Love God. HKA Lovepeople. jjik. A Make a difference. ■■■ WALK TO WORSHIP @SOZO ONI BLOCK FROM CAMPUS SUNDAYS® 10 a.m. What God Did.lnfo Real People. Real Penn State Stories. a move of 6od at Penn State for Penn State “I got ahead in the count, 2-0, and looked for a fastball.” The lead didn't last long, as three walks powered a Kent State rally in the bottom of the fourth inning that resulted in a 7-6 Flashes lead. They added two runs against Mike Pierce in the fifth before being held scoreless in its final three at-bats. Pierce and Steven Hill combined for 4.2 strong innings of relief. After the Lions allowed eight walks in the first 3.1 innings. Pierce and Hill didn't surrender any free passes. Glantz said command was the key to Pierce and Hill's success. '‘They threw strikes. That's all you have to do," he said. 'They made the batters put the ball in play and get themselves out.” Natalie Ettl performs her routine on the bars March 7. Alabama and Minnesota on Jan. her former gymnast's move. 30, which she also called for the “She does that skill extremely Big Ten Network. "It was so nicely well —as well as Elise ever did it,” done, so I was very proud of it.” Plocki said. “There aren’t many Michigan coach Beverly Plocki, athletes in the country that do that who coached Ray, caught Ettl's skill. It's very pretty when it’s done performance during the Big Ten well, and she does it extremely championships. Plocki called well." Ettl’s routine “beautiful" and, was impressed with Ettl’s rendition of 256 E. Beaver Ave State College, PA 16801 Tuesday,April6th7PM Heritage Hall O u u <T3 -D 4-» ai • Hi to •■■ funded byTh< Empowerment of Women Students U) - A gift to the Center for Women Students CENTER FOR WOMEN STUDENTS 204 Boucke Bldg. University Park. PA 16802 (814) 863-2027 studentaffairs.psu.edu/womenscenter/ lent for the In this seminar you will leam: An understanding that violence can happen, even on the safest campuses What is intuition, and how to know when it’s communicating with you Ways to reduce the risk of being victimized and Strategies for staying safe Examples of boundary setting and how to convey strong body language Practical and effective selfdefense strategies any girl can use, regardless of size 14 Improvised weapons that every woman carries in her purse, and how to use them Wednesday, March 31,2010 I 9 The Lions drew within one run in the sixth when Glantz and Searer crossed the plate to make it 9-8, but that’s how the game would remain. Penn State's six through nine hitters combined for six runs and six RBIs. Searer said hitters near the bot tom of the order are trying to get on base and use their speed to make things happen. Despite the narrow loss, Searer believes each player battled to get back in the game. “Early deficits are going to hap pen," Searer said. “You need to be a baseball player and go out and battle." To e-mail reporter: rnilsl3B@psu.edu To e-mail reporter: jpss226@psu.edu this past week, scoring five runs in two losses, only to rebound with 16 in the second contests, both victo ries. With another double dip in store for the Lions, they know they can take a huge step forward in their progress as a team with two solid efforts at the plate tonight. “Everything’s about peaking,” Bell said. “I feel like we’re sloping up right now. You want to peak at the right time. I think that right now, we're working up to that peak. I think that once you get the consistency going, you keep build ing." To e-mail reporter: tpkSol6@psu.edu A personalsafety <s; self-defense seminar for colleqe women . .. . \ J 'Because fiyhtiny\^ r ife a qirfis | tarn a very j loathing! / Asit Mishra/Collegian
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